Sun Delivers on Innovation in 2001 with New Server Launches and Software Products
Riding high on a successful year of major server launches, Sun Open Net Environment (Sun ONE) momentum, and processor upgrades, Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) is poised to capitalize on its progress during 2001, having been selected by CMP Media’s Intelligent Enterprise magazine as one of its “Companies to Watch” in 2002. Sun also earned four top honors in the magazine’s Readers’ Choice awards beating out IBM for best IT products in Operating Systems with the Solaris™ Operating Environment (OE); the Portal Server Category with the iPlanet[tm] Portal Server software, the High-End Server category with the continually successful Sun Enterprise™ 10000 server, also known as Starfire; in the mid-range with the new Sun Fire™ Midframe server family.
Sun was chosen by the editors of Intelligent Enterprise as an infrastructure company that is well positioned to be a key enabler of the intelligent enterprise in 2002, reflecting the tremendous success of Sun’s heavy push on software and services on demand as part of the Sun ONE initiative, in addition to the roll out of the highly anticipated copper technology UltraSPARC[tm] III Cu processor, the launch of its new line the Sun Fire Midframe servers for the midrange, plus the debut of the Sun Fire 15K high-end server.
The Solaris OE and its recent upgrades also bolstered Sun’s ratings among the readers of Intelligent Enterprise. As the foundation for Sun systems, the Solaris Operating Environment enables IT organizations to deliver on the promise of massive scalability, continuous real-time computing and trusted, secure systems. Recent updates to the Solaris 8 Operating Environment and the planned release of Solaris 9 OE continue to make Solaris the most mature foundation for a networking stack in the industry. Wins for both Solaris and the iPlanet Portal Server validate Sun’s important role in the future delivery of Web services through the Sun ONE initiative. The iPlanet Portal Server will serve as the delivery mechanism for Web services, as well as the point of aggregation and personalization of applications and information.
“We really made the most of 2001, delivering to the marketplace some of the most advanced and innovative technology ever to come out of Sun Microsystems – from key elements of the Sun ONE offering, such as Solaris and the iPlanet Portal Server, to our 900 MHz UltraSPARC III processor, the Sun Fire Midframe, to Sun StorEdge™ 9900 and our new flagship high-end server, the Sun Fire 15K,” said Shahin Khan, Chief Competitive Officer for Sun Microsystems. “These accolades from Intelligent Enterprise and its readers validate the quality of our products and prove that closed, costly and complex systems are not what customers want. Sun is an integral part of helping businesses get where they need to go. We’re on course for another great year and plan to take even more ground from IBM as we roll out more technology in 2002.”
“Our selection process for our distinguished ‘Companies to Watch’ award involved a thorough assessment of the past year’s coverage and reader feedback. More importantly, we based our decision not on just one criteria, such as total revenues or simple name recognition, but on criteria that really matters in today’s business world: technology leadership, customer innovation and satisfaction, and a solution partner that can provide the hardware and software infrastructure needed to power the next wave of computing and services on demand,” said David Stodder, editorial director of Intelligent Enterprise.
Readers Choose Sun for Strategic Value and Real-World Performance
Sun once again ascended to the top of the pack, this time selected by the readers of Intelligent Enterprise as the number one provider of IT products in four categories, including two key components of the Sun ONE stack – the Solaris Operating Environment and the iPlanet Portal Server:
- Operating System: The Solaris platform was selected over such competitors as Windows NT, IBM AIX and HP-UX, attesting to the Solaris Operating Environment’s rock-solid reliability and its successful history as the foundation of some of the most intensive and robust data networks in the world.
- Portal Server: The iPlanet Portal Server beat out all competitors including IBM’s Lotus K-Station, Plumtree and Epicentric, making it the champion platform solution for portal computing. The iPlanet Portal Server is the industry’s first portal platform, enabling delivery of content, services, business processes and applications in personalized portals for enterprises competing in the Net Economy. The iPlanet Portal Server is part of the Sun ONE offering – an open, integratable product portfolio that enables the development and delivery of services on demand.
- Scalable Hardware High-End: Beating out IBM’s high-end zSeries and S/390 mainframe systems, the Sun Enterprise 10000 server, first introduced five years ago, continues to dominate the high-end server market place, even when compared to competitor’s most recent offerings. With the readers’ selection of Starfire, the Sun Enterprise 10000 server adds this most recent benchmarks and award to its trophy case of more than 50 industry awards and benchmark world records, earned since its introduction.
- Scalable Hardware Midrange: Introduced in March of 2001, Sun Fire servers define a new class of system – the Midframe – by offering mainframe class features in a midrange system, radically shifting the economics of availability in the midrange, the Sun Fire Midframe server family bested both IBM’s RS/6000 and xSeries Universal Servers as the readers’ top midrange server choice.
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision — “The Network Is The Computer]™” — has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to take their businesses to the nth. Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com
Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Sun Fire, Sun Enterprise, Solaris, iPlanet, Sun Fireplane, StorEdge and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.