Sun releases processor designs as open source

Sun Microsystems Inc. has taken another step to leverage open-source design so that developers can create more servers based on its Sparc chip architecture. The company on Tuesday released the source code for its UltraSparc T1 processor.

The strategy is part of Sun's OpenSparc Initiative, a move to create the world's first multicore, multithreaded ecosystem, the company says.

Sun advanced that effort in February when it released its Hypervisor API (application programming interface) specifications. That move allowed companies to port Linux , BSD and other operating systems to UltraSparc T1 and gave developers the information they needed to create related hardware and software tools.