The History Of The Famous Sun SPARCstation

Sun SPARCstation 1

The First Sun workstation - the SPARCstation 1

The SPARC-based series of workstations and servers were introduced in 1989 with the SPARCstation 1 with a 20 MHz Fujitsu processor, 65 MB of memory, and using the Sun-4c system architecture. The system was very successful and popular, quickly spread across the industry, and was promptly imitated by other companies.

The SPARCstations and SPARCservers were so tightly integrated that they was bundled into a flat, compact enclosure that measured only 16”x16” and was just 3 inches high. It was quickly nicknamed the “pizza box”. This form factor was an innovative departure from traditional workstations dimensions within the industry. Customers liked it, however, and Sun’s competitors quickly imitated it.

Other models in the SPARCstation line used a form factor that was smaller, narrower, and taller, and was dubbed the “lunch box” enclosure. Not as convenient or graceful as the “pizza boxes”, this form factor was not as popular, and less imitated by the competition. Three SPARCstation models were “portable” (by early 1990s standards) and released with a black-and-white integrated monitor.

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Sun SPARCstation 20

HyperSPARC and SuperSPARC - the SPARCstation 10

The big breakthrough came with Sun’s SPARCstation 10 released in 1992. This workstation was equipped with either HyperSPARC or SuperSPARC I or II processors. It was able to handle a wide range of CPU speeds from 33 MHz all the way to the extremely fast (for the time) speed of 200 MHz. It was also capable of utilizing up to 512 megabytes of memory—an enormous amount for the early 1990s.

The SPARCstation 10 (and the later SPARCstation 20 released in 1994) were also based on the MBus high-speed bus, allowing them to be configured as muliprocessor systems. They could be equipped with up to two single- or dual-central processors integrated into MBus modules.

Several SPARCservers were essentially the same machines as the SPARCstations of the same model number, with the only real difference being the enclosure. Although identical in case design, servers were packaged without a video card or monitor, and sold with a “server” instead of a “workstation” license.

Sun Microsystems - Ultra Computing - The Evolution of the Workstation

Sun Ultra 5 workstation

The sun4u architecture - Dawn of the UltraSPARC

Sun MicroSystems replaced the SPARCstation family in 1995 in favor of the new Sun Ultra series. Support for SPARCstations was phased out before the turn of the century. The SPARCstation’s legacy, however, can sill be seen today in offices around the world, where the popularity of the short, wide “pizza box” enclosure continues to dominate workstation design instead of the “tower” case design popular with personal home computers.

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