It has been in the process for a while, as I have heard Intel has had the processor design for a while but is holding off to make the most money out of its gradual step process. But engineers at IBM, Sony and Toshiba have been working at the design for the PS3 Console that will be out in 2006.
Code named Cell, the processor will have 8 plus processing cores that work in parallel. It will also need a processing core that is used as a controller. The current processors of the day have no more than 2 cores on board, so this is a large jump. The processor is designed for tight security, DRM (Digital Rights Management) and also Grid computing over broadband networks. (If you haven't heard about the grid I highly recommend you read
THIS.
Since this chip is based on tight security programs cannot run free on systems which will be great to fight against the hated ad-aware programs and malware. But to the other extreme it will be a huge step in stopping piracy in the sense preventing an unauthorized program from taking DRM secure streams from the Internet. Also to note that the next generation Game Consoles will be outstanding. How do I know this? Well it turns out that ATI has joined forces with Microsoft to come out with its XBOX 2 and so on demand NVidia has signed into with Sony for its Playstation3. I would defiantly want to check out Playstation3 with this new Cell technology
Wrote this review for
www.yankidank.com check it out its a nice tech/gaming website.
What I want to know if anyone knows anything about How Linux is going to play into this. Is anyone from the Linux Community looking into the Processor Code Named Cell? If anyone has any information on this, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
~Bryon
