— Company Inks Mega Deals with General Dynamics, Southwest Airlines and Department of Veterans Affairs, Among Others
— Sun Assembles x86 Advisory Board to Improve Customer Value with Tighter Software and Hardware Integration
Demonstrating a commanding position in the low-cost computing market, Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today announced it has forged major deals with industry-leading businesses since the launch of Network Computing 2003 on February 10. These low-cost product offerings have attracted customer wins from leading companies and organizations such as Best Buy Canada, Dartmouth College, General Dynamics, GetThere (a Sabre Holdings Company), Land Rover, Northeastern University, University of Notre Dame, Southwest Airlines, Telus, University of Southern California (USC), West McLaren Mercedes and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
This major surge in customer wins highlights the significant demand for Sun’s low-cost products in the marketplace. For example, customers are looking to Sun over the competition for low-cost storage solutions, such as the Sun StorEdge 3300 family, which complements Sun’s entry-level servers and supports everything from the Solaris Operating System to Linux. Along with cost savings, Sun is providing its customers with simplified, low-cost, comprehensive storage solutions that reduce IT complexity and enable businesses to better manage, control and access information assets.
Sun’s other low-cost product offerings include workstations, entry-level Sun Fire and Netra servers. In addition, the Sun Fire B1600 Blade Platform allows customers to mix, match and manage the Solaris and Linux operating systems, SPARC and x86 architectures and special function blades in one chassis.
“These wins are a testament to the fact that none of our competitors can match the unparalleled choice, innovation and value that Sun brings to low-cost computing. Sun’s strategy of providing a choice of systems solutions is resonating with customers in a big way,” said Neil Knox, executive vice president, Volume Systems Products. “Our entry-level product line and integrated systems approach have garnered tremendous market momentum. Customers want open, integratable systems that offer enterprise-class features, service and support. Whether it’s Solaris on x86 or SPARC platform, or standard Linux on x86, Sun is delivering a broad range of powerful low-cost solutions that meet our customers immediate and long-range needs.”
“Sun is also meeting its customers’ demand for value and low cost. Sun has demonstrated it is committed to price points below Dell, IBM, and HP in the low-cost computing market. Sun’s best-in-class offerings are gaining speed throughout the industry,” Knox said.
Driving Low Cost Momentum with ISV and Channel Partners
The x86 ISV Advisory Board – an expansion of Sun’s Linux ISV Advisory Board created in January 2003 – is committed to continually improving total customer value with tighter software and hardware integration on Sun products built on the x86 architecture.
“The ISV Advisory Board is providing valuable customer and partner insight in an effort to help shape Sun’s low-cost computing strategy,” said Tim Bergloff, vice president, Global Sun Alliance, SourceFire. “Sun is a visionary company and the expansion of this board is a positive move to ensure it delivers products to the market that score with the ISV community. Sun has proven it highly values being responsive and flexible to the needs of its partners and customers.”
“From its inception twenty-one years ago, Sun recognized the needs and success of its partners were indivisible from its own,” said Stuart Wells, senior vice president, market development, Sun Microsystems. “By providing advanced insight into Sun’s x86-based product roadmap, the ISV Advisory Board provides an open forum for ISV partners to give direct and honest feedback.”
Sun Delivering Vertical Market Solutions
Sun is making significant inroads with its entry-level solutions, which combine systems and the Sun ONE software stack in several important vertical markets such as airlines, automotive, education, government, manufacturing, retail and telecommunications. General Dynamics, one of the world’s leading defense contractors, partnered with Sun to secure a multi-billion dollar contract with the U.S. Army in June.
“Sun provides our armed forces with secure and powerful systems required for combat ready applications,” said Chris Marzilli, vice president and general manager of commercial hardware systems, General Dynamics C4 Systems. “Sun’s entry-level workstations and servers possess the proven, military-grade, fault tolerant technology necessary to withstand very demanding battlefield conditions.”
Southwest Airlines also turned to Sun’s superior low-cost computing technology in building a shared infrastructure to handle database needs for several projects.
“As the nation’s largest low fare airline, Southwest Airlines demands technology solutions that not only emphasize value, but can handle the rigors of massive, high volume applications. Whether it’s processing critical operational data like flight schedules or tracking postal packages across the country, Sun’s open and integratable systems give Southwest Airlines the network computing power and flexibility to manage extremely heavy workloads while delivering the industry’s best price performance,” said Kerry Schwab, Director Midrange and Intel Computing, Technology Department, Southwest Airlines.
“Enterprises today are demanding cost-effective IT solutions that solve their most pressing business problems,” said Jean S. Bozman, vice president, Global Enterprise Server Solutions, IDC. “Since its launch in February, Sun’s low-cost computing initiative has helped many enterprises to meet those needs more effectively, to utilize resources more fully, and to quickly deploy total solutions including servers, storage, software and services that address both near-term and long-term business requirements. Sun remains a strong volume-server vendor (servers priced less than $25,000), and the leader in Unix volume server shipments and revenues, based on Q103 IDC worldwide data.”
Sun’s assault on the low-cost computing market has cemented a leadership position, providing customers with unprecedented value and price-performance. Please see the following releases: June 17, 2003, “Sun Microsystems Delivers Secure, Low-cost Computing in the Financial Services Market” and June 10, 2003,”Sun’s Low-cost Computing Model Hits Mark With Retail Leaders.” For more information on Sun’s low-cost computing initiative, please visit the World Wide Web at http://sun.com/lowcost/momentum/.
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 make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com
Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun Logo, Solaris, Trusted Solaris and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd.