Sun Tests New MAJC Processor

Sun recently displayed its Microprocessor Architecture for Java Computing graphics chip to the public. The 'MAJC' chip is designed to deliver superior processing for multimedia, and is set to ship soon. The processor recently completed the engineering stage, and is now being manufactured by IBM Microelectronics.

Announced last August, the MAJC processor is based on a completely new technology. It aims to include multiprocessor support to speed the overall performance of graphics, video and speech recognition in computing applications. Although the new chip operates alongside your current media hardware, it will greatly increase performance for broadband services. "People want to have video on demand and browse the Web in 3-D. However, the (network) infrastructure needs to be enabled, and so do the servers," stated chief architect for MAJC, Marc Tremblay.

Sun's new chip will debut as a graphics processor, however Tremblay's team has plans to use MAJC to liven up the Internet in many ways, including strengthening performance on Web servers. MAJC can be used to decrypt Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) transmissions, and other e-commerce-related tasks, as well as enabling greater graphics performance. "We've gone from (3-D) television to basically flat Web pages, the Web is pretty boring," he said.

Also, the MAJC chip will be incorporated into machines other than PCs. Sun Microsystems is working with other networking vendors to incorporate the new processor into network infrastructures. It may also show up in cell-phone base stations, copiers and fax machines.