Sun has boosted the performance of its "Panther" UltraSparc-IV+ chips. It will install the 1.95 GHz UltraSparc-IV+ parts in its Sun Fire V490, V890, E2900, E4900, E6900, E20K, and E25K servers.
It says that it can also deliver versions of the chip that run at 2.1 GHz for
customers who need even more power.
So far the details of the machines have not appeared on the company's online
shop and the server spec sheets do not even list it as an option yet. However
according to IT Jungle, the reason for the shortage is because Sun is trying to
constrain demand. It is only allowing customers to special order the parts and
by charging a 20 to 30 percent premium on systems with the 1.9 GHz and 2.1 GHz
chips compared to machines configured with the 1.8 GHz Panthers.
Sun says that it wants to supply faster chips to critical customers, but we
don't want the flood gates to open and then we have a supply issue in our
fourth quarter.
More here.