Sun Fire E25K
| Industry | Computer hardware |
|---|---|
| Founded | February 24, 1982 |
| Fate | Acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2010 |
| Headquarters | Santa Clara, California , United States |
| Products | Sun Fire 15K, Sun Fire 12K, Sun Fire E25K |
The Sun Fire 15K (also known by its codename Starcat) represented a high-end server computer developed by Sun Microsystems, utilizing the SPARC V9 architecture. It was unveiled on September 25, 2001, as the successor to the Sun Enterprise 10000, with availability beginning in January 2002 and production ceasing in May 2005.
This system accommodated as many as 106 UltraSPARC III processors operating at speeds up to 1.2 GHz, or alternatively, 72 UltraSPARC IV processors running up to 1.35 GHz, delivering a total of 288 threads distributed over 18 system boards known as Uniboards. When configured with UltraSPARC III CPUs, up to 17 dual-socket "MaxCPU" processor cards could be installed in place of I/O mezzanine cards—a setup that was not supported for UltraSPARC IV processors. The maximum memory capacity reached 576 GB per system, complemented by as many as 72 PCI I/O slots.
The architecture allowed division into 18 isolated domains, each operating independently with separate filesystems and capable of running different versions of Solaris. Through Dynamic Reconfiguration features, system administrators could reallocate memory and processor resources among domains to adapt to changing operational requirements. Management duties such as booting and shutting down domains and assigning Uniboards were handled by two redundant system controllers—embedded SPARC units running Solaris. The Sun Fire 15K contained minimal onboard storage and depended on external storage solutions connected via SAN.
Sun Fire 12K
Introduced in April 2002, the Sun Fire 12K (codename Starkitty) was a more compact alternative to the 15K. It supported up to 52 processors and was positioned in Sun's product line between the high-end 15K and the Sun Fire 6800, targeting midrange enterprise needs.
Sun Fire E25K
The Sun Fire E25K (codenamed Amazon 25), announced in February 2004, utilized the same chassis as the Sun Fire 15K but incorporated enhanced processor boards. This model reached end-of-life in January 2009 and was succeeded by the Sun SPARC Enterprise M9000 server.
Supporting up to 72 dual-core UltraSPARC IV+ processors clocked at up to 1.95 GHz, the E25K did not offer the "MaxCPU" configuration option. It achieved an aggregate bandwidth of up to 172.8 GB/s and maintained sustained I/O throughput of as much as 35.8 GB/s. Memory per board could reach up to 64 GB, allowing a total maximum RAM capacity of approximately 1.15 TB per domain. The system featured up to 72 hot-swappable PCI-X I/O slots—54 operating at 90 MHz and 18 at 33 MHz—supporting various network and storage protocols including Ethernet, UltraSCSI, ATM, FC-AL, HSI, and SCI.