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	Some SPARC Stories From Press Announcements

SunFLASH Vol 16 #2 					 	April 1990 
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These three SPARC stories were recently issued to the press. I am
forwarding them for your interest. Doing so does not constitute an
endorsement by Sun Microsystems. This is going to be a very
interesting year for SPARC ! - johnj
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  VLSI, HYUNDAI, METAFLOW PLAN LIGHTNING 80 MIPS SUPER-SPARC

LSI Logic Inc hopes to ride the Sun Microsystems Sparc to turn 
itself into a major player in the merchant microprocessor 
market, and following its move to offer a building block chip 
set for cloning the Sparcstation-1 (UX No 275), the Milpitas 
company has teamed up with Metaflow Technologies Inc, the San 
Diego company working on a 100 MIPS ECL Sparc (UX No 194) and 
Hyundai Electronics America, San Jose to develop the next 
generation Sparc chip.  The new part, code-named Lightning, is 
to be the basis of the next generation of high-performance 
RISC-based personal workstations to be introduced by Hyundai 
in 1991.  All three expect that the Lightning will be the 
highest performance CMOS processor available in the 1990s, 
initially doing 80 MIPS on most compiled programs.  It will be 
based on a unique architecture developed by Metaflow that is 
claimed to improve efficiency and performance significantly, 
and Hyundai has acquired the rights to the technology.  
Planned for first half 1991, Lightning instructions will be 
executed out-of-order and execution will continue on 
speculation beyond unresolved branches as well as executing 
multiple instructions concurrently, while retaining full 
compatibility.

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   TATUNG, SOLBOURNE TO DO BATTLE OVER LOW-END SPARC GROUND

Solbourne Computer Inc, preparing to cut its entry-level price 
with a new low-end Sparc compatible system due out this autumn, 
will face competition from Sparc-licensee Tatung Co, which
previewed its own low-end Sparc system at Hanover recently.
Taiwanese manufacturer Tatung said that its Sparc-based TWS 7000 
workstation would be out later this year: it is expected to sell 
for under $10,000. The Tatung TWS 7000 runs the SunOS operating 
system, has a VME bus and in-built Ethernet, and from 8-64Mb 
memory and 110Mb hard disk. Meanwhile, Solbourne is preparing a 
low-end machine based around a custom version of the Sparc chip 
rated at 20-25 MIPS and developed in conjunction with its parent
company Matsushita - the two have also been working on a 40
MIPS, 64-bit implementation (UX No 270). The machines, expected
to be volume sellers, and also with a price tag of under $10,000,
will be manufactured and assembled by Matsushita in the Chicago
area, according to Digital Review. Tatung first revealed its
Sparc intentions back in June 1989 (UX No 237) along with fellow
Tiawanese manufacturer Datatech: Fujitsu Limited is also thought
to be preparing for its own entry into the Sparc-based
workstation market. 

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Cypress Semiconductor Corp, San Jose has abandoned plans for a 
single chip BiCMOS version of its 7C600 Sparc chip set in 
favour of a two-chip all CMOS approach: it looks for a 0.65 
triple-layer metal set that executes two instructions per 
cycle and would deliver 80 MIPS in a dual processor 
configuration; and, breaking all the rules about high-tech 
companies conserving cash, it says it plans to buy in up to 2m 
of its shares in the market; the company did not give any 
reason for spending its cash in that way.

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Sunflash is an electronic mail news service from Sun Microsystems,
Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Please address comments to John McLaughlin
(sun!sunvice!johnj or johnj@sunvice.East.Sun.COM). (305) 776-7770.