Sun Microsystems aims to create a virtual supercomputer using optical interconnect to connect commodity microprocessors, and a $44.29 million investment from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The program combines optical signalling with proximity communication, Sun’s key chip-to-chip I/O technology, to construct arrays of low-cost chips in a single virtual ‘macrochip’, the company said.

The key to the technology will be the on-chip optical connection; however, this is yet to be developed.

Jag Shah, program manager at DARPA’s Microsystems Technology office, said that the Ultraperformance Nanophotonic Intrachip Communications (UNIC) program will demosnstrate high performance photonic technology for high bandwidth, on-chip, photonic communications networks for advanced microprocessors operating at greater than 10 trillion operations/second.

The program will take place over the next five and a half years.

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