Sun to shed light on supercomputing

Sun is looking to optical communications to carry out a radical supercomputer redesign.

The server specialist will use technology from Luxtera, a 40-person start-up based to connect chips directly via optical links, the companies plan to announce on Monday. The alliance will use Luxtera's silicon ring modulator.

Sun already is employing one novel technology, proximity communication, in a supercomputer design underwritten by the US Department of Defense. The proximity interconnect lets overlapping chips communicate directly. That feature, combined with Luxtera's longer-distance optical connections, raises the possibility of building a computer with no electrical wires except the tiny ones within the chips themselves.

"Proximity communication brings high-bandwidth, low-latency data transfer between chips," said Mike Vildibill, the director of product planning for the Sun supercomputer. The technology partnership means that many more computing components can now be connected, he added. "With Luxtera, we're extending that incredible bandwidth to the module-to-module and rack-to-rack realms," he said.

Although a Sun computer using the Luxtera links won't be ready for years, the deal will be seen as a significant step toward the adoption of blending optical and silicon technologies. The companies plan to demonstrate a simple version of their technology at the SC05 supercomputing show in Seattle this week.

Optical networks have been around for decades, but to connect large computers over long distances. Squeezing fast optical systems to connect chips inside a smaller computer is a daunting task, because optical parts can't be shrunk easily.

Combining the cheap techniques for producing silicon and wire chips with fast optical technology has been a dream of Luxtera, but also IBM and Intel.

Although the first Luxtera products will transfer data at 10Gbps — the top speed of conventional networks today — the technology demonstration at SC05 will be of next-generation technology reaching 40Gbps, said Ashok Krishnamoorthy, a Sun distinguished engineer.

The higher speed is attained by sending four wavelengths of light through the same fibre optic cable, a technology known as dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM).

The companies didn't disclose terms of their deal. But it could be important for Luxtera: Sun will start using the optical interconnect...

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