Sony revealed new details on Monday on the chip that will power the next PlayStation and said development is on track to deliver products based on the chip next year.
Sony and partners IBM and Toshiba said in a joint statement that IBM is ready to begin pilot production next year on the "Cell" processor jointly developed by the companies.
The first product to use the Cell will be a workstation PC jointly developed by Sony and IBM and set to go on sale in 2005. That's machine is intended mainly for creating computer animation and enabling other demanding graphics tasks. Both Sony and Toshiba expect to begin selling high-definition TV sets powered by the Cell in 2006.
Sony has also confirmed the Cell will power the next version of its market-leading PlayStation game console. Sony executives have said they will show a prototype of the next PlayStation at the E3 trade show next May, but no on-sale date has been confirmed.
In addition to confirming product plans, Monday's statement from the companies included new technical details on the Cell, the subject of considerable speculation and obsessive secrecy since the companies announced development plans three years ago.
Cell will have multiple "cores", or processing units, based on IBM's Power architecture and optimised for multimedia applications, according to the statement. Processor cores will divide computing tasks and share information using adaptations of parallel and distributed computing methods that allow multiple computers to work on a single task, according to the statement.
"The progressive breakdown of barriers between personal computers and digital consumer electronics requires dramatic enhancements in the capabilities and performance of consumer electronics," Masashi Muromachi, president and CEO of Toshiba's semiconductor division, said in the statement. "The Cell processor meets these requirements with a multi-processor architecture and a structure able to support high-level media processing. Development of this unsurpassed, high-performance processor is well underway, carried forward by dedicated teamwork and state-of-the-art expertise from Toshiba, Sony Group and IBM."
Cell will also incorporate new power-saving techniques and allow for on-chip systems to protect copyright works, according to the statement. The chip will be built using equipment capable of creating circuits as small as 90nm, the companies said, reversing an earlier commitment to build the chip using advanced 65nm processes still under development.
The companies said they would offer further technical details on Cell in papers to be presented at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference scheduled for 6 February to 10 February, 2005, in San Francisco.
Talkback
I am looking forward to see PS3 but I would like to ask if you know what the price will be to buy it.
What I'm looking for is 1080p HDTV streaming via broadband. Bundle internet broadband and TV broadcasting and pay one low monthly bill - like the new internet and IP phone bundle. No more everlasting downloads, no more crappy streaming, just crystal clear Hi-def content from my Cell based SONY HDTV and home server.
And while I'm at it, I can program my home server (which hopefully doubles as a PVR) to record a whole days worth of HD programing on my Blu-ray Disc. I imagine a 1080p webcam with IP telephony, talking to relatives across the globe on my 50" HDTV. Can the Cell processor make my dream a reality by say year '08?
If the chip can work a Playstation, then I hope the workstations will also be reasonably priced. The current $20k uncompressed HD editing systems are out of reach for the indie-editor. And if it's cheap enough for a gaming console why not a PC? I think its broadband capabilities will be the biggest selling point for the average consumer. If the price is right - ditch your Pentium!
Built-in DRM? Drop the dead donkey!