Cell processor

Part of the TechTarget Network of Enterprise IT Web Sites

Search our IT-specific encyclopedia for:
 
Browse alphabetically:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #
All Categories Microprocessors

Cell processor

The Cell processor (also called CELL) is a microprocessor chip with a multi-core , parallel processing architecture and floating-point design. The chip, the prototype for which was introduced early in 2005, is the product of a team of engineers from IBM, Sony Group, and Toshiba Corporation.

The Cell processor has 234 million transistor s, measures 235 square millimeters (mm2) in size, can run at speeds of more than 4 gigahertz ( GHz ), has a memory bandwidth of 25.6 gigabyte s per second (GBps), and has an input/output (I/O) bandwidth of 76.8 GBps . There are nine core s, one of which is the equivalent of a PowerPC chip and acts as the controller. The other eight cores are vector processor s, each of which is capable of 32 billion (thousand-million) floating point operations per second ( GFLOPS ). The Cell processor has a multi-channel memory subsystem along with several high-speed interconnects for I/O devices or other Cell processors.

The Cell processor can support multiple operating system s running simultaneously. It is expected to find applications in multimedia, gaming, smart home s, and desktop supercomputing.



Read more about it at:
> John Stokes discusses the Cell processor concept.
> Nicholas Blachford explains the Cell processor architecture.
> Real World Technologies provides a detailed technical discussion.
Last updated on: Aug 15, 2005

>  Enterprise Software related Research & News
>  White Papers for the Retail Industry

Are you a Know-IT-All?
What language does a computer speak? (Hint: It consists of 0's and 1's)
Answer

word of the day Get the Word of the Day
twitter Follow us on Twitter

WORD OF THE DAY...
teach box
LEARN MORE ABOUT...
ERP software for manufacturing
USA Contributors
Worldwide Contributors
Awards and Recognition
Our 60+ tech-specific sites
WhatIs.com RSS Feeds
About Us   |   Contact Us   |   For Advertisers   |   For Business Partners   |   Reprints   |   RSS   |   Awards
TechTarget provides enterprise IT professionals with the information they need to perform their jobs - from developing strategy, to making cost-effective IT purchase decisions and managing their organizations' IT projects - with its network of technology-specific Web sites, events and magazines.

TechTarget Corporate Web Site  |  Media Kits  |  Reprints




All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2008, TechTarget | Read our Privacy Policy
  TechTarget - The IT Media ROI Experts