<s>
Rock	O
(	O
or	O
ROCK	O
)	O
was	O
a	O
multithreading	B-General_Concept
,	O
multicore	B-Architecture
,	O
SPARC	B-Architecture
microprocessor	B-Architecture
under	O
development	O
at	O
Sun	O
Microsystems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Canceled	O
in	O
2010	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
a	O
separate	O
project	O
from	O
the	O
SPARC	B-Architecture
T-Series	I-Architecture
(	O
CoolThreads/Niagara	O
)	O
family	O
of	O
processors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Rock	O
aimed	O
at	O
higher	O
per-thread	O
performance	O
,	O
higher	O
floating-point	O
performance	O
,	O
and	O
greater	O
SMP	B-Operating_System
scalability	O
than	O
the	O
Niagara	O
family	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Rock	B-Device
processor	I-Device
targeted	O
traditional	O
high-end	O
data-facing	O
workloads	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
back-end	O
database	O
servers	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
floating-point	O
intensive	O
high-performance	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
workloads	O
,	O
whereas	O
the	O
Niagara	O
family	O
targets	O
network-facing	O
workloads	O
such	O
as	O
web	O
servers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Rock	B-Device
processor	I-Device
implements	O
the	O
64-bit	O
SPARC	B-Architecture
V9	I-Architecture
instruction	O
set	O
and	O
the	O
VIS	B-General_Concept
3.0	O
SIMD	B-Device
multimedia	O
instruction	O
set	O
extension	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
Rock	B-Device
processor	I-Device
has	O
16	O
cores	O
,	O
with	O
each	O
core	O
capable	O
of	O
running	O
two	O
threads	O
simultaneously	O
,	O
yielding	O
32	O
threads	O
per	O
chip	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Servers	O
built	O
with	O
Rock	O
use	O
FB-DIMMs	B-General_Concept
to	O
increase	O
reliability	O
,	O
speed	O
and	O
density	O
of	O
memory	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Rock	B-Device
processor	I-Device
uses	O
a	O
65	B-Algorithm
nm	I-Algorithm
manufacturing	O
process	O
for	O
a	O
design	O
frequency	O
of	O
2.3GHz	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
maximum	O
power	O
consumption	O
of	O
the	O
Rock	B-Device
processor	I-Device
chip	O
is	O
approximately	O
250W	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
cores	O
in	O
a	O
cluster	O
share	O
a	O
32KB	O
instruction	O
cache	O
,	O
two	O
32KB	O
data	O
caches	O
,	O
and	O
two	O
floating	B-General_Concept
point	I-General_Concept
units	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2005	O
,	O
Sun	O
publicly	O
disclosed	O
a	O
feature	O
in	O
the	O
Rock	B-Device
processor	I-Device
called	O
hardware	B-General_Concept
scout	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hardware	B-General_Concept
scout	I-General_Concept
uses	O
otherwise	O
idle	O
chip	O
execution	O
resources	O
to	O
perform	O
prefetching	O
during	O
cache	O
misses	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
March	O
2006	O
,	O
Marc	O
Tremblay	O
,	O
Vice	O
President	O
and	O
Chief	O
Architect	O
for	O
Sun	O
's	O
Scalable	O
Systems	O
Group	O
,	O
gave	O
a	O
presentation	O
at	O
the	O
Xerox	O
Palo	O
Alto	O
Research	O
Center	O
(	O
PARC	O
)	O
on	O
thread-level	B-Operating_System
parallelism	I-Operating_System
,	O
hardware	O
scouting	O
,	O
and	O
thread-level	B-Operating_System
speculation	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
multithreading	B-General_Concept
technologies	O
were	O
expected	O
to	O
be	O
included	O
in	O
the	O
Rock	B-Device
processor	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
August	O
2007	O
,	O
Sun	O
confirmed	O
that	O
Rock	O
would	O
be	O
the	O
first	O
production	O
processor	O
to	O
support	O
transactional	B-Operating_System
memory	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nevertheless	O
,	O
many	O
(	O
arguably	O
fine-grained	O
)	O
code	O
blocks	O
requiring	O
synchronization	O
could	O
have	O
benefited	O
from	O
transactional	B-Operating_System
memory	I-Operating_System
support	O
of	O
the	O
Rock	B-Device
processor	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
April	O
2008	O
,	O
Sun	O
engineers	O
presented	O
the	O
transactional	B-Operating_System
memory	I-Operating_System
interface	O
at	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
Adaptive	O
Transactional	B-Operating_System
Memory	I-Operating_System
Test	O
Platform	O
simulator	O
was	O
announced	O
to	O
be	O
made	O
available	O
to	O
the	O
general	O
public	O
shortly	O
after	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Rock	B-Device
processor	I-Device
was	O
intended	O
to	O
be	O
used	O
in	O
Sun	O
's	O
proposed	O
"	O
Supernova	O
"	O
server	O
line	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Details	O
of	O
the	O
server	O
specifications	O
were	O
released	O
in	O
OpenSolaris	B-Operating_System
Architecture	O
Review	O
case	O
FWARC/2008/761	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Physical	O
Resource	O
Inventory	O
(	O
PRI	O
)	O
specification	O
of	O
ARC	O
2008/761	O
indicates	O
the	O
Supernova	O
platforms	O
would	O
support	O
:	O
IEEE	B-Architecture
1275	I-Architecture
OpenFirmware	B-Architecture
,	O
platform	O
virtualization	O
through	O
Logical	O
Domains	O
(	O
LDOMs	O
)	O
,	O
independent	O
system	O
controller	O
(	O
SC	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
Fault	O
Management	O
Architecture	O
(	O
FMA	O
)	O
Domain	O
Services	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SPARC	B-Architecture
Enterprise	O
AT7180	O
was	O
speculated	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
single	O
socket	O
model	O
handling	O
as	O
many	O
as	O
32	O
hardware	B-General_Concept
threads	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SPARC	B-Architecture
Enterprise	O
AT7280	O
was	O
speculated	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
dual	O
socket	O
model	O
handling	O
as	O
many	O
as	O
64	O
hardware	B-General_Concept
threads	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SPARC	B-Architecture
Enterprise	O
AT7480	O
was	O
speculated	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
quad	O
socket	O
model	O
reported	O
to	O
handle	O
as	O
many	O
as	O
128	O
hardware	B-General_Concept
threads	I-General_Concept
,	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
PCI	O
Express	O
bus	O
architecture	O
with	O
Open	B-Architecture
Boot	I-Architecture
firmware	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SPARC	B-Architecture
Enterprise	O
AT7880	O
was	O
speculated	O
to	O
be	O
an	O
eight-socket	O
model	O
reported	O
to	O
handle	O
as	O
many	O
as	O
256	O
hardware	B-General_Concept
threads	I-General_Concept
,	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
PCI	O
Express	O
bus	O
architecture	O
with	O
Open	B-Architecture
Boot	I-Architecture
firmware	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
AT7880	O
would	O
have	O
eight	O
individual	O
CPU	O
boards	O
,	O
each	O
with	O
one	O
Sun	B-Device
Neptune	I-Device
multithreaded	O
10	O
Gigabit	O
Ethernet	O
chip	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
April	O
2007	O
,	O
Sun	O
CEO	O
Jonathan	O
I	O
.	O
Schwartz	O
blogged	O
an	O
image	O
of	O
a	O
BGA-packaged	O
Rock	O
chip	O
,	O
labeled	O
UltraSPARC	O
RK	O
,	O
and	O
disclosed	O
that	O
it	O
could	O
address	O
256	O
terabytes	O
of	O
virtual	O
memory	O
in	O
a	O
single	O
system	O
running	O
Solaris	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
next	O
month	O
,	O
Sun	O
announced	O
that	O
they	O
had	O
created	O
a	O
Rock	O
chip	O
that	O
could	O
boot	O
its	O
operating	O
system	O
,	O
Solaris	B-Application
,	O
successfully	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
August	O
of	O
the	O
same	O
year	O
,	O
Sun	O
released	O
details	O
on	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
transactional	B-Operating_System
memory	I-Operating_System
in	O
the	O
Rock	O
architecture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2008	O
,	O
Mark	O
Moir	O
presented	O
"	O
Rock	O
's	O
Transactional	B-Operating_System
Memory	I-Operating_System
and	O
How	O
to	O
Exploit	O
It	O
"	O
at	O
Sun	O
Labs	O
Open	O
House	O
2008	O
,	O
discussing	O
transactional	B-Operating_System
memory	I-Operating_System
as	O
well	O
as	O
scouting	O
threads	O
and	O
how	O
these	O
mitigated	O
the	O
computing	O
problems	O
not	O
solved	O
by	O
innovative	O
use	O
of	O
massive	O
thread	O
counts	O
of	O
slower	O
processors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
That	O
September	O
,	O
the	O
OpenSolaris	B-Operating_System
project	O
began	O
to	O
integrate	O
code	O
supporting	O
the	O
Rock-based	O
SuperNova	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
10	O
March	O
2009	O
Dave	O
Dice	O
,	O
Yossi	O
Lev	O
,	O
Mark	O
Moir	O
and	O
Dan	O
Nussbaum	O
presented	O
"	O
Early	O
Experience	O
with	O
a	O
Commercial	O
Hardware	B-Operating_System
Transactional	I-Operating_System
Memory	I-Operating_System
Implementation	O
"	O
at	O
the	O
Fourteenth	O
International	O
Conference	O
on	O
Architectural	O
Support	O
for	O
Programming	O
Languages	O
and	O
Operating	O
Systems	O
(	O
ASPLOS	O
'	O
09	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
published	O
their	O
"	O
experience	O
with	O
the	O
hardware	B-Operating_System
transactional	I-Operating_System
memory	I-Operating_System
(	O
HTM	O
)	O
feature	O
of	O
two	O
pre-production	O
revisions	O
of	O
a	O
new	O
commercial	O
multicore	B-Architecture
processor	I-Architecture
"	O
in	O
2009	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
April	O
20	O
,	O
2009	O
,	O
Sun	O
and	O
Oracle	B-Application
Corporation	I-Application
announced	O
that	O
they	O
had	O
entered	O
into	O
a	O
definitive	O
agreement	O
under	O
which	O
Oracle	B-Application
would	O
acquire	O
Sun	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
June	O
12	O
posting	O
on	O
a	O
Sun	O
blog	O
announced	O
a	O
technical	O
NDA-only	O
presentation	O
on	O
ROCK	O
on	O
July	O
14	O
,	O
2009	O
at	O
the	O
Hamburg	O
OpenSolaris	B-Operating_System
Users	O
Group	O
Meeting	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
24	O
June	O
2009	O
,	O
a	O
presentation	O
on	O
"	O
Speculative	O
Threading	O
&	O
Parallelization	O
"	O
featured	O
"	O
A	O
Novel	O
Pipeline	O
Architecture	O
Implemented	O
in	O
Sun	O
's	O
ROCK	B-Device
Processor	I-Device
"	O
at	O
The	O
36th	O
International	O
Symposium	O
on	O
Computer	O
Architecture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
6	O
August	O
2009	O
,	O
support	O
for	O
Rock	O
was	O
removed	O
from	O
the	O
OpenSolaris	B-Operating_System
Project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
13	O
August	O
2009	O
,	O
a	O
presentation	O
on	O
"	O
NZTM	O
:	O
Nonblocking	O
Zero-indirection	O
Transactional	B-Operating_System
Memory	I-Operating_System
"	O
written	O
by	O
Fuad	O
Tabba	O
,	O
Mark	O
Moir	O
,	O
James	O
Goodman	O
,	O
Andrew	O
Hay	O
,	O
and	O
Cong	O
Wang	O
,	O
was	O
presented	O
at	O
the	O
21st	O
ACM	O
Symposium	O
on	O
Parallelism	O
in	O
Algorithms	O
and	O
Architectures	O
in	O
Calgary	O
,	O
Canada	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
NZSTM	O
algorithm	O
performance	O
was	O
evaluated	O
on	O
Sun	O
’s	O
forthcoming	O
Rock	B-Device
processor	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
11	O
September	O
2009	O
,	O
The	O
Register	O
reported	O
that	O
the	O
Rock	B-Device
processor	I-Device
was	O
left	O
out	O
of	O
the	O
SPARC	B-Architecture
processor	O
roadmap	O
then	O
being	O
shown	O
to	O
Sun	O
's	O
customers	O
and	O
partners	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
26	O
October	O
2009	O
,	O
Dave	O
Dice	O
,	O
Yossi	O
Lev	O
,	O
Mark	O
Moir	O
and	O
Dan	O
Nussbaum	O
expanded	O
a	O
formerly	O
published	O
paper	O
"	O
Early	O
Experience	O
with	O
a	O
Commercial	O
Hardware	B-Operating_System
Transactional	I-Operating_System
Memory	I-Operating_System
Implementation	O
"	O
which	O
was	O
presented	O
at	O
the	O
Fourteenth	O
International	O
Conference	O
on	O
Architectural	O
Support	O
for	O
Programming	O
Languages	O
and	O
Operating	O
Systems	O
(	O
ASPLOS	O
'	O
09	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
January	O
27	O
,	O
2010	O
,	O
Oracle	B-Application
announced	O
it	O
had	O
completed	O
its	O
acquisition	O
of	O
Sun	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
5	O
April	O
2010	O
,	O
Dave	O
Dice	O
,	O
Yossi	O
Lev	O
,	O
Virendra	O
Marathe	O
,	O
Mark	O
Moir	O
,	O
Marek	O
Olszewski	O
and	O
Dan	O
Nussbaum	O
released	O
a	O
paper	O
"	O
Simplifying	O
Concurrent	O
Algorithms	O
by	O
Exploiting	O
Hardware	B-Operating_System
Transactional	I-Operating_System
Memory	I-Operating_System
"	O
to	O
be	O
presented	O
at	O
the	O
22nd	O
ACM	O
Symposium	O
on	O
Parallelism	O
in	O
Algorithms	O
and	O
Architectures	O
(	O
SPAA	O
2010	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
12	O
May	O
2010	O
,	O
Reuters	O
reported	O
that	O
Oracle	B-Application
CEO	O
Larry	O
Ellison	O
shut	O
down	O
the	O
Rock	O
project	O
when	O
Oracle	B-Application
acquired	O
Sun	O
,	O
quoting	O
him	O
as	O
saying	O
,	O
"	O
This	O
processor	O
had	O
two	O
incredible	O
virtues	O
:	O
It	O
was	O
incredibly	O
slow	O
and	O
it	O
consumed	O
vast	O
amounts	O
of	O
energy	O
.	O
</s>
