Datacenters account for some three percent of total world energy use, and Sun has taken that as a challenge. Last year its mad-scientist approach to energy efficiency -- and $2 billion R&D budget -- rippled across the industry as the company released the world's most efficient processor, the UltraSPARC T2; Project Blackbox, the first virtualized datacenter; and a new, super-green Silicon Valley datacenter that increases computer power by 456% while cutting energy costs by more than 60%. With four straight profitable quarters for the first time since 2001 and 6% growth, the forecast is sunny.
