Sony develops Cell-based computer platform
updated 01:15 pm EDT, Wed August 1, 2007
PS3-based Cell computer
Sony says that next week's SIGGRAPH show, it will demonstrate a preliminary computer board based on the Cell processor, the same one used in the company's PlayStation 3 game console. Designed primarily by IBM, in tandem with Sony and Toshiba, the Cell has one main processor and eight sub-processors, helping to make it the fastest of the current console CPUs.
IDG News reports that the Cell Computing Board is small enough to fit in a 1U-size server, and is being paired with the RSX graphics processor, also used in the PS3. The new board is mostly likely intended for advanced 3D or video work; Toshiba displayed Cell-based capture and streaming hardware at 2006's Ceatec expo. The platform's future may be in doubt though, since a recent patent lawsuit suggests that the Cell concept belongs to the Parallel Processing Corporation.
