Mercury Computer Systems Inc said yesterday it would use the Cell to build new computer systems for its enterprise customers. Mercury also struck a deal with IBM’s Engineering and Technology Services group to build new Cell-based systems for joint customers.
Cell, which boasts a PowerPC microprocessor and eight processing cores, promises 10 times faster raw performance in computing. The gaming world has gobbled Cell up since its release about four months ago.
Our plan is to take Cell and drive it into other peripheral applications, which needed this computing power but couldn’t afford it, said Raj Desai, IBM engineering and technology services VP.
Desai also said he expects Cell would drive a significant part of IBM’s so-called business performance transformation services, in which the company retools customers’ business processes.
IBM and Mercury aren’t yet naming their customers for Cell. However, IBM has been talking for the past couple of months with a telecommunications customer on using a Cell-based system for networking applications, Desai said. This customer may release a Cell-enabled product as early as next year, he said.
The Cell processor, developed by IBM, Toshiba and Sony, was designed for graphics-intensive as well as number-crunching applications.
The likes of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo already have signed volume orders for Cell to make their next-generation gaming machines purr.
As a result, and as is typically the case with new high-end processors, the price of Cell is beginning to fall, which has opened the door for other types of applications.
Mercury, which has been talking with IBM about Cell for the past two years, said it now is able to map applications using the processor.
And Mercury expects Cell would become universal in its line of tailor-made products, said Mercury chief technology officer Craig Lund.
Because the cell processor in our kind of applications offers such a performance boost it cuts across markets, Lund said.
Mercury is keeping tight lipped on exactly what products will get Cell technology and its customers, but said applications include radar, sonar, MRI and digital X-ray.
We have high hopes for this product set, which optimistically would lead to be a significant portion of our business, said Joel Radford, VP of strategic marketing for Mercury, which is based in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.
