 | |
| Developer | Sun Microsystems, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Sun Microsystems, Inc. |
| Release date | 1995; 29 years ago (1995) |
| Lifespan | 1995–2001, 2005–2010 |
| Discontinued | 2010 (2010) |
| CPU | |
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The Sun Ultra is a discontinued line of workstation and server computers developed and sold by Sun Microsystems, comprising two distinct generations. The original line was introduced in 1995 and discontinued in 2001. This generation was partially replaced by the Sun Blade in 2000 and that line was in itself replaced by the Sun Java Workstation—an AMD Opteron system—in 2004. In sync with the transition to x86-64-architecture processors, in 2005 the Ultra brand was later revived with the launch of the Ultra 20 and Ultra 40, albeit to some confusion, since they were no longer based on UltraSPARC processors.
History
Original model
The original Ultra workstations and the Ultra Enterprise (later, "Sun Enterprise") servers were UltraSPARC-based systems produced from 1995 to 2001, replacing the earlier SPARCstation and SPARCcenter/SPARCserver series respectively. This introduced the 64-bit UltraSPARC processor and in later versions, lower-cost PC-derived technology, such as the PCI and ATA buses (the initial Ultra 1 and 2 models retained the SBus of their predecessors). The original Ultra range were sold during the dot-com boom, and became one of the biggest selling series of computers ever developed by Sun Microsystems, with many companies and organisations—including Sun itself—relying on Sun Ultra products for years after their successor products were released.
Brand revival
The Ultra brand was revived in 2005 with the launch of the Ultra 20 and Ultra 40 with x86-64-architecture.
x64-based Ultra systems remained in the Sun portfolio for five more years; the last one, the Intel Xeon-based Ultra 27, was retired in June 2010, thereby concluding the history of Sun as a workstation vendor.
Late SPARC models
The SPARC-based Ultra 3 Mobile Workstation laptop was released in 2005 as well, but it would prove to be a short-lived design and was retired the next year. Its release did not coincide with the rest of the line as most of the brand had already moved on to x86.
Additionally, new Ultra 25 and Ultra 45 desktop UltraSPARC IIIi-based systems were introduced in 2006.
In October 2008, Sun discontinued all these, effectively ending the production of SPARC architecture workstations.
The original Ultra/Enterprise series itself was later replaced by the Sun Blade workstation and Sun Fire server ranges.
Sun Ultra models
Ultra workstations (1995–2001)
| Model | Code | Codename | Processor(s) | Processor MHz | Expansion Buses/Slots | Introduced |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra 1 | A11 | Neutron | UltraSPARC I | 143, 167 | 3 SBus; SCSI | Nov 1995 |
| Ultra 1E | A12 | Electron | UltraSPARC I | 143, 167, 200 | 2 SBus, 1 UPA (Creator); SCSI | Nov 1995 |
| Ultra 2 | A14 | Pulsar | Up to 2 UltraSPARC I or II | 143, 167, 200, 300, 400 | 4 SBus, 1 UPA; SCSI | Nov 1995 |
| Ultra 3000 | A17 | Duraflame | Up to 6 UltraSPARC I or II | 167, 250, 336, 400 | 1996 | |
| Ultra 4000 | A18 | Campfire | Up to 14 UltraSPARC I or II | 167, 250, 336, 400 | 1996 | |
| Ultra 30 | A16 | Quark | UltraSPARC II | 250, 300 | 4 PCI, 2 UPA; SCSI | July 1997 |
| Ultra 450 | A20 | Tazmo | Up to 4 UltraSPARC II | 400 | July 1997 | |
| Ultra 5 | A21 | Otter | UltraSPARC IIi | 270, 333, 360, 400 (440 works, but is unsupported) | 3 PCI; EIDE | Jan 1998 |
| Ultra 10 | A22 | Sea Lion | UltraSPARC IIi | 300, 333, 360, 440 | 4 PCI, 1 UPA; EIDE | Jan 1998 |
| Ultra 60 | A23 | Deuterium | Up to 2 UltraSPARC II | 300, 360 or 450 (400 works, but is unsupported) | 4 PCI, 2 UPA; SCSI | Feb 1998 |
| Ultra 80 | A27 | Quasar | Up to 4 UltraSPARC II | 450 | Nov 1999 |
Ultra Enterprise/Enterprise servers
See also: Sun EnterpriseEntry-level
| Model | Code | Codename | Processor(s) | Processor MHz |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UltraServer 1 Ultra Enterprise 1 |
A11 | Neutron | UltraSPARC I | 143 or 167 |
| UltraServer 1E Ultra Enterprise 1E |
A12 | Electron | UltraSPARC I | 143, 167, 200 |
| UltraServer 2 Ultra Enterprise 2 |
A14 | Pulsar | Up to two UltraSPARC I or II | 143, 167, 200, 300 |
| Ultra Enterprise 150 | E150 | Dublin | UltraSPARC I | 167 |
| Enterprise Ultra 5S | A21 | Otter | UltraSPARC IIi | 270, 333, 360, 400 |
| Enterprise Ultra 10S | A22 | Sea Lion | UltraSPARC IIi | 300, 333, 360, 440 |
| Enterprise 450 | A25 | Tazmax | Up to 4 UltraSPARC II | 250, 300, 400, 480 |
| Enterprise 250 | A26 | Javelin | Up to two UltraSPARC II | 250, 300, 400 |
| Enterprise 420R | A33 | Quahog | Up to 4 UltraSPARC II | 450 |
| Enterprise 220R | A34 | Razor | Up to two UltraSPARC II | 360, 450 |
Note: the Enterprise 220R is an Ultra 60 motherboard in a rack-mountable server chassis with hot-swappable power supplies. Similarly, the Enterprise 420R is an Ultra 80 motherboard in a server chassis.
Mid-range and high-end
| Model | Code | Codename | Processor(s) | Processor MHz |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra Enterprise 3000 | E3000 | Duraflame | Up to six UltraSPARC I or II | 167, 250, 336, 400, 464* |
| Ultra Enterprise 4000 | E4000 | Campfire | Up to 14 UltraSPARC I or II | 167, 250, 336, 400, 464* |
| Ultra Enterprise 5000 | E5000 | Campfire | Up to 14 UltraSPARC I or II | 167, 250, 336, 400, 464* |
| Ultra Enterprise 6000 | E6000 | Sunfire | Up to 30 UltraSPARC I or II | 167, 250, 336, 400, 464* |
| Enterprise 3500 | E3500 | Duraflame+ | Up to eight UltraSPARC I or II | 167, 250, 336, 400, 464 |
| Enterprise 4500 | E4500 | Campfire+ | Up to 14 UltraSPARC I or II | 167, 250, 336, 400, 464 |
| Enterprise 5500 | E5500 | Campfire+ | Up to 14 UltraSPARC I or II | 167, 250, 336, 400, 464 |
| Enterprise 6500 | E6500 | Sunfire+ | Up to 30 UltraSPARC I or II | 167, 250, 336, 400, 464 |
| Enterprise 10000 | E10000 | Starfire | 4 to 64 UltraSPARC II | 250, 336, 400, 466 |
- = available as upgrade option only
Ultra workstations (2005–2010)
In the intervening time gap, Sun workstations were named Sun Blade and Sun Java Workstation.
UltraSPARC
The A60 Ultra 3 mobile workstation rebadged the Tadpole SPARCle (550 and 650 MHz) and Viper (1.2 GHz) laptops. The A61 Ultra 3 was physically different and was based on the Naturetech 888P (550/650 MHz) and Mesostation 999 (1.28 GHz). The two lines are unrelated systems otherwise.
| Model | Code | Codename | Processor(s) | Processor freq. | Maximum RAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laptop | |||||
| Ultra 3 | A60/A61 | ? | UltraSPARC IIi or IIIi | 550 MHz, 650 MHz, 1.28 GHz | 2 GB |
| Desktop | |||||
| Ultra 45 | A70 | Chicago | Up to two UltraSPARC IIIi | 1.6 GHz | 16 GB |
| Ultra 25 | A89 | South Side | UltraSPARC IIIi | 1.34 GHz | 8 GB |
x86
| Model | Code | Codename | Processor(s) | Processor freq. | Maximum RAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra 20 | A63 | Marrakesh | AMD Opteron Single Core 144, 148, 152 or Dual Core 180 | 1.8, 2.2, 2.6, 3.0 GHz | 4 GB |
| Ultra 40 | A71 | Sirius | Up to two AMD Opteron Dual Core 246, 254 or 280 | 2.0, 2.4, 2.8 GHz | 32 GB (w/2 CPUs) |
| Ultra 40 M2 | A83 | Stuttgart | Up to two AMD Opteron Dual Core 2000 Series | 1.8, 2.2, 2.6, 2.8, 3.0 GHz | 32 GB (w/2 CPUs) |
| Ultra 20 M2 | A88 | Munich | AMD Opteron Dual Core 1200 series | 1.8, 2.2, 2.6, 2.8, 3.0 GHz | 8 GB |
| Ultra 24 | B21 | Ursa | Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad/Quad Extreme | 2.0, 2.2, 2.4, 2.66, 3.0, 3.16 GHz | 8 GB |
| Ultra 27 | B27 | Volans | Intel Xeon Quad Core 3500 series | 2.66, 2.93, 3.20, 3.33 GHz | 24 GB |
Sun timeline
External links
- Oracle Legacy Product Documentation: Workstations at the Wayback Machine (archived January 22, 2012)
- Sun System Handbook at the Wayback Machine (archived December 30, 2006)
- Sun Field Engineer Handbook, 20th edition at the Wayback Machine (archived July 15, 2007)
- Sun graphics cards
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