Sun Microsystems Rolls Out Eco-Responsibility Initiative

Sun Microsystems today detailed how it is marrying eco-friendly product design with high-performance technologies at its Summit on 21st Century Eco-Responsibility. The company also announced the introduction of its UltraSPARC T1 processor, which is a new server chip designed for eco-responsibility.

The company says its new chip can deliver more performance while requiring less electricity than competing microprocessors because it has eight computing engines on a single chip, with each core capable of handling up to four tasks at once. It expects to ship systems based on the processor by the end of the year.

The new release was announced as thought-leaders across business, academia and environmental groups gathered to discuss how the emerging energy crisis coupled with the growth of the global technology network has resulted in massive increases in energy costs and product consumption. The panelists at the summit also discussed what actions can be taken to adopt practices and design technologies that consume less and deliver more. 

The summit was held as part of Sun's eco-friendly initiatives that are intended to address energy-efficiency issues in the technology sector, just as as they are in industries such as automotive manufacturing. In a statement released by Sun Microsystems, the company's president Jonathan Schwartz said, "It's time the technology industry took a stand — tripling your datacenter performance shouldn't mean tripling your power bill and needing more coal-fired plants."