The very first sentence of the article got my attention. “The eagerly anticipated Cell processor from IBM, Toshiba and Sony leverages a multicore 64-bit Power architecture with an embedded streaming processor, high-speed I/O, SRAM and dynamic multiplier in an effort, the partners hope, to revolutionize distributed computing architectures.” Two things immediately jumped out at me. First, the 64-bit nature of the Cell processor. Linux already has had 64-bit capabilities for some time now while Windows has just released Windows XP 64-bit. Second, the Cell processor will have a Power architecture. Linux can run on many different architectures: Intel x86, PowerPC, and SPARC just to name a few. Based on these two aspects I would theorize that the OS choice for systems running a Cell processor will initially be Linux. I am sure that Microsoft will jump into the market if the Cell processor design becomes a standard chip design. The design itself is also interesting. The Cell processor is not a single processor like we have in our computers today. Rather, it is composed of multiple “processing elements” which can divide the processing load. Because the elements are physically separate, the connections between the “processing elements” must be fast, really fast. Data will be transferred between them on “parallel bundles of serial I/O links — [which] operate at 6.4 GHz per link.” Another feature of the Cell processor are the, “one hundred twenty-eight 128-bit registers”. With 128-bit registers the Cell processor will be able to rapidly manipulate huge amounts of data.

It seems as though the Cell architecture will be used beyond its initial application, the PlayStation3. The companies involved in creating the chip IBM, Toshiba and Sony all target different markets with their products. IBM might use the Cell processor in their high-end servers. “At the top level, the architecture appears to be a pool of “Cells,” or clusters of perhaps four identical processing elements. All of the Cells in a system — or for that matter, a network of systems — are apparently peers.” A more interesting use would be connecting these servers into a powerful “Cell grid”. The combined computational power could be used to perform calculations, simulations, or other types of research. Toshiba might use the Cell processor in medical imaging applications or possibly even laptops (the article does not discuss power consumption or heat emission). Sony will put the Cell processor into their upcoming PS3, but I doubt Sony will stop there. I think Sony would like to incorporate the Cell processor into various consumer electronics. As computing power increases perhaps we will see a Sony-Ericsson phone with enough processing power to play a movie or a demanding video game like Half-Life 2.

References:
EETimes.com, 4-6-2005, “Details trickle out on Cell processor”, Brian Fuller, Ron Wilson