The Cray Research Inc-Sun Microsystems Inc deal under which the two companies are to collaborate on developing Floating Point Systems Inc’s multiprocessor Sparc-based technology further (CI No 1,844) took two years to put together. Sun was very anxious to close it, as it needed someone working on a high-end non-massively parallel multi-processor, way above where Sun will go in the near future – and one that will run all Sparc applications. The deal proved elusive until a facilitator was found in the person of Cray’s acquisition of the assets of Floating Point, which provided a compass point and a way for Cray to work with Sun, as well as an immediate entry into the Sparcsystem marketplace. Sun officials responsible say it is in no way a financial deal – Sun doesn’t expect to make any money from it directly. It’s an engineering deal unlike any other, with Sun sharing none of its treasures with anyone else. Cray will springboard off Sun’s Dragon development, and will use some low-power, high-speed technology Sun has in its treasure house. Cray Research reportedly has yet to write a full-blown product specification. And according to Electronic News, Sun is still hopeful of wooing Cray away from its predilection for Digital Equipment Corp’s Alpha RISC and over to the Sparc for its long-term massively parallel processor effort.
