SPARC Enterprise
| Company type | Product line |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer hardware |
| Predecessor | Sun Fire servers, PRIMEPOWER series |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Founder | Sun Microsystems, Fujitsu |
| Defunct | 2015 (brand retired by Fujitsu) |
| Fate | Brand renamed by Oracle in 2010; discontinued by Fujitsu in 2015 |
| Successor | SPARC T-Series (Oracle), SPARC Servers (Fujitsu) |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | UNIX server computers |
| Owner | Sun Microsystems, Fujitsu, Oracle Corporation (after acquisition) |
The SPARC Enterprise family represents a series of UNIX server computers developed collaboratively by Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu, built upon the SPARC V9 architecture. Initially announced in 2004 and officially introduced in 2007, these servers were distributed under the unified "SPARC Enterprise" label by Sun Microsystems (which later became part of Oracle Corporation), Fujitsu, and Fujitsu Siemens Computers. This product line succeeded Sun's Sun Fire servers and Fujitsu's PRIMEPOWER series. The internal development codename for this initiative was APL (Advanced Product Line).
Starting in 2010, Oracle renamed servers powered by the newer SPARC CMT processors (SPARC T3 and subsequent models) as the SPARC T-Series, thereby retiring the "SPARC Enterprise" brand. Meanwhile, Fujitsu continued to sell SPARC T-Series machines under the SPARC Enterprise name until December 2015. Following the launch of the SPARC M10 in 2013, Fujitsu transitioned to marketing these systems as "SPARC Servers," while still offering both M-Series and T-Series products under this refreshed branding.
Model range
| Model | Height (RU) | Maximum processors | Processor speed | Maximum memory | Maximum disk capacity | General availability date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M3000 | 2 | 1× SPARC64 VII or VII+ | 2.52, 2.75 GHz (VII) or 2.86 GHz (VII+) | 64 GB | 4× 2.5-inch SAS drives | October 2008 (2.52 GHz), February 2010 (2.75 GHz), April 2011 (VII+) |
| M4000 | 6 | Up to 4× SPARC64 VI, VII or VII+ | 2.15 GHz (VI), 2.53 GHz (VII), or 2.66 GHz (VII+) | 256 GB | 2× 2.5-inch SAS drives | April 2007 (VI), July 2008 (VII), December 2010 (VII+) |
| M5000 | 10 | Up to 8× SPARC64 VI, VII or VII+ | Same as M4000 | 512 GB | 4× 2.5-inch SAS drives | April 2007 (VI), July 2008 (VII), December 2010 (VII+) |
| M8000 | N/A | Supports up to 16× SPARC64 VI, VII, or VII+ | Up to 3.0 GHz (VII+) | 1 TB | 16× 2.5-inch SAS drives | April 2007 (VI), July 2008 (VII), December 2010 (VII+) |
| M9000 | N/A | Supports up to 64× SPARC64 VI, VII, or VII+ | Up to 3.0 GHz (VII+) | Up to 4 TB | 64× 2.5-inch SAS drives | April 2007 (VI), July 2008 (VII), December 2010 (VII+) |
| T1000 | 1 | Single UltraSPARC T1 at 1.0 GHz | 32 GB | One SATA or two SAS drives | March 2006 | |
| T2000 | 2 | Single UltraSPARC T1 up to 1.4 GHz | 64 GB | Up to four SAS drives | December 2005 | |
| T5120 / T5140 / T5220 / T5240 / T5440 | Rack sizes ranging from 1 to 4 RU | UltraSPARC T2 and T2+ processors, available in single or dual CPU configurations up to four processors | Clock speeds between1.2 and1.6 GHz | Memory capacity up to512 GB | SAS drive options from eight to sixteen units | Released between November2007 and October2008 |
SPARC64 processor-based models (M-series)
Servers equipped with midrange and high-end SPARC64 VI, SPARC64 VII, and SPARC64 VII+ processors are classified within the "M-series," highlighting their Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS) capabilities comparable to mainframe-level systems.
- M3000 – single processor socket in a compact 2U rack-mount chassis
- M4000 – accommodates up to four processors within a 6U rack unit
- M5000 – supports up to eight processor sockets housed in a10U rack enclosure
- M8000 – designed for up to sixteen processors occupying a full data center rack
- M9000 – scalable up to sixty-four processors across one or two full data center racks
Processor Variants
The SPARC64 VI processor features dual cores, each capable of two-way vertical multi-threading (VMT). When an M9000 is fully equipped with processors, it can handle up to 256 simultaneous threads. VMT operates by switching execution between threads upon events such as L2 cache misses or interrupts, which necessitate pipeline flushes.
Fujitsu launched the SPARC64 VII in 2008, a quad-core chip offering two-way simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) per core. Existing M-series systems can be upgraded to this processor without hardware replacement.
In 2010, the SPARC64 VII+ arrived with enhanced clock frequencies and an expanded L2 cache. Both VII and VII+ variants contain four physical cores that each run two threads concurrently, eliminating context-switch overhead. These threads alternate execution cycles to optimize superscalar instruction dispatch and share execution units effectively.
A notable feature of the M-series is its support for mixed processor generations and diverse clock speeds within a single system. This flexibility allows servers to operate SPARC64 VI and VII CPUs at their individual native frequencies without reducing performance.
Performance Benchmarks
On April 17, 2007, the Sun SPARC Enterprise M9000 reached a LINPACK benchmark result of 1.032 TFLOPS, establishing it as the fastest single-node supercomputer at that time.
On May 2, 2008, the M9000 set a new global record on the TPC-H data warehousing benchmark at the 1-terabyte scale utilizing Oracle Database.
As of February 19, 2009, the SPARC Enterprise M8000 holds world records for 64-thread performance on the SPEC OMP2001 benchmark across both medium and large workload categories.
UltraSPARC T Processor-Based Systems (T-series)
The Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers based on UltraSPARC T1 were rebranded under the SPARC Enterprise line:
- T1000 – single-socket processor in a 1U rack-mount chassis
- T2000 – single-socket processor housed in a 2U rack-mount enclosure
In October 2007, Sun released servers powered by UltraSPARC T2 processors:
- T5120 – single-socket processor, 1U rack-mount
- T5220 – single-socket processor, 2U rack-mount
April 2008 saw the introduction of UltraSPARC T2 Plus-based models:
- T5140 – dual-processor configuration in a 1U rack-mount form factor
- T5240 – dual-processor setup within a 2U rack-mount chassis
The UltraSPARC T2 Plus platform expanded further in October 2008 with a four-processor SMP system:
- T5440 – quad-processor unit occupying a 4U rack space
Supported Operating Systems
SPARC Enterprise hardware is certified to operate with both Solaris 10 and Solaris 11 operating systems.
Partitioning and Virtualization Capabilities
M-series servers incorporate Dynamic Domains alongside Dynamic Reconfiguration, facilitating multiple electrically isolated partitions within a single physical system.
UltraSPARC T1 and T2/T2+ platforms utilize Logical Domains technology for partitioning purposes.
Both M-series and T-series models support Solaris Containers, enabling deployment of up to 8191 non-global zones per Dynamic or Logical Domain instance.
External links
- SPARC Servers (Oracle)
- SPARC Enterprise (Japanese, archived 2017-08-14)
- Fujitsu Siemens SPARC Enterprise Servers (Europe, Africa, Middle East markets, archived 2009-02-09)
- UNIX Servers SPARC Enterprise (Fujitsu global)
- Fujitsu Computer Systems SPARC Enterprise Servers (North America, archived 2014-10-13)