Cell chip aims high

Cell chip aims high | Tech News on ZDNet

Cell's processing units--called "software cells"--can handle completely separate jobs. "The software cells are designed to be kind of self-contained--they can kind of roam around," Halfhill said.

Cells can even roam over a network, allowing the processor to perform a type of distributed or grid computing, an increasingly popular enterprise technique in which demanding tasks are divvied up among a gang of networked computers. A PlayStation 3 could borrow unused processing power from other consoles on a network, for example, to complete a demanding task such as delivering streaming video.

"The Cell architecture is designed to make grid computing almost universal," Halfhill said. "It makes distributed processing part of the design. If you have several of these machines on a network, the work can be spread across a network."

Cell also implements a number of on-the-chip security measures, mostly aimed at preventing unauthorized copying or distribution of copyright content, Halfhill said. Such functions typically are handled by software that sits on top of the chip, but Cell bakes security into the silicon with innovations such as a memory design that allocates memory into secure chunks. That way, only an authorized application can access a protected piece of content.