New Sun Fire(tm) V20z Server Featuring AMD Opteron Processors Power Solaris(tm) and Linux up to 45 Percent Faster than Competition
Sun Fire B1600 Blade Platform Featuring new Sun Fire B200x and N1(tm) Grid Provisioning Server up to 34 Percent Less Expensive than HP
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today delivered on its promise of extreme performance at compelling price points with the new Sun Fire V20z server featuring the screaming performance of the AMD Opteron processors and all the benefits of the Sun Java(tm) Enterprise System running on either the Solaris(tm) Operating System or Linux. Sun also announced new innovations to the Sun Fire B1600 blade platform, including the new Sun Fire B200x dual processor x86 blade and the newest edition of Sun’s N1(tm) Grid Provisioning Server, which allows customers to seamlessly mix, match and manage x86 and UltraSPARC(r) blades running either the Solaris Operating System or Linux as one pool of resources.
“Last November, Sun announced our alliance with AMD,” said Neil Knox, executive vice president, Volume Systems Products, Sun Microsystems, Inc. “And we are already ahead with the first in a complete family of AMD Opteron processor-based systems. This is yet another demonstration of Sun’s strategy to leverage industry economics to bring customers extreme performance at compelling price points with the enterprise-class benefits of the Java Enterprise System for Solaris and Linux.”
Sun and AMD Deliver Network Computing Expertise
Starting at $2,795 (USD), the high-performance Sun Fire V20z features dual AMD Opteron x86 32/64-bit processors and is capable of running Solaris x86 as well as Red Hat and SUSE Linux. The SunFire V20z is priced lower than IBM’s Opteron offerings.
“With Sun’s AMD Opteron processor-based servers, IT customers will have unprecedented flexibility, choice and access to the performance of 32-bit computing with the power of 64-bit computing from a global enterprise leader like Sun,” said Dirk Meyer, senior vice president, Computation Products Group, AMD. “The number of software applications available to the enterprise has grown significantly. Through this alliance, we plan to develop innovative technology that enables enterprise customers to do what they need to do better, faster, more productively, and more cost-effectively than they could ever do before.”
As part of the Sun and AMD alliance, both companies are collaborating to optimize the performance of the Solaris Operating System, the Java technology platform and development tools for AMD Opteron processor-based systems. With the Java Enterprise System and N1 Grid Engine on the Solaris Operating System for the AMD Opteron processor, customers can also benefit from the seamless scalability from single systems to entire compute farms. Sun and AMD also intend to work jointly with the Linux community to define and promote a 64-bit UNIX(r)-Linux Application Binary Interface (ABI) to enable further interoperability. UNIX and Linux applications will be able to run natively on any operating systems supporting this ABI.
“Together Sun and Oracle are delivering a high performance enterprise platform on AMD Opteron processor-based systems,” said Chuck Rozwat, executive vice president, Server Technologies, Oracle Corporation. “The new Sun Fire V20z with Oracle’s highly scalable and flexible database provides customers cost-effective, 64-bit solutions to run mission critical applications.”
Mix, Match and Manage with Sun
Sun adds even more choice to its innovative mix, match and manage Sun Fire B1600 Blade Platform with the new Intel Xeon dual-processor x86 Sun Fire B200x Blade Server and the enhanced N1 Grid Provisioning Server 3.1 Blades Edition. Sun is the only major vendor to offer a comprehensive blade platform, supporting both UltraSPARC and x86, Solaris OS and Linux and specialty networking blades for enhanced networking and security. Sun’s blade platform, fully configured with the new Sun Fire B200x, is up to 34 percent less expensive than a similarly configured blade platform from HP.
Ideal for Web Services deployment, enterprise infrastructure and compute farms, the Sun Fire B200x blade server offers customers superior choice and flexibility and offers the best price-performance and density in the 3U form factor blade space. Alongside the new Sun Fire B200x, Sun announces the enhanced N1 Grid Provisioning Server 3.1 Blades Edition, which enables customers to manage physical devices, such as blades, as a pool of virtualized resources. The N1 Grid Provisioning Server 3.1 Blades Edition is twice as fast as the previous version and can reduce server deployment time from weeks or days to minutes, simplifying blade server management and increasing server utilization. In addition, the new offering expands support for x86 blades and the Sun Fire B10n Content Load Balancing Blade.
New Upgrades and Price Cuts for Sun Fire and Netra Products
Sun also announced that the Sun Fire V240 server will now ship with 1.28 GHz UltraSPARC IIIi processors, increasing performance by up to 33 percent. Prices on the 2 processor, 2 GB memory, 2 disk standard configurations are being reduced by 18 percent on the Sun Fire V210 and 15 percent on the Sun Fire V240. Additionally, following the success of the Netra(tm) 240 DC, launched in December 2003, Sun today unveiled the Netra 240 AC, the industry’s lowest-priced 2-way ruggedized carrier-grade server, specially designed for the stringent needs of the telecommunications industry and government sector.
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, Sun Fire, Solaris, Java, N1, Netra 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. Unix is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company Ltd.