Sun open sources UltraSPARC

By Steve Malone

Posted on 7 Dec 2005 at 10:40

Sun is taking one step further along the open source path by releasing the code to its recently announced UltraSPARC T1 processor . This is the first time that a major vendor has released the full details of its processor to the developer community.

Sun said it also intends to publish the specifications of the UltraSPARC-based chip, including the source of the design expressed in the Verilog hardware description language. There will also be a verification suite and simulation models, the instruction set architecture specification (UltraSPARC Architecture 2005) and a Solaris OS port.

The company hopes that by releasing the information under an Open Source Initiative (OSI)-approved open source licence, it will build a community of engineers able to build upon and improve the design.

Presumably, this means that other manufacturers around the world could take the design and build their own version of the UltraSPARC T1. while the prospect of a world flooded with knock offs seems unlikely, there could be versions of the chip turning up in embedded systems running Linux for example.

Far more likely though is that software developers will be able to use the code to create applications which are tightly integrated with the hardware.

The company says that more details of the initiative will emerge in the early months of next year. In the meantime, for more details and the chance to join in the developers' community, go to the OpenSPARC website.