PlayStation 3 to get Yellowstone technology

The Cell processor, which will form the heart of the PlayStation 3, will use a new high-speed memory interface following a deal between Sony, Toshiba, and Rambus. Sony and Toshiba have licensed technology from Rambus that likely will be incorporated into a future version of the Sony game console. The two Japanese giants have licensed "Yellowstone," a high-speed interface for connecting memory to microprocessors, and "Redwood," a chip-to-chip connection, from the processor designer, the companies said.

Both Yellowstone and Redwood would be used to enhance the broadband capabilities of "Cell," a complex microprocessor that will likely power an upcoming version of Sony's PlayStation.

Cell, which is expected to come out in late 2004 or early 2005, substantially differs from current chips on the market. Developed by IBM, Sony, and Toshiba, the processor will contain multiple chips inside a single piece of silicon and will be geared toward delivering video, entertainment, interactive gaming, and other content. It will have the ability to do north of 1 trillion mathematical calculations per second, roughly 100 times more than a single Pentium 4 chip running at 2.5GHz.

Chips churning at that speed, though, need to be surrounded by high-speed links and similarly speedy chips to function properly, which is where Yellowstone and Redwood come in. Yellowstone can transfer data up to 100 gigabits per second, or three times faster than current high-speed memory, said Laura Stark, vice president of the memory interface group at Rambus. In the end, the two technologies will allow chips to exchange audio or graphics data extremely rapidly, the companies said.

"Rambus is and will be the key player in the ultra high-speed interface technology," Ken Kutaragi, chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, said in a statement. "This enables us to create a wide range of applications and platforms, from high-end systems to digital consumer-electronics products within Sony."

The deal, which is expected to bring Rambus $28 million in revenue over the next 18 months, also in some ways marks the beginning of a new, or third, life for the controversial chip designer.