CPU/Hardware optimized for Erlang

[Richard A. O'Keefe]

Will Newton <will@REDACTED> wrote:
    > Also bear in mind that Intel chips are constrained
    > very much by their legacy. 

But Thomas Lindgren <thomasl_erlang@REDACTED>
doesn't think it's a handicap.

It is quite enough of a handicap for Transmeta to carve themselves
a niche.  The Pentiums do run-time compilation of IA32 instructions
to a sort of RISC with the compilation done in hardware a little at
a time; the Transmeta machines did run-time compilation in software
in great big gulps and were able to achieve near-Pentium speed at a
MUCH lower cost in electrical power.

Complexity certainly has an effect on barriers to market entry.
Intel machines are impressive, but basically, they are brick outhouses
that fly only because they have extremely large jet engines strapped on.

Intel chips spend a lot of time, area, and electricity supporting things
that Erlang doesn't particularly need, while they DON'T support a bunch
of things that Erlang DOES need.  The ECOMP slides point repeatedly to
(electrical) power as a concern.

	In the case of Erlang-in-telecoms, perhaps the APZ
	processor could be a fine source of inspiration (it's
	certainly a very successful product line).
	
Reference?