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Sony, IBM partner for digital media workstations
Los Angeles, May 12: Sony and IBM on Tuesday said they would work together to develop computer workstations for creating advanced digital content like movies and video games, running the secretive `Cell` processor that they have jointly designed.
Los Angeles, May 12: Sony and IBM on Tuesday said they would work together to develop computer workstations for creating advanced digital content like movies and video games, running the secretive "Cell" processor that they have jointly designed.
In a press conference at the annual E3 video game industry trade show, Sony said "Cell"-based systems would be the main tool developers would use to make video games for its next generation of hardware.
Sony also said the first prototype stations using the "Cell" chip would be built in the fourth quarter of 2004. The machines themselves will be developed by IBM, with software and development tools from Sony.
Relatively little is known about "Cell," on which Toshiba Corp is also a partner, other than it is intended to use cutting-edge production techniques and to be more powerful than rival products on the market today.
Most have speculated that "Cell" would power the PlayStation 3, Sony's next game console, expected to launch in 2006. Sony's PS2 has a commanding share of the global game hardware marketplace.
Jim Kahle, a fellow in IBM's microelectronics division in Austin , Texas , and one of the company's chief architects of processor technology, told Reuters the workstations reflected the fact that the company was well along the way on its design of "Cell." "We've done a lot of work in the design center for proof of concept," he said. "I think the original 'Cell' vision was not (for) any one product."
Kahle said it was too soon to talk about some of the production specifics of "Cell," like the manufacturing process that would be used to make the chip or how soon it will be coming off production lines in volume.
But he said the chip would address many of the problems inherent in chip-making today, such as the difficulty of producing processors with smaller and smaller features, while keeping down their power requirements and heat output.
He also said he was spending 20 percent to 30 percent of his time thinking about products to follow up on "Cell," which is built to be reconfigured easily and without extensive redesign of the hardware itself.
"We're being fairly general purpose about it," he said. Bureau Report
In a press conference at the annual E3 video game industry trade show, Sony said "Cell"-based systems would be the main tool developers would use to make video games for its next generation of hardware.
Sony also said the first prototype stations using the "Cell" chip would be built in the fourth quarter of 2004. The machines themselves will be developed by IBM, with software and development tools from Sony.
Relatively little is known about "Cell," on which Toshiba Corp is also a partner, other than it is intended to use cutting-edge production techniques and to be more powerful than rival products on the market today.
Most have speculated that "Cell" would power the PlayStation 3, Sony's next game console, expected to launch in 2006. Sony's PS2 has a commanding share of the global game hardware marketplace.
Jim Kahle, a fellow in IBM's microelectronics division in Austin , Texas , and one of the company's chief architects of processor technology, told Reuters the workstations reflected the fact that the company was well along the way on its design of "Cell." "We've done a lot of work in the design center for proof of concept," he said. "I think the original 'Cell' vision was not (for) any one product."
Kahle said it was too soon to talk about some of the production specifics of "Cell," like the manufacturing process that would be used to make the chip or how soon it will be coming off production lines in volume.
But he said the chip would address many of the problems inherent in chip-making today, such as the difficulty of producing processors with smaller and smaller features, while keeping down their power requirements and heat output.
He also said he was spending 20 percent to 30 percent of his time thinking about products to follow up on "Cell," which is built to be reconfigured easily and without extensive redesign of the hardware itself.
"We're being fairly general purpose about it," he said. Bureau Report