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Trio are to open the Cell
IBM will unlock door to Cell
W00t! 
I suspect IBM would like to repeat the runaway success of it's PC, which followed a similar path of openness.
San Jose, Calif. — The three developers of the Cell processor are preparing to release full chip specifications and software libraries in an effort to rally the open-source community around the device that powers the Sony Playstation 3. With the outlook for the multicore chip's use beyond Sony's internal systems cloudy at best, the partners are hoping to spark its uptake in applications ranging from HDTVs to supercomputers.
The IBM Corp. fellow who led the design team said his company currently has no plans to make Cell-based chips for its own systems or for the merchant market. Instead, IBM has set up a team in its engineering services division to help others custom-design versions of Cell that could be made in IBM's fabs.
A representative of Toshiba Corp., the development partner most likely to pursue the merchant market with Cell-based designs, said the company will release hardware reference designs and a software development platform for Cell. Details about the cost and timing of those products were not available. Toshiba has said it would use the chip in a television set in 2006.
In this light, IBM, Toshiba and the third Cell partner, Sony Corp., are turning to the open-source community to drum up interest in the architecture.
"Our intention is to open up the Cell software architecture. The idea is to get the industry to help us evolve the basic software layers," said IBM's Jim Kahle, the Cell team leader.
The three companies are now doing a final review of a Cell architecture specification that could be released to software developers by the end of May. It will include details of more than 200 new instructions used in the specialized cores inside Cell. The group also plans to release open-source software libraries for Cell as early as this fall.
The IBM Corp. fellow who led the design team said his company currently has no plans to make Cell-based chips for its own systems or for the merchant market. Instead, IBM has set up a team in its engineering services division to help others custom-design versions of Cell that could be made in IBM's fabs.
A representative of Toshiba Corp., the development partner most likely to pursue the merchant market with Cell-based designs, said the company will release hardware reference designs and a software development platform for Cell. Details about the cost and timing of those products were not available. Toshiba has said it would use the chip in a television set in 2006.
In this light, IBM, Toshiba and the third Cell partner, Sony Corp., are turning to the open-source community to drum up interest in the architecture.
"Our intention is to open up the Cell software architecture. The idea is to get the industry to help us evolve the basic software layers," said IBM's Jim Kahle, the Cell team leader.
The three companies are now doing a final review of a Cell architecture specification that could be released to software developers by the end of May. It will include details of more than 200 new instructions used in the specialized cores inside Cell. The group also plans to release open-source software libraries for Cell as early as this fall.
I suspect IBM would like to repeat the runaway success of it's PC, which followed a similar path of openness.