Sun is looking to make blades based on x86-compatible processors in addition to faster embedded when the servers launch later this year. The company told us that x86 would be option alongside SPARC, but wouldn't comment on any specifics of the latter.
According to reliable sources familiar with the project, a faster version of the UltraSPARC IIe processor will form the core of the Sun blade. Clocked at 650Mhz and 700Mhz, the faster IIe, like its lower frequency predecessors, includes the memory controller and PCI on the chip. Sun plans to wring more speed out of the two-year old IIe, with frequencies topping out at 1.1Mhz before it's eventually superseded by the IIIe. But that's a couple of years out.
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