Umpf... really don't get it, Oracle just announced a new SPARC processor and new servers and engineered systems based on it for 2020....
https://www.oracle.com/assets/sparc-roadmap-slide-2076743.pdf
And I have heard strong rumours that Oracle is revamping the SPARC Cloud offering with more stuff.
What the f---?!?
Who is going to engineer and release these products? There is something definitely not clear here.
You don’t need a roadmap to tell you that you’ve already arrived at your final destination. With the EOL of SuperCluster/MiniCluster & the cancellation of M8+, there was nothing left to show from Oracle’s side, and Fujitsu has their own SPARC roadmap.
This thread has not aged well at all. Where's our roadmap today?
I like sparc do you????
@S8sNFHD-2dax ; big thanks!! That make sense, I didn't know about the distinction between microelectronics-cpu team and hardware team, so when the Oracle lady was talking about 600 people remaining in the team she meant the hardware team.
That's fine with me, I don't have any problem in selling to my customer an Oracle server with a XYZ-made cpu, I do this right now with all my other brands (Dell, HP, Huawei, etc..), and it's very good also that Fujitsu is still investing in the Sparc platform.
Now the situation is much clearer to me, and I will sell Sparc servers with more confidence to customers that require them, thanks to all the contributors to this discussion.
Most of the CPU team (microelectronics) is gone, but much of the hardware team that takes the SPARC & Intel CPUs and designs server systems around them (much like Dell, HP, etc) are still around. They are mostly building x86 systems for the Oracle cloud and for engineered systems like Exadata & ZFSSA, but they can also take a completed CPU design like M8 and pair it with the next generation of memory, network chips, storage, etc. for a new “plus” model server.
Some of us know for a fact Oracle canned most of the hardware group.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/05/oracle-slashes-more-than-900-santa-clara-jobs-more-worldwide/
https://www.networkworld.com/article/3160176/hardware/game-over-for-solaris-and-sparc.html
Now SPARC may exist going forward, but it will be because of Fujitsu, not Oracle.
And Fuji is also showing the Sparc Road map out until 2020
http://www.fujitsu.com/global/products/computing/servers/unix/sparc/key-reports/roadmap/
11.4 will be released this year and 11.3 SRU's updates are still released every month. Do not believe everything on this forum. They have clever spinners who use propaganda techniques to attempt to discredit anyone who says anything positive. They will most likely classify this post as "hate speech" since it does not fit in with their narrative. Does that sound familiar?
"Who is going to implement and test these new servers in Oracle since there is noone left?"
The test group still exists and runs regressions.
It’s marketing. They’re trying to delay existing SPARC customers from leaving the platform. Any new chip is the result of R&D dollars spent years ago. If there’s a new chip in 2022, there won’t be anyone around to sell or support it.
The only people that care about SPARC are the ones already running it and invested in it. I sincerely doubt new customers are being attracted. The cost/benefit just isn't there compared to x86.
We have engineers working on X86 servers which will be focused on Cloud.
There is only a skeleton crew of engineers working on SPARC maintenance. There is no further development.
2022 sounds plausible. There are still a lot of on-prem customers that are too heavily-vested in SPARC to immediately convert.
Oracles has always only had one team not two. The sustaining engineers and the development engineers are the same guys. According to Oracle it generates cohesiveness. I suspect it also saves money. If they want a new *** they generate a team out of the engineers they have and create it. The M8 processor is arguably the fastest in the world I suspect it will be around for a while so probably not a lot of development need right now.
OP here. I work for a partner, and this morning we have been given an update on M8+ (that's why yesterday I was googling for info and found the new roadmap)
It's a new cpu (as far as I can understand at least, I'm not microelectronics engineer) that will equip new servers and the new Supercluster, running Solaris 11.4 and 11.5. We have also been given some technical details and some benchmarks. Overall, quite impressive, but again I'm a sales person, so cannot really say for sure. We have also been said that Oracle will continue to sell SPARC at least until 2022 (it's in the roadmap...umh...).
I'm really confused. Who is going to implement and test these new servers in Oracle since there is noone left? are they going to sell these to customers hoping there will be no bugs? I don't care about selling something dead if this is what my customer wants, but I will definitely not deceive my customer with a non-working product. I asked this to the Oracle person and she said there are more than 600 people in the system engineering org working on servers. What?!?!? Any comment from Oracle people in the know?
There is ony gray boxes without any real content.
It isn't a conmitment. May be, if there is a new line, that they resell Fujitsu servers.
The entire microelectronics team is gone, and Solaris is nothing but a skeleton crew now. The situation is so bad, we've taking to bragging about just keeping things like Firefox up to date or shipping a BETA for code that was completed ages ago (11.4 AKA 12). At least Fujitsu may continue to release new silicon. Hell, they may take over everything. That would be good for us, I'd rather work for them than Oracle.
Oracle make believe at its best. SPARC revival is the quintessential Fake News! It’s DEAD and buried 60 feet under, not coming back! Ship has sailed. All they are doing here is puttting some new lipstick on old products to squeeze some more revenue out of them. Sleepy, used car salesman trick, so typical MH & LE.
Time will tell. Perhaps management believes that it can attain these goals with those who are left. They might end up rehiring people. Who knows?