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IBM, Sony debut ‘Cell’ chip
IBM and Sony have unveiled the first workstation powered by the next-generation Cell processor. Details about the high-performance technology were announced early this week by the two companies and co-developer Toshiba.
The Cell chip promises to provide computer-grade processing power to hardware that can take advantage of high-speed broadband network access. Using massive data bandwidth and floating-point capabilities, coupled with a parallel-processing architecture, Cell technology expands the platform for creating digital content across the film and videogame entertainment industries.
The three partners project that a Cell processor-based workstation will reach a performance of 16 teraflops, or trillions of floating point calculations per second.
In taking the wraps off the new hardware, the three companies explained that Cell is a multi-core chip based on IBM’s 64-bit power processor architecture. It supports multiple operating systems, with bus bandwidth to and from main memory, as well as companion chips.
Other features include an on-chip input-output interface and integrated intellectual property protection.
IBM will begin pilot production of Cell microprocessors at its 300mm wafer fabrication facility in the first half of 2005. Sony expects to launch home servers for broadband content as well as high-definition television (HDTV) systems powered by Cell in 2006. Sony also is preparing the next-generation PlayStation 3 system that will run on Cell.
Partner Toshiba expects to launch its first Cell-based high-definition television in 2006.
The requirements for computing power in digital-content creation in the entertainment industry have risen with the use of photo-realistic and special effects commonly found in today’s films. Similarly, the creation of computer entertainment applications demands high levels of computing power.
This movement will trigger a convergence of digital entertainment content that can be enabled through the common Cell-based development environment, the companies said. The integration and availability of content created in the Cell-based environment will enable users to experience a real-time “cyber world” through the broadband network.
Armchair spy
Vincent Tao, an engineer at Toronto’s York University said he has invented a mapping and surveillance tool called See Anywhere, Map Anywhere (SAME) that produces images so sharp that geographic co-ordinates typed into a website can reveal the make of a car parked on the street.
Tao said SAME works by taking satellite images of the Earth and combining them with real-time remote sensors that monitor traffic and weather.
The information is reformatted on a searchable website that can capture ground-level images of the Earth with little or no time delay.
The resolution is 2 feet — fine enough to determine the make of a car, though not the details of a human face, according to Tao.
“This is real-time streaming technology. It’s like (the online directory) MapQuest or the navigation system in your car, but three-dimensional,” he said this week.
Tao said the potential applications are broad, including defense, emergency response and environmental monitoring and the technology would be available soon.
‘Skulls’ presents no threat
A computer program known as “Skulls” with potentially destructive capability aimed at advanced mobile devices was seen as a low threat because it had not targeted consumers, security software maker McAfee announced on November 29.
“(It) is a low threat but I think the significance is the fact this is the third threat this year targeting mobile devices,” said Vincent Gullotto, vice president of the anti-virus emergency response team at McAfee.
Gullotto said Skulls was sent to security firms, not to consumers, as a so-called “proof of concept” a little over a week ago. Gullotto said Skulls was written for devices running on the Symbian operating system used by many handheld devices. The author of Skulls was not yet known, he added.
Software security companies and handset makers, like Finland’s Nokia have been gearing up to launch products intended to secure cell phones from variants of the internet viruses that have become a scourge for personal computer users.
Computer security experts have said the threat of viruses to advanced handheld devices, like smartphones, remains small for now, due in part to the range of handheld technologies in the market. This is unlike PC operating software, which is dominated by Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
McAfee classified Skulls as a “trojan horse,” or a program that can lurk on a device without a user knowing it.
If Skulls is installed on a device it will cause all application icons to be replaced with pictures of skull and cross bones, leaving a user with phone only capability, according to Finnish security software firm F-Secure. — Sci-tech World Report
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