* Azul Systems previews ‘network-attached processor’ for Java apps
Start-up Azul Systems is previewing a multi-core server appliance that speeds up Java processing.
Founded in 2002 by former Cobalt Networks CEO Stephen DeWitt and others, Azul is developing a server that would offload Java processing from application servers.
DeWitt sold Cobalt to Sun for $2 billion. He left Sun after two years to found Azul, formerly called Chestnut Systems.
The Azul server uses a processor of Azul’s design that has been codenamed Vega. The 64-bit processor consists of 384 cores and features 256G bytes of memory. It is manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
Azul says customers would deploy the server as an appliance in the application tier of their networks, where it would run Java applications in a virtual machine environment. The company plans to support .Net later.
Azul’s appliance represents what DeWitt calls “network-attached processing” – a concept which is similar to network-attached storage, where appliances connect to a network and offload storage requirements from servers.
DeWitt is targeting the growing Java and .Net application markets, which Gartner estimates will be used in nearly 80% of development environments in 2005.
The Azul processor is a proprietary cache-coherent symmetric multiprocessing processor that would co-exist on an Ethernet network with Windows, Linux, Unix and Solaris servers. Applications, though installed physically on these hosts, would actually run on the Azul appliance.
The Azul appliance would be managed by software called the Azul Compute Pool Manager.
The company, which has less than $100 million in funding, has 105 employees. It is funded by RedPoint, Accel Ventures, Austin Ventures, Worldview and Comventures.
Azul claims it has working prototypes of the appliance running in its labs and that it has lined up a star-studded list of Wall Street companies to test the system this fall.
The server will be generally available in the first half of 2005.
