The extension of Sun Microsystems Inc’s relationship with Fujitsu Ltd on the Sparc chip sees the two agreeing to collaborate on development of future Sparcs rather than develop from the basic architecture in competition. Sun’s principal Sparc partner is currently Texas Instruments Inc, and it is thought that that agreement is unaffected by the one with Fujitsu, which has long wanted a higher profile in the Sparc world and bought two Sparc houses, Ross Technology and Hal Computer Systems last year. The new agreement aims to avoid duplication in research and development of Sparc chips, and instead, the combined budget of $500m already set by the two companies will now be applied to complementary design efforts. Fujitsu, already a big Sun reseller in Japan, is stepping up its distribution and servicing of Sun’s products even further, and the two signed patent cross-licences.
