Archive | April 21, 2005

Delivers Unmatched Performance in Application Tier On Solaris 10 OS and Sun Fire Servers for a Fraction of the Cost

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW)today announced the publication of a SPECjAppServer 2004 benchmark result demonstrating the best price/performance in the application tier for its Sun Java System Application Server 8.1 Standard Edition. The Sun system achieved a score of 1201.44 jAppServer Operations Per Second (JOPS) @ Standard, clearly establishing a world record price /performance advantage for the Sun Java System Application Server especially when running on the Solaris 10 operating system (OS) and the Sun Fire server product line. This result underscores the superior scalability and performance offered by the Sun systems at a fraction of the cost of the competition. It also proves the outstanding performance available from the new Sun Java Application Platform Suite offering.

Performed on the Sun Fire family of servers, the benchmark demonstrated high orders of integration and interoperability of Solaris 10 running on UltraSPARC(R) IV and AMD Opteron-based systems. The benchmark configuration was comprised of 13 Sun Fire V20z servers, each equipped with two AMD Opteron processors Model 248 and running the Sun Java System Application Server 8.1 Standard Edition. In addition, a Sun Fire E2900 server, equipped with 12 UltraSPARC IV 1.35 GHz processors, ran the latest version of the Oracle 10g Enterprise Edition Database.

The benchmark delivered a class leading price / performance of $164/JOPS in the application tier (combined software / hardware and support cost) versus IBM’s best submission of $504/JOPS3 . This translates to 90% of the performance for 33% of the total application tier cost.

The benchmark also demonstrated Java System Application Server’s ability to handle complex workloads under very heavy load. During the benchmark, the Application Server supported over 9400 concurrent clients, and processed over 4.3 million complex transactions per hour.

The SPECjAppServer2004 benchmark reflects the rigors of complex applications and high volume transaction processing that is typical of today’s customer environments. The test spans all major components of the application server, including Web serving, Enterprise Java Beans architecture and messaging and includes hardware, application server software, Java Virtual Machine software, database software and a systems network.

About Sun Java System Application Platform Suite

The Sun Java System Application Server 8.1 is the industry’s first commercially available implementation of the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) 1.4 platform. This popular application server is a core component of the new Java Sytem Application Platform Suite, a fully integrated and flexible set of the tools and services required to design, develop, deploy and manage the delivery of next-generation Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Customers can quickly and easily deploy the Java System Application Platform Suite for a low cost of $50 (USD) per employee, per year. For more information, please visit: http://www.sun.com/software/javaenterprisesystem/compare.xml

About Sun Fire Servers

The broad range of Sun Fire servers are powered by either UltraSPARC or AMD Opteron processors. The Sun Fire V20z featured in the SPECjAppServer2004 results is one of a family of servers that has achieved more than twelve world record benchmarks in less than twelve months, in several cases outperforming competitor’s systems running x86, Power, or Itanium processors. The Sun Fire V20z server maintains the leadership momentum achieved with the previous previous price/performance world records on SPECjAppServer2002 Multiple Node and SPECjAppServer2002 Dual Node Benchmarks(1). Sun has posted multiple world record benchmark results for all of its x64 platforms, in their respective categories, for a total of over thirty new records(2).

About Solaris 10 OS

Solaris 10 Operating System delivers indisputable performance advantages for database, Web and Java technology services, and High Performance Technical Computing. With new technology advances such as the fastest network stack, advanced tracing, special optimizations for data access and signal handling, and optimizations for multithreaded processors, memory allocator, and compilers, Solaris 10 is powering enterprise applications at record speeds. For Solaris 10 record breaking performance benchmarks, please reference: http://sun.com/solaris/benchmarks

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, Java, J2EE, Solaris, 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 US and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.

SPEC(R) and the benchmark name SPECjAppServer(R) are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. Competitive benchmark results stated above reflect results published on www.spec.org as of April 14, 2005. The comparison presented above is based on the best performing submission from IBM. For the latest SPECjAppServer2004 benchmark results, visit http://www.spec.org/jAppServer2004/.

Aperto Deploys Fujitsu Silicon for Base Stations, Business-grade Subscriber Units

Aperto Networks, a leading WiMAX multiservice systems provider, and Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc. (FMA), a leading provider of robust wireline and wireless solutions that boost next-generation communications networks in North America, today announced the results of their collaboration to test and integrate the Fujitsu MB87M3400 System-on-Chip (SoC) into Aperto’s WiMAX systems development. Aperto has selected Fujitsu’s SoC as the standard silicon for its PacketWave® base station systems and high-end series of business-grade customer premises equipment.

“We have tremendous confidence in Fujitsu’s WiMAX silicon technology,” stated Aperto CEO Reza Ahy. “Our team has worked with Fujitsu, its SoC emulation platform and reference design for many months, and with engineering samples since the first quarter of 2005. These have fulfilled all critical performance aspects needed for WiMAX certification of our systems and tight integration with the Aperto Media Access Control and patented ServiceQTM (Quality of Service) and OptimaLink™ (link optimization) features.”

“The Fujitsu WiMAX SoC’s performance, availability and economics address our market requirements, and carriers are extremely pleased with Aperto’s base station systems, which incorporate this technology,” he continued. “The accelerated availability of the SoC is critical for our milestones, and multiple carrier field trials have been planned with our WiMAX systems using the Fujitsu chip.”

Aperto and Fujitsu have moved quickly on pre-certification testing of all system functionalities, and are well on-track for the WiMAX ForumTM July 2005 early-stage Plugfest and tests at the WiMAX Forum certification lab CETECOM in Malaga, Spain.

“The Fujitsu WiMAX SoC architecture is highly synergistic with Aperto Networks’ outstanding systems advantages in Quality of Service, with the ability to deliver multiple service flows simultaneously,” stated Keith Horn, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Fujitsu Microelectronics America. “Our collaboration has validated this performance advantage, as well as the benefits of Fujitsu’s footprint, processing power and power optimization, extended reach in NLOS environments and superior operation in full-duplex mode. These aspects are mission-critical to Aperto’s success in the broadband wireless market, and they will help to preserve and extend Aperto’s leadership in IP-rich systems functionality.”

Aperto Networks will join the Fujitsu WiMAX SoC press conference at Broadband Wireless World Forum on April 21, 2005. The event will take place in the Genoa Room in Caesar’s Palace, from 12:45 to 1:45pm. The two companies will demonstrate the integration of their technologies featuring simultaneous Internet access and video streaming at the Aperto booth (#211) and Fujitsu booth (#204).

About Aperto Networks

Aperto Networks is a leader in WiMAX-class multiservice broadband wireless access systems for global markets and a board member of the WiMAX Forum. The company was founded to provide breakthrough solutions to the bottleneck in last-mile broadband access, and is a founding board member of the WiMAX Forum as well as a founder and lead contributor to IEEE 802.16a/d and the ETSI-BRAN standards. Its PacketWave® system is a family of base stations, subscriber units, radios and antennas in 2.5, 3.3-3.8 and 5 GHz frequencies for point-to-point and point-to-multipoint deployment. PacketWave’s scalability and patented technologies support new wireless builds and complement wireline broadband access networks. Aperto is already deployed in over 60 countries, meeting service provider needs for installation ease, IP-rich network functionality, cost effectiveness, rapid provisioning and interference resilience. For more information on Aperto Networks, go to www.apertonet.com.

About Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc.

Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc. (FMA) leads the industry in innovation. FMA provides high-quality, reliable semiconductor products and services for the networking, communications, automotive, security and other markets throughout North and South America. As a founding and board member of the WiMAX Forumv™, Fujitsu supports the standards development and compliance programs that are essential to successful Broadband Wireless deployment. Fujitsu provides performance-driven WiMAX solutions by leveraging the company’s experience and expertise in the networking and communications markets. Fujitsu offers flexible WiMAX SoC and reference designs for WiMAX-certifiable systems to equipment vendors. For more product information, please visit the company’s web site at http://us.fujitsu.com/micro/WiMAX or please address e-mail to inquiry.bwa@fma.fujitsu.com

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Sun Microsystems, Inc., (NASDAQ: SUNW) today announced general availability of the Sun Java Enterprise System Release 3, (Java ES) Sun’s flagship enterprise infrastructure software that has transformed the way software is purchased, deployed and managed. Java ES 3 is enriched with new functionality, including Sun Java System Identity Manager, a software product that protects sensitive data, increases efficiency and reduces the costs of identity management.

“Sun Java Enterprise System continues the market transformation we started over a year ago,” said John Loiacono, executive vice president of Sun’s software group. “By tearing down the traditional barriers of software infrastructure cost and complexity, Sun Java Enterprise System is aligning business needs with an integrated set of industry leading, enterprise network services.”

The enhanced Java ES solution also provides critical multi-platform support for major commercial operating environments including Solaris 10 on both SPARC(R) and x86, HP-UX, Linux, and Windows 2000 and XP. The single annual license fee model and unlimited Right-To-Use in the Java Enterprise System helps organizations to realize immediate cost savings and dramatically simplify how they select, buy, and use their infrastructure software assets.

In just one year Sun has completely reinvented the way IT managers can plan for and deploy their systems. The Java ES offering was the first subscription- based enterprise solution and broke new ground in the software industry. Today the Java ES product has nearly 360 customers representing nearly 420,000 seats worldwide. Sun has relentlessly innovated on the Java ES solution, delivering a compelling update for its flagship middleware stack that provides a complete system to help solve the problem of integrating complex infrastructure software. New components not previously part of the Java ES offering include:

• Sun Java System Identity Manager — provides integrated user provisioning and identity synchronization services to ensure enhanced security, lowered costs, and improved productivity. The full suite of solutions eliminates manual creation, maintenance, and deletion of identity data, enabling organizations to increase accessibility while maintaining tight security, while also ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition — extends the advanced operational capabilities of the Sun Java System Application Server Standard Edition adding transparent failover and recovery to provide continuous availability for Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) applications and Web services. It is designed to support the most demanding operational requirements of the telecommunications and financial services markets.
• Sun Java System Portal Server Mobile Access – dynamically renders and delivers personalized and aggregated content to partners, customers, and employees using wireless mobile devices.

Also new in Java Enterprise System Release 3 are Sun Java Studio Enterprise, a model-driven analysis, design, and development environment that leverages the Unified Modeling Language (UML); Sun N1 Grid Service Provisioning System which enables administrators to deploy, configure and update network services from a Web browser; and Sun Java Studio Creator, a next-generation tool for Java application development that combines simplified visual development techniques with the power of 100% Java technology platform standards.

New Accessibility For Sun Java Enterprise System

Earlier this year Sun announced five new market-driven Sun Java System Suites that allow customers to quickly and easily deploy the optimal set of Java Enterprise System technologies for a low cost of $50 (USD) per employee, per year. These suites offer an easier way for customers to buy and implement for identity management, application platform services, system availability and communications. For more information, please visit: http://www.sun.com/software/javaenterprisesystem/

Pricing and Availability

The Sun Java Enterprise System combines software and services as a single entity, for a single price, per employee, per year – with an infinite right to use. Sun Java Enterprise System Release 3 is available for $140 (USD) per employee, per year. This price includes access to the comprehensive set of software for enterprise deployment, plus licenses to versions of Sun’s industry leading tools, Sun Java Studio Enterprise and Sun Java Studio Creator and Sun Developer Network Standard subscription.

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, Java, J2EE, N1, Solaris 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 US and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.

The MB87M3400 Enables Development of Modular, Scalable, WiMAX-Compliant Base Stations and Subscriber Stations

Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc. (FMA) today introduced its highly integrated WiMAX system-on-chip, the MB87M3400, which complies with the IEEE802.16-2004 standard and will enable development of a new generation of WiMAX-compliant broadband wireless access (BWA) equipment.

The Fujitsu WiMAX SoC sets the stage for both base station and subscriber station implementation, which will bring cost-efficient, high-quality, fixed broadband connectivity to Metro Area Network users, without the need for direct Line of Sight access to base stations from their remotely connected subscriber stations. The MB87M3400 is designed to enable deployment of BWA equipment for both base stations and subscriber stations in licensed or license-exempt bands below 11GHz.

“This new WiMAX-compliant SoC is the industry’s most integrated, modular, scalable, and cost-efficient solution,” said Keith Horn, senior vice president of sales and marketing for FMA. “Our design team has worked very closely with innovative systems developers worldwide to deliver the optimal technology for WiMAX-compliant equipment. Early adopters of our system-on-chip are now set to make 2005 the inaugural year for WiMAX-based customer premise equipment, base stations and low-cost subscriber stations in a broad range of geographic markets.”

The MB87M3400 uses an OFDM 256 (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) PHY that supports channels from 1.75MHz up to 20MHz, and can operate in TDD or FDD modes, with support for all available channel bandwidths. A programmable frequency selection generates the sample clock for any desired bandwidth. When applying 64QAM modulation in a 20MHz channel and using all 192 sub-carriers, the SoC’s data rate can go up to 75Mbps. Uplink sub-channelization is also supported.

The Fujitsu WiMAX SoC incorporates sophisticated processing power, including a powerful main RISC engine that implements the 802.16 upper-layer MAC, scheduler, drivers, protocol stacks, and user application software. Also on board is a secondary RISC/DSP that functions as a co-processor, which executes lower-layer MAC functions, offloading processing from the upper-layer MAC and enhancing total performance. A multi-channel DMA controller handles high-speed transactions among agents on a high-performance bus.

Incorporates Security, Radio Control, Analog Circuitry



The Fujitsu WiMAX SoC also incorporates radio control and all required analog circuits, along with a comprehensive set of integrated peripheral functions. To ensure security, the MB87M3400 uses DES/AES/CCM encryption/decryption engines for the 802.16 MAC privacy sub-layer. The chip also includes a memory controller, an Ethernet engine for interfacing to the network, and high-performance DAC/ADC for flexible baseband interface.

Pricing and Availability



The MB87M3400 comes in a 436-pin BGA package and is now available. The price begins at $45 each in 1,000-unit volumes. A complete reference design, including all required software and hardware for a cost-effective system solution, is also available. The reference design is scheduled for certification by the WiMAX Forum™.

Fujitsu plans ongoing, comprehensive support for the WiMAX standards, as the WiMAX Forum and its member companies work to deliver IEEE 802.16e to serve mobile wireless broadband applications.

Click to download a photo of the Fujitsu WiMAX system-on-chip, the MB87M3400

http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/MICRO/fma/imagelib/bwa/WiMAXchips.jpg

Click to download a block diagram of the Fujitsu WiMAX system-on-chip, the MB87M3400

http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/MICRO/fma/imagelib/bwa/WMANblockdiagram.jpg

About Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc.

Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc. (FMA) leads the industry in innovation. FMA provides high-quality, reliable semiconductor products and services for the networking, communications, automotive, security and other markets throughout North and South America. As a founding and board member of the WiMAX Forumv™, Fujitsu supports the standards development and compliance programs that are essential to successful Broadband Wireless deployment. Fujitsu provides performance-driven WiMAX solutions by leveraging the company’s experience and expertise in the networking and communications markets. Fujitsu offers flexible WiMAX SoC and reference designs for WiMAX-certifiable systems to equipment vendors. For more product information, please visit the company’s web site at http://us.fujitsu.com/micro/WiMAX or please address e-mail to inquiry.bwa@fma.fujitsu.com

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Most Advanced Operating System on the Planet for Multi-Core Systems

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today announced its award-winning Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) supports servers based on the new industry-standard Dual-Core AMD Opteron[TM] processor, including the recently unveiled Sun Fire[TM] V40z server powered by AMD64 dual-core technology. Leveraging more than 20 years of Symmetric Multi-processing (SMP) expertise, Sun has been able to tune the Solaris 10 OS and optimize it for the AMD64 platform to deliver near linear scalability.

“Solaris 10 is the operating system that can unleash the power and capability of systems based on AMD’s new dual-core Opteron processors,” said Tom Goguen, vice president of product marketing, Operating Platforms Group at Sun. “Solaris 10 and Opteron have already aced a number of performance benchmarks and are proving to be an exceptionally powerful combination.”

Solaris 10 offers a wide range of functionality specifically designed to take advantage of multi-core AMD64 and SPARC(r) systems, including:

• Multi-Core Platform Support: Customers can be assured that all of the Solaris 10 OS features are fully supported on multi-core systems and that many of the most popular features have been specifically engineered to take advantage of multi-core systems. For example, Solaris Containers can allow for finer-grain resource management at the core level. Additionally, the Predictive Self-Healing functionality in Solaris 10 OS can automatically detect failing cores, and take them offline, without taking the entire CPU offline or affecting application availability.
• Memory Placement Optimization: Originally implemented in 1998 for UltraSPARC(R) servers, Memory Placement Optimization is now supported on AMD64-based systems, improving overall system performance on systems with multiple dual-core CPUs.
• Application Compatibility Guarantee: All software applications that run on Solaris today stand to benefit from the underlying multi-core functionality and enhancements in the Solaris 10 OS – without any modification or recompilation. There are over 185 open source applications such as Apache, TomCat, Samba and MySQL that are pre-compiled, pre-tested and shipped ready to run on Solaris 10 on SPARC, AMD64 and Intel platforms and more than 1,000 applications certified to run on Solaris 10.
• Record Breaking Performance: To date, Solaris 10 has achieved more than 14 record-setting benchmarks on AMD64 and SPARC hardware, four of which were based on multi-core systems. For more information, please reference: http://sun.com/solaris/benchmarks.

“The arrival of multi-core gives Opteron(TM) processor-based systems a path to ever escalating performance gains,” said Gordon Haff, Senior Analyst and IT Advisor, Illuminata, Inc. “Add the innovative new features available in Solaris 10 – such as DTrace and Solaris Containers – and you have a very nicely performing and feature-rich option for enterprise customers.”

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 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. AMD, Opteron, the AMD logo, the AMD Opteron logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices.

Helps cut operational expenditures, saving customers up to $2 million in energy costs; Delivers world-record performance; Prices 8-way server same as 4-way

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today introduced its first dual-core server based on the new industry-standard Dual-Core AMD Opteron[TM] processor, and announced dual-core for its entire x64 product line. The Sun Fire V40z server powered by AMD64 dual-core technology, is an enhanced 4-socket, 8-way server that integrates four microprocessors – each with two complete CPU cores. The dual-core architecture is designed to help customers achieve twice the performance and power efficiency over competitive x64 single-core server offerings based on Intel processors, resulting in half the operational costs that include power and cooling – in some cases saving customers an average of $2M annually per year(1).

“Our new dual-core server can deliver double the value to customers for their hardware investment. In some cases, the Sun Fire V40z servers powered by dual-core can take up to 60 percent less rack and floor space, require 50 percent less memory, disk space and I/O capacity, and cost less 50 percent less per node to manage than Xeon MP equivalent servers,” said John Fowler, executive vice president, Network Systems Group for Sun Microsystems, Inc. “In addition, we’ve already seen great customer traction for our x64 systems. We are the only major server vendor that has grown AMD Opteron processor factory revenue market share every quarter since announcing our first server based on the industry-standard AMD Opteron processor(2).”

Sun Delivers Nearly Twice the Value in One; Outperforms HP and Dell

The Sun Fire V40z server with dual-core is designed to require only 42 percent of the power needed to support the same number of processor cores in servers using the Intel XeonMP processors(3), and runs virtually any operating system (OS), including Solaris, standard Linux distributions or Windows. Sun’s line of x64 servers equipped with single-core processors are also designed to be easily upgradeable to Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors which in many cases may be as simple as replacing the processors and refreshing the BIOS (basic input/output system).

The Sun Fire V40z server equipped with the Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor 800 Series has achieved a world-record floating point throughput performance for all 8-way, x86-compatible systems. With this result the dual-core Sun Fire V40z server demonstrates more than 2.5X the performance of competitive 4-processor single-core servers such as the HP ProLiant ML570 G3 and the Dell PowerEdge 6850 equipped with the newest Intel Xeon MP EM64T-capable processor(5). This benchmark addresses the advantages of the new AMD dual-core technology when compared to the traditional single-core systems. The results for the most recent performance claims can be found at: http://www.sun.com/v40z/benchmarks.html.

Additionally, customers will be able to purchase an 8-way server equipped with the Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor Model 875 and 16GB of memory for about the same price as a 4-way server powered with the single-core AMD Opteron processor Model 850(4) when it was first introduced last year, for $38,995 U.S. list price. The new dual-core Sun Fire V40z server will be generally available in May. For more information on the dual-core Sun Fire V40z server please visit: http://www.sun.com

Solaris 10 Uniquely Positioned to Harness the Power of Dual-Core Systems

Sun brings 20 years of Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) systems expertise to the AMD64 platform and Solaris 10 OS is the third release of the OS designed to support multi-core systems. Innovative Solaris 10 technologies like Solaris Containers, Predictive Self Healing and Dynamic Tracing (DTrace), are multi-core aware and designed to take advantage of the AMD64 architecture, while multi-core features specific to Solaris on Sun Fire servers such as Memory Placement Optimization (MPO) and scheduler enhancements are also supported. For example, Predictive Self-Healing allows users to automatically detect failing cores and take them offline without taking the entire CPU offline or affecting application availability. Customers can also protect their Solaris investment since all existing Solaris OS applications can immediately access all the benefits of multi-core platforms without modification or recompilation.

The combination of Solaris 10 and AMD64 has proven to be a powerful combination and will allow organizations to unleash the technology’s true performance potential. To date, Solaris 10 OS has achieved more than 12 record-setting benchmarks on AMD64 hardware, four of which were based on multi-core systems. For more information, please reference: http://sun.com/solaris/benchmarks.

“Sun and AMD have collaborated once again to deliver some of the industry’s most powerful industry-standard servers that take full advantage of AMD64 dual-core technology,” said Marty Seyer, corporate vice president and general manager, Microprocessor Business Unit, Computation Products Group, AMD. “Our combined leadership is resulting in significant performance boosts and power efficiencies in the enterprise data center, as evidenced by these impressive Solaris 10 benchmarks on Sun platforms powered by Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors. AMD64 enables an inherent time-to-market advantage, lower cost of design, reduced support costs and potentially lower cost of operations advantage. We will continue to support Sun’s plan for a full x64 product line based on dual-core AMD64 technology and work together to bring multi-core, 64-bit computing to the masses.”

The 8-way, SMP server powered by the Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor Model 875 (2.2GHz) can support both 32-bit and 64-bit applications simultaneously with full compatibility between modes. The server’s design can help enable faster computations and lower cost per database transaction, and its high-density form factor comes in a compact, cost-saving 3U rack, lowering the overall physical space requirements when compared to competitive 4U equivalents.

“While several competitors have abandoned their plans to build out their x64 product line up to a 16-way, Sun has plans to deliver a product line that extends up to eight dual-core processors – 16-way performance in a single system. Over the next year, you’ll see more competitive aggressive moves from us – and I’m not just talking about dual-core configurations for our Sun Fire V20z server that is planned for later this summer,” Fowler added.

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 and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. AMD, Opteron, the AMD logo, the AMD Opteron logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices.

SPEC and the benchmark names SPECfp and SPECint are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. Competitive benchmark results reflect data published as of 04/18/05. For the latest benchmark results, visit http://www.spec.org/. The 4-way and 4 CPU systems have four cores. The 8-way and 8 CPU systems have eight cores. Sun results has been submitted to SPEC.

(1) Customers deploying a 10,000 CPU core compute farm can experience an average annual savings of $2M in power and HVAC costs when purchasing Sun Fire V40z servers with the Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor over comparable Dell, HP or IBM servers equipped with Intel Xeon MP processors, providing the same amount of CPU cores.
(2) Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, February 2005.
(3) One Sun Fire V40z with four dual-core processors has an estimated power requirement of 663Watts and two HP DL580 G3 consume an estimated 1,575 Watts, resulting in the Sun Fire V40z using only 42% (663/1575) of the power required by the two HP DL580 G3, each with 4 single-core Intel Xeon MP processors.
(4) Pricing measured at the time of launch for both products and adjusted for differences in memory size/type, price equal within 1.3 percent.
(5) The Sun Fire V40z server (4xAMD Opteron Model 875, Solaris 10, Sun Studio 10 compiler): SPECfp_rate 2000 – 138. The HP ProLiant ML570 G3 server (4×3.333GHz Intel Xeon MP,1MB L2, 8MB L3): SPECfp_rate2000 – 52.6. The Dell PowerEdge 6850 (4×3.333GHz Intel Xeon MP,1MB L2, 8MB L3): SPECfp_rate2000 – 52.5.