Archive | 2001

Twenty Percent Performance Boost in Sun Fire 280R Servers Improve Enterprise-Class Availability at Entry-Level Pricing

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today announced the availability of the 900 MHz UltraSPARC[tm] III processor for the Sun Fire™ 280R rack-optimized, entry-level server, delivering enterprise-class features and availability for today’s most demanding applications.

The Sun Fire 280R server with 900 MHz UltraSPARC III processors comes standard with 8 MB of Level 2 cache — more than 14 times that of most comparable Wintel/Lintel servers on the market — and provides up to 8 GB of main memory, which allows for faster transactions in input/output (I/O) and compute-intensive environments. The 900 MHz processor running the Solaris™ 8 Operating Environment boosts performance up to 20 percent over 750 MHz-based systems and provides customers with the robust reliability and availability of the SPARC/Solaris platform.

Unlike other non-Sun hardware platforms, the Sun Fire server family is unique in its end-to-end binary compatible architecture, based on the massively scalable SPARC/Solaris platform, which delivers a seamless integratable product line of workstations and servers running from one to 106 processors. Sun Fire 280R customers who wish to upgrade from 750 MHz UltraSPARC III processors, simply need to swap in the 900 MHz CPU and fan tray.

“Caprion has built one of the world’s largest protein analysis compute farms through a combination of Sun’s Grid Engine software and Sun Fire servers including the Sun Fire 280R server,” said Dr. Paul Kearney, director of bioinformatics for Caprion Pharmaceuticals. “At Caprion, we need enormous computing capacity to conduct biological research for drug discovery on the scale that we do. The Sun Fire 280R servers have the scalability, flexibility and processing power to handle not just our awesome requirements of today, but also the vastly increased needs in meeting the challenges of tomorrow.”

“With the 900 MHz UltraSPARC III processor, the Sun Fire 280R server further extends our enterprise-class features and performance for mission-critical applications, delivered in a rack-optimized package,” said Souheil Saliba, director of marketing for Sun’s Volume Systems Products. “With memory and system interconnect capabilities well out of reach by similar Wintel/Lintel entry-level servers, our faster processor performance further establishes Sun as the technology leader in this space.”

Lowering Total Cost of Ownership

Sun Fire 280R servers recently achieved record-setting, world-class price performance results on the Oracle Applications Standard Benchmark version 11.5.3. Sun’s servers were able to serve 3,416 simultaneous users at a blazing 1.9 seconds per transaction to achieve its record-setting results. A Sun Fire V880 was used as the database server, while 14 2-way, 750 MHz Sun Fire 280Rs served as the application servers. Full system configuration and software release information regarding this result and the Oracle Applications Standard Benchmark can be obtained at: http://www.oracle.com/apps_benchmark/.

Oracle Corp. also announced this week the availability of Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Certified Configuration on the Sun Fire 280R server with Sun StorEdge[tm] T3 Arrays fully integrated with Sun[tm] Cluster 3.0 through Value Added Resellers (VARs). Customers can purchase an Oracle certified, pre-installed, pre-tested and optimized Oracle9i Real Application Clusters hardware and software offering, via a single reseller source, thus cutting total cost of ownership by reducing acquisition and deployment time.

Delivering Enterprise-Class Features in an Entry-Level Server

The Sun Fire 280R server provides expandability, scalability, reliability and flexibility to large enterprises and service providers as well as to small to medium-sized businesses. This high-density, low-profile server provides a full range of enterprise-level features in a 4 RU package, including up to two 900 MHz UltraSPARC III processors; dual(N+1), hot-swappable power supplies with independent power cords; front accessible, hot-plug FC-AL disk drives; 4 PCI slots, 10/100 base T Ethernet port; standard 19-inch rack with sliders for easy servicing and upgrading of CPUs, PCI cards, memory, and power supplies; and Remote System Control management tools for lights out remote management capabilities.

Pricing and Availability

Available now, the price for an entry configuration is $22,995 for a dual 900 MHz Sun Fire 280R server with 8 MB of e-cache, 2 GB of memory, dual power supplies, dual 36 GB, 10000-rpm FC-AL internal disks, and DVD-ROM. The configuration comes standard with Remote System Control. The Sun Fire 280R server can scale up to 8 GB of memory, with two 73 GB FC-AL disks in a single system. For more information, contact your Sun sales representative, authorized Sun reseller, or go to http://www.sun.com/servers/workgroup/280r/.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision — “The Network Is The Computer[tm]” — 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://www.sun.com/

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Solaris, Sun Fire, UltraSPARC®, StorEdge and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and in 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 architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Latest UltraSPARC® III Chip-Based SunTone[tm] Cluster Platform Decreases Complexity and Cuts Deployment Time up to 80 Percent

Building on then proven methodology of its successful Cluster Platform 220/1000, Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced its next-generation, entry-level Cluster Platform 280/3, which provide significantly greater memory and storage flexibility. The fourth offering to be added to the family of SunTone™ Cluster Platforms, the latest solution continues Sun’s efforts to improve total cost of ownership (TCO) for its customers.

Powered by redundant UltraSPARC® III chip-based Sun Fire™ 280R servers and highly scalable, mirrored Sun StorEdge™ T3 arrays, the pre-integrated and tested Cluster Platform 280/3 is designed to provide high availability with Sun[tm] Cluster 3.0’s failover protection and load balancing technologies while decreasing complexity via a single, integrateable stack. Sun’s integrateable platform, unlike other system vendors, provides a building-block approach to customer solutions. As a result, delivery is accelerated and customer deployment times have been cut by up to 80 percent, which ultimately equates to better customer TCO.

“Sun’s family of SunTone Cluster Platforms arrive on the dock ready-to-deploy, simplifying installation and offering a pre-integrated, interoperability-tested solution to meet our critical needs for uptime and reliability. Choosing Sun’s Cluster Platform 220/1000 was an easy, cost-effective choice for us,” says Claus Bo Nielsen, CTO of estructure.net, a Managed Service Provider in Denmark. “We have a banking client that requires the utmost in security and availability. The Cluster Platform 220/1000 met our client’s crucial needs for high availability, reliability, and security for its e-business applications. Installation time for implementing this SunTone Cluster Platform into their specific environment was cut from two months to just days, translating into big savings for both estructure.net and our customer.”

Next-generation Platform Adds Flexibility and Improves Management

The Cluster Platform 280/3 offers additional enhancements to meet customers’ needs for memory and storage flexibility, reduced complexity and swifter deployment. New features include:

• Memory flexibility – 4GB or 8GB;
• Storage flexibility – 327GB or 660GB;
• Choice of volume management software:
  Solstice Disk Suite 4.2.1 or VERITAS Volume Manager 3.1.1;
• Pre-installed and configured Sun Cluster 3.0 NFS High Availability agents; and
• Sun[tm] Management Center 3.0 integrated to provide system monitoring for the entire cluster.

“Building on the success of the Cluster Platform 220/1000, the new Cluster Platform 280/3 broadens our line of SunTone Cluster Platforms by incorporating the new generation of UltraSPARC III chip-based server technology,” said Gary Beck, vice president of Sun’s Integrated Products Group. “With improved memory, storage and system management capabilities built into the Cluster Platform 280/3, Sun continues to innovate with reliable, cost-effective platforms that provide the simplified solutions our customers are looking for.”

Pre-integration and Testing Lead to Faster Deployment

Sun’s Cluster Platform 280/3 provides upfront savings with a pre-architected and engineered infrastructure designed to address high availability needs and eliminate the time-consuming–and potentially complex–evaluation and design process. The platform is designed and tested to meet the SunTone Program’s best practices for quality delivery of web-enabled services. Led by Sun, the SunTone Program is one of the first collaborative industry efforts to define these standards for high quality of service. Through the program’s engineering best practices, the latest SunTone Cluster Platform offers on-going savings by reducing the risk of human, process and product errors, industry-recognized sources for problems.

Current SunTone Cluster Platform customers, for example, have credited Sun’s pre-integrated and tested systems for decreasing deployment times from up to a week to just one day, accelerating customers’ time to benefit and maximizing their productivity. Furthermore, the new platform has been enhanced to provide an “out-of-the-box” file server solution by installing and preconfiguring Sun Cluster 3.0 NFS High Availability agents, further slashing the time investment required to get to production.

New Cluster Platform Ready for Wide Range of Industries
Part of Sun’s growing portfolio of integrated and tested SunTone Cluster Platforms, the entry-level Cluster Platform 280/3 provides the reliability and serviceability for use as a highly available file server, Web server, or small database platform in a broad range of industries, including energy, Internet services, education and healthcare. The new platform’s key components include:

• Redundant Sun Fire 280R servers with two 750MHz UltraSPARC III processors on each server;
• Mirrored Sun StorEdge T3 arrays;
• Solaris[tm] 8 Operating Environment, 07/01;
• Sun Cluster 3.0, 07/01; and
• Sun Netra[tm] T1 AC200 management server.

Available worldwide immediately from Sun and its authorized resellers, pricing for the Cluster Platform 280/3 begins at $173,500 (U.S. Dollars). For more information, go to: sun.com/architectures-platforms/suntoneplatforms/cp280-3.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision — The Network Is The Computer[tm] — 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, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, Solaris, Netra, SunTone, Sun Fire and StorEdge are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and in 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.

The Netra 20 Server Beats UNIX Competition by Delivering the Most Compute Density of Any NEBS Level 3-Certified Two Processor Server

Taking reliability, performance, and total cost of ownership (TCO) to the next level in the Netra[tm] server product line , Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced the first UltraSPARC® III processor-based Netra server. The new Netra 20 server is rack-optimized and ruggedized for telecommunications and government customers who need to deploy highly reliable and high performance servers.

Built on 750 MHz UltraSPARC III processors, the Netra 20 server uses the same Sun[tm] Fireplane interconnect technology that makes the Sun Fire[tm] 15K high-end server the leader in its class. The excellent I/O performance of the blazingly fast Sun Fireplane interconnect at 4.8GB/sec, links all critical components of the system (CPU, memory, network and storage devices) and transfers data at unprecedented speeds. The result is superior real world application performance when compared to IBM and HP. In addition, the Netra 20 comes with the industry’s only removable System Configuration Card, which allows a system to be serviced with only minimal disruption due to system downtime.

The Netra 20 ruggedized server brings the power of the rock-solid Solaris[tm] Operating Environment and latest UltraSPARC III technology to customers building the next generation IP infrastructure. The Netra 20 server maximizes real estate by offering the highest compute density of any major competing NEBS Level 3-certified dual processor UNIX® system. Netra 20 meets mandatory requirements for deployment in Central Office through NEBS Level 3-certification, DC power, and shallow depth. As a replacement to the highly successful Netra 1120 and 1125 servers, the Netra 20 will be used in the next generation of services deployment in both service provider and telecommunication network infrastructure.

The Netra 20 server reduces total cost of ownership and allows easier network management by enabling an architecture that scales readily, provides binary-compatibility with existing applications and provides a platform to build solutions for softswitch deployment, IP infrastructure, session initiation protocol, and Java[tm] technology-based wireless applications.

“The feature set of the Netra 20 combined with the performance that the UltraSPARC III processor provides will enable continuing industry leadership for customers who demand the lowest cost of ownership for ruggedized server applications,” said Neil Knox, vice president and general manager, Volume Systems Products, Sun Microsystems. “The Netra 20  integrated server is reliable and is the ideal system for rack-intensive deployments in less-than-ideal environments.”

“The UltraSPARCIII based Netra 20 server gives our Department of Defense customers the opportunity to leverage Sun’s latest technology innovations for the commercial telecommunications market. Its high density compute performance in a 4U space claim will enable their Tactical Operations Centers to scale services without compromising mobility,” said Scott Butler, director of engineering, General Dynamics Communication Systems.

The Netra 20 server offers a variety of features that provide customers with significant competitive advantages and benefits, including:

• NEBS Level 3-Certified Packaging: The Netra 20 comes with intensely ruggedized packaging that gives the server the ability to operate in hot, humid and polluted environments. Compact footprint (4U) with less than 20-inch depth enables room for cable management in the rack.
• System Configuration Card (SCC): Facilitates easy transfer of the system configuration, enabling quick replacement of faulty systems and minimizing downtime. The SCC maintains the system’s host ID, MAC address and NVRAM settings enabling the end user to quickly reset these network specifications into a replacement server. This eliminates much of the costly downtime associated with system serviceability.
• Ease of Management and Serviceability: Lights Out Management has become the industry standard for mandatory datacenter management features including remote shutdown, restart, troubleshooting and environmental monitoring. Lights Out Management (LOMLite2) is standard on all Netra 20 servers and features front and back LEDs providing visual identification of faults. In today’s challenging economic environment where limited human resources are available for managing the datacenter hardware and software, LOMLite2 is the industry’s leading tool to effectively manage and control server farms and network infrastructure.
• Binary Compatibility: Because the Netra 20 is based on the SPARC architecture, it maintains binary-backward compatibility from generation to generation, including support of the more than 12,000 applications developed for the SPARC/Solaris platform. Customers can deploy systems with confidence knowing their applications can grow and their investments in networking infrastructure and training will be protected.
• Enhanced Connectivity: The Netra 20 server is equipped with extensive external connectivity ports, including PCI, Serial, Parallel, SCSI, FC-AL, USB & Ethernet.

Pricing and Availability

The Netra 20 server is available today through Sun and Sun’s existing sales channels. Netra 20 server with one 750 MHz UltraSPARC III processor starts at $11,495 with one 36 GB FC-AL hard drive and 512 MB of memory installed.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision — The Network Is The Computer[tm] — 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, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, Solaris, Netra, SunTone, Sun Fire and StorEdge are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and in 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.

Leaves UNIX Competitors IBM, HP, and Compaq Even Further Behind with a 20-Percent Processor-Speed Upgrade and Other Business-Supporting Enhancements

Following a recent, dramatic TPC performance benchmark in which PRIMEPOWERTM servers doubled the performance of the closest competitor, Fujitsu Technology Solutions today announced that it has given its PRIMEPOWER servers an additional 20-percent performance boost. Fujitsu® SPARC® compliant, SolarisTM compatible PRIMEPOWER servers have been upgraded to 675 MHz for high-end systems and 600 MHz for mid-range systems and are immediately available. The company is also adding a wide range of new capabilities and enhancements that extend its technology leadership as the best commercial UNIX® server choice for the enterprise and the Internet. All PRIMEPOWER servers support Solaris 2.6, 7, and 8, giving customers flexibility in migration and protecting their application investment.

“With PRIMEPOWER, our customers can depend on a system that speeds productivity and profitability,” commented Richard McCormack, vice president of Marketing at Fujitsu Technology Solutions. “PRIMEPOWER has been proven over and over again achieving top place in worldwide benchmarks. It’s the choice that will help our customers take advantage of new business opportunities and stay out front.”

The PRIMEPOWER 800, 1000, and 2000 servers are now available worldwide with 675-MHz SPARC64-GP` processors, and the 200, 400, and 600 servers are available with 600-MHz SPARC64-GP processors. New capabilities and system enhancements include easier, smarter clustering choices, with the new PRIMECLUSTER solution for high application availability and scalability for business-critical computing and the PRIMEPOWER Open Cluster solution for a mixed Solaris environment; active resource management; remote monitoring, Web-based system administration, and higher security.

Marketplace Momentum

Since their introduction in the North American marketplace on November 14, 2000, by Fujitsu Technology Solutions, PRIMEPOWER servers are realizing steadily increasing momentum, even in the current market conditions. Some key customer wins include Daimler-Chrysler, Southwest Airlines, EMC, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

In a September 17 Meta Fax, Meta Group stated: “[Fujitsu Limited] is a major international vendor, and large, sophisticated-shops should consider high-end Fujitsu systems, which offer better price/performance and high availability.”

In a July 16 Technology Trend, D.H. Brown Associates said, “Over 12,000 applications available for Solaris run without modification on the FTS servers. The system [PRIMEPOWER]-has exhibited strong performance in several benchmarks-. With such impressive credentials, the PRIMEPOWER 2000 has the potential to become a strong contender in the high-end UNIX market.”

PRIMEPOWER Enhancements In addition to performance improvements, new PRIMEPOWER capabilities and enhancements include the following:

® Clustering

PRIMECLUSTERTM software, a proven, easy to configure clustering solution, derived from Fujitsu’s two decades of cluster experience, links servers together for even higher availability and scalability. PRIMECLUSTER software is a modular product that offers multiple clustering technologies. Scalability services, parallel application services, and high-availability services can all coexist in a common cluster. This means that scalable Internet services can be used to interface to high-availability applications, which in turn can request information from a large parallel database server all in the same cluster. This improves application services availability and simplifies administration. PRIMECLUSTER software will be available in January.

PRIMEPOWER Open Cluster, a clustering solution for the Solaris environment based on VERITAS clustering technology, is also available from FTS and supports a mixed configuration of PRIMEPOWER and Sun® servers to provide investment protection for customers who need to cluster mixed Solaris compatible servers. VERITAS Cluster ServerTM (VCS) has the leading share of the cluster software market today, and FTS resells VERITAS products including the VERITAS Cluster Server, VERITAS Foundation SuiteTM, VERITAS File ReplicatorTM and VERITAS Volume ReplicatorTM, and VERITAS Volume ManagerTM. PRIMEPOWER Open Cluster is the only choice for mixed PRIMEPOWER server/Sun server clustering for high availability. PRIMEPOWER Open Cluster is available immediately.

® Active Resource Management Technology, resulting from an engineering collaboration between Aurema Pty Limited and Fujitsu Limited, is a revolutionary resource management technology for PRIMEPOWER servers that provides detailed monitoring and granular control of critical system resources such as processors and memory. Active Resource ManagementTM Technology (ARMTechTM ) software allows resources to be precisely allocated to specific applications or users to achieve optimal server utilization or to enforce pre-determined service level agreements. With ARMTech software, PRIMEPOWER customers will gain increased server efficiency, superior quality of service, and reduced total cost of ownership (TCO). ARMTech software is also invaluable in managing resource contention among consolidated applications. Application Service Providers (ASPs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can use ARMTech software not only to improve efficiency and to enforce resource usage limits but also to accurately bill customers by by system resource usage. ARMTech software is immediately available on all PRIMEPOWER series.

® Remote monitoring provides continuous monitoring of PRIMEPOWER servers for the health of hardware components (i.e., fans, power supplies, etc.). PRIMEPOWER servers automatically “phone home” to the Amdahl® Global Services Center, and skilled technicians are notified and dispatched often before the customer even becomes aware of a problem, and before it can affect system or application availability. This enhanced capability is immediately available and standard on all PRIMEPOWER servers.

® Web-based system administration provides the flexibility to monitor PRIMEPOWER servers remotely through the Web. A detailed view of all hardware components allows the system administrator to stay on top of the use and state of the systems in support of data integrity, application assurance, and optimal performance levels. Administration of clustered PRIMEPOWER systems is now also available via the Intranet. Web-based administration rounds out a family of management tools that add extra value to PRIMEPOWER servers and contribute to reduced total cost of ownership. Web-based administration is standard and immediately available on all PRIMEPOWER servers.

® Premier security is offered by FTS through a strategic partnership with Argus Systems Group, Inc. With Argus PitBull software, FTS customers can quickly and easily protect application programs, data, system resources, and network connections from attack and misuse by hackers and rogue programs such as worms. PitBull allows the creation of a Secure Application Environment (special isolated compartments) for data and applications, so that one exploit cannot be used to gain system-wide access.

Fujitsu Technology Solutions, whose launch was announced on November 14, 2000, focuses on open systems in response to marketplace direction. The company brings together resources and expertise of Fujitsu Limited subsidiaries and leverages Fujitsu’s manufacturing capabilities and substantial R&D budget.

About Fujitsu Technology Solutions

Fujitsu Technology Solutions, Inc., headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, provides enterprise and e-business open systems server and storage solutions and related services that meet the needs of the world’s largest and most progressive users of information technology. Fujitsu Technology Solutions focuses on delivering the most available, scalable, and manageable solutions in the large-systems marketplace. Drawing on the skills and experience of Fujitsu Limited as well as its many partner companies, Fujitsu Technology Solutions helps customers take charge of today’s global, networked, interactive I.T. complexity.

Amdahl is a registered trademark of Amdahl Corporation. Fujitsu and the Fujitsu logo are registered trademarks and PRIMECLUSTER and PRIMEPOWER are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fujitsu Limited in the United States and other countries. ARMTech and Active Resource Management are trademarks of Aurema Pty Limited. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. SPARC is a registered trademark and SPARC64-GP is a trademark of SPARC International, Inc. Products bearing the SPARC trademark are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun and Solaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. VERITAS, VERITAS Cluster Server, VERITAS File Replicator, VERITAS Foundation Suite, VERITAS Volume Manager, and VERITAS Volume Replicator are trademarks or registered trademarks of VERITAS Software Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks and product names

Specifications are subject to change without notice. For the latest detailed information, contact your local sales representative.

Company Contact

Perry Marlon
Fujitsu Technology Solutions
Ph: 408-746-8303
Fax: (408) 992-2779
Email: perry_marlon@ftsi.fujitsu.com

Media Contact

Paula Contos Dunne
Neale-May & Partners
Ph: 650-328-5555 x 113
Cellular: 408-893-8750
Email: pdunne@nealemay.com

Technology Visionaries Worldwide Compute with Sun’s UltraSPARC III Servers and Workstations

Sun Microsystems, Inc. UltraSPARC® III processor-based systems are at the heart of innovative research and are solving the world’s most difficult problems, from pharmaceuticals to Formula One racing to cosmology. UltraSPARC III processors power the Sun Fire[tm] Midframe family of servers, the Sun Fire 280R entry-level server, and the Sun Blade[tm] 1000 workstation. These systems have sold into the tens of thousands worldwide in less than a year.

“With the UltraSPARC III chip, Sun created systems to keep pace with the human imagination,” said John Shoemaker, executive vice president and general manager for Computer Systems, Sun Microsystems. “The UltraSPARC processor’s proven reliability and scalability are behind some of the most fascinating technology-driven projects around the world, including exploration of the universe, decoding of the human body and 3-D modeling for better race cars. With the upcoming addition of Sun’s next-generation high-end server, we can only imagine how this list will grow.”

The power and versatility of UltraSPARC processor powered products can be seen helping to solve the toughest problems, in their vast variety of uses:

Attesting to the power and flexibility of Sun’s Midframe servers, customers such as the University of Durham in the United Kingdom, and Caprion Pharmaceuticals are enlisting Sun servers to help address some of their respective industries’ most challenging issues. The University of Durham’s new supercomputer facility, the “Cosmology Machine,” is undertaking the most complex and far-reaching cosmology project to date with the help of Sun’s Midframe servers. The facility consists of 64 Sun Blade 1000 workstations and a 24-way Sun Fire 6800 server managed by Sun’s Grid Engine software that is helping to re-create the evolution of the universe through ultra-high-speed calculations of data from billions of observations of stars, gases and galaxies.

Also focused on life-altering discoveries, Caprion Pharmaceuticals is helping save human lives through the rapid acceleration of new drug development using Sun Midframe servers, Sun Blade 1000 workstations and Sun 280R Enterprise servers. Since Sun’s product line is based on SPARC and Solaris technologies the entire environment integrates seamlessly, decreasing complexity, contributing to faster time to market and lower total cost of ownership. Comprising Sun Fire 3800, 4800 and 6800 servers, Caprion’s data center represents one of the largest and fastest dedicated protein analysis server banks in the world, capable of analyzing more than one million proteins in the human body and increasing research speed by 20 times.

West McLaren Mercedes, one of the most successful teams in the history of Formula One racing, designs, simulates and revises 3D models of its race cars using Sun Blade 1000 workstations in concert with a Sun Technical Compute Farm. Ninety-five percent of a typical car’s 10,800 components are completely redesigned in any given season utilizing the large memory footprint and 64 bit-computing ability of the Sun Blade 1000. Through the increased compute utilization and superior graphics provided by its Sun solution McLaren can review more iterations of its designs and make critical adjustments to its race cars.

France Telecom, who hosts mission critical Web sites of some of the most popular and prestigious sporting events in Europe, relies on the power and stability of the Sun Fire 280R servers to manage the frequent change in bandwidth load demand. As more fans are now monitoring their favorite events in real-time, promoters must provide an architecture to handle the increased online traffic. The scalability and reliability of the UltraSPARC III processor is critical when demand can reach in excess of 603 million hits for a single event.

About Sun Fire Midframe Servers

The Sun Fire Midframe family of servers have redefined what it means to be a datacenter server, bringing mainframe-class capabilities to the midrange. Spanning the education, retail, life sciences and all other vertical markets, the UltraSPARC III based Sun Midframe server family – comprising the Sun Fire 3800, Sun Fire 4800, Sun Fire 4810 and the Sun Fire 6800 – addresses the needs of customers across both small and large enterprises. Sun Fire servers feature hot-pluggable components, remote monitoring and CPU power control, dynamic reconfiguration and alternate pathing. From supporting smaller Internet applications to enabling server consolidation and data warehousing, the record-setting Midframe servers provide availability, superior balanced performance and investment protection for the midrange.

About the Sun Fire 280R

The Sun Fire 280R is a rack-optimized server powered by UltraSPARC III technology. This compact, workgroup server provides the reliability, availability and scalability to run financial services, service provider and e-commerce applications. The Sun Fire 280R server, running the robust Solaris[tm] 8 Operating Environment, delivers enterprise-class features in a compact, rack-optimized package-making it ideal for service providers or enterprise environments where space is at a premium.

About the Sun Blade 1000

The 64-bit Sun Blade 1000, Sun’s first UltraSPARC III workstation, provides the power, reliability and scalability necessary in technical computing’s demanding environments. Offering twice the performance, memory and disk capacity of previous UltraSPARC II- based systems, the Sun Blade 1000 has quickly proven and entrenched itself in such compute-intensive markets as electronic design automation (EDA), mechanical design (MCAD/MCAE), research/development and earth sciences/geosciences.

About the UltraSPARC III Processor

The UltraSPARC III processor, recipient of the Microprocessor Reports’ Analyst’s Choice Award as the 2001 Best Processor for Workstation/Server, delivers massive scalability both vertically and horizontally, proven reliability with integrated features like the Uptime Bus and binary compatibility with applications written for previous versions of UltraSPARC and Solaris technology systems. The UltraSPARC III was designed to deliver multi-dimensional levels of performance in new generations of system products that implement the Net Effect.

The Only Sub-$1000 UNIX Server Now Comes with a Faster Processor, More Memory and Quicker Drives

Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced that it has nearly doubled the performance of its popular rack-optimized Netra[tm] X1 thin server while keeping the same low price of $995. This complete one processor, rack-mountable, thin server presents an affordable entree to Sun[tm] technology for Internet services ranging from e-mail and messaging to Web hosting and DNS services.

Sun has increased the Netra X1 server’s processor speed by 25 percent, doubled the maximum memory capacity, and added larger, faster hard drives without increasing the price. The Netra X1 server ships with the complete Solaris[tm] 8 Operating Environment and Lights Out Management at no additional charge. The new server configuration also supports the Solaris Network Cache Accelerator (NCA) socket. With Solaris 8 OE and Solaris NCA the performance of the new Netra X1 server configuration has been increased almost two-fold as a dedicated web server.

“Digex and Sun engineers worked very closely in qualifying the Netra X1 in the rigorous environment of the Digex Unified Lab and, after thorough testing, we found the Netra X1 performed to the standard that we expect from Sun products,” said Joe Crawford, assistant vice president of engineering at Digex. “As more businesses move their transaction processing to the Internet, this additional hardware component will allow Digex to expand our solutions to a wider spectrum of business models.”

Introduced in January of this year, the Netra X1 is the lowest entry price of any branded UNIX® server. Features include: – Rack-mountable 1 RU height to allow for more servers in existing rack space – Pre-installed Solaris 8 Operating Environment, complete with lights-out management (LOM) software for remote monitoring and control – Small server footprint (17″ width x 13″ depth) for streamlined installation and maintenance – Front and back LEDs, removable system configuration card, space for system label, cable management hardware

Pricing and Availability

Sun’s Netra X1 thin server is now available through Sun and Sun’s existing worldwide sales channels. The starting list price is $995 for a system configured with an UltraSPARC IIe 500MHz processor, 128MB memory (2GB max), 1-40GB hard drive (2 drives max), and Solaris 8 and LOM management software pre-installed.

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. With $18.3 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com.

SPARC-FLASH is distributed by SPARC International.

All rights reserved.
Please email inquires to sparc-flash-request@sparc.org.

CDW Becomes Sun’s First Volume Channel Provider, Offering Entry-level Sun Servers, Desktops and Appliances

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today announced a new category of partners within its iForce[sm] program, Volume Channel Providers (VCPs). VCPs will offer Sun’s low cost entry-level servers, desktops and appliances to small and medium-sized businesses (SMB), marking its entry to the volume market. CDW Computer Centers, Inc. (Nasdaq:CDWC), a direct solutions provider of technology products and services, is Sun’s first VCP.

The VCP program marks Sun’s entrance into the volume server marketplace, currently populated with Wintel-based systems. Gary Grimes, vice president of partner management and sales operations for Sun Microsystems said, “Recent analyst studies show that Sun is outpacing its competitors in the high-end UNIX[R] space and winning in the mid-range server market. SPARC/Solaris technology with its inherent scalability and widely-recognized Sun reliability also clearly meets the needs of the small to medium-size business community.

“Volume business doesn’t have to mean PCs and microprocessors,” explained Grimes. “The time is right to work with CDW and other iForce partners to not only capture this market, but to redefine the volume business to focus on the smaller enterprise.”

As a VCP, CDW will focus on high-volume sales to the smaller enterprise, allowing Sun to reach economies of scale to support competitive pricing while maintaining high levels of support and service. In the next quarter, CDW anticipates launching sales of such products as the Sun Cobalt[tm] Server Appliances, Sun Netra[tm] and two-way workgroup servers, and Sun software products through its relationship-based sales force. Pricing for systems will begin at under $1,000.

“Volume channel providers offer a viable volume/value proposition for completing an SMB total back-office solution, such channels are the link to Sun’s target customer. Sun has recognized this and is taking a necessary step, that is, by getting the channel involved with their new solutions offerings,” said Anthony Penzarella, IDC.

“Our small- and medium-sized business customers are considering a wider range of choices for everything from their servers to their desktops,” said Doug Eckrote, senior vice president of purchasing for CDW. “With the trusted set of Sun’s entry-level systems, we will be able to offer our customers an even broader range of solutions to meet their technology needs.”

Sun’s iForce program encourages collaboration between Sun’s iForce partner community to help build highly scalable solutions with reduced risk and improved time-to-service.

The VCP initiative allows for additional partnering opportunities within Sun’s iForce community. Participants will be encouraged to work with VCPs to form alliances for enterprise-level opportunities that may be uncovered by the VCP, as well as installation support for VCP sales.

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. With $18.3 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com.

At 900 MHz, the World’s Fastest 64-bit Workstation-Server Processor

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) and Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE: TXN), confirmed today that copper interconnect-based versions of the award-winning UltraSPARC® III microprocessor have passed all internal qualifications tests and are planned for shipment in Sun Blade[tm] 1000 workstations within the next 90 days. At 900 MHz, the new version of the UltraSPARC III processor combines copper interconnect with low-K dielectric, and a 100 nanometer gate transistor to maintain its status as the world’s fastest commercially available 64-bit workstation-server processor.

David Yen, vice president and general manager, Sun Microsystems Processor Products Group said: “Implementing copper, low-K dielectric and a new transistor deliver a triple play in giving us enhanced flexibility to field new variations of the UltraSPARC III chip that offer higher clock speeds, lower power consumption, greater reliability, lower memory latency andother features essential for workstation and server computing. While clock frequency speed bumps have their benefits, working with TI, we focus our engineering program on developing processors that deliver real-world application performance and end-customer value.”

Julie England, vice president of TI’s Sun Business Unit, commented: “As Sun’s supplier of the UltraSPARC III processor, TI is proud to help Sun achieve industry-leading levels of performance and power efficiency through TI’s advanced process technology and manufacturing. By combining copper, low-K dielectric and 100 nanometer transistros on TI’s 0.15 micron process we have boosted performance over competing devices. TI looks forward to working with Sun to enable the UltraSPARC processor roadmap well into the GigaHertz era.”

Multiple Upgrades at the Process Technology Level

Initially launched last September, the UltraSPARC III processor forms the heart of the new generation of Sun Microsystems’ workstation and server products. Previous versions of the processor utilized aluminum interconnect technology. Migrating to copper for the high volume version of the 900 MHz UltraSPARC III processor enables a clock speed increase while dissipating the same power as the aluminum interconnect-based 750 MHz UltraSPARC III chip. Successfully managing power consumption as processor speeds and technology advances is not only important in these times of energy scarcity, but it reduces the need to build extensive heat management subsystems into products, lowering their manufacturing costs and improving their reliability.

Sun and TI also confirmed today that after evaluating test chips using silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate technology offered by a number of vendors, they believe bulk silicon offers competitive performance at lower cost than SOI as UltraSPARC products move to smaller process geometries.

Texas Instrument’s First High Performance, Copper-based Commercial Chip
The copper version of the UltraSPARC III processor is TI’s first high performance commercial chip utilizing this interconnect system. This highlights the unique design and manufacturing technology relationship between Sun and TI, which recently celebrated its 13th anniversary. Through the collaboration, Sun and TI co-plan and co-engineer advanced process technologies that go to market first in Sun’s UltraSPARC processors. Sun benefits from the relationship by getting first access to the latest technology. In return, TI gains a development driver and first customer for high performance technology that is implemented across TI’s world-leading digital signal processors and DSP-based system solutions in end equipment areas such as wireless and broadband.

Also, engaging with TI for leading edge processor manufacturing means that Sun can stay cost- and technology-competitive with others in its marketplace without making multibillion dollar investments in a Sun-owned fab. Sun management credits the technology relationship with TI as one of the reasons that the SPARC architecture proved successful and commercially durable even as the microprocessor market consolidated around otherwise dominant players over the last decade, and Sun faced down companies much larger than itself in its system products marketplaces.

UltraSPARC III Processor Background

Currently shipping in the Sun Microsystems Sun Fire[tm] server product line and Sun Blade workstations, the UltraSPARC III processor offers a balanced, multidimensional portfolio of industry-bests in nearly every category of performance crucial to client-server computing: clock speed, scaling capability, multiprocessing linearity, and processing bandwidth.

The UltraSPARC III microprocessor comprises 29 million transistors with features including an integrated memory controller and 9.6 Gigabyte-per-second system interprocessor bus for massive scalability; support for a large 8 Megabyte, Error Checking and Correcting (ECC)-protected external cache; and a unique error isolation and correction Uptime Bus for high-system reliability. The UltraSPARC III processor design is the only microprocessor on the market with an integrated memory controller supporting up to 16 Gigabytes of memory-per-processor and frequency isolation to allow mixed-speed CPU support within a single system.

Since its commercial introduction last fall, the UltraSPARC III processor has attracted rising recognition as a leading edge example of 64-bit processor technology, culminating in its naming as the Best Workstation and Server processor at the 2001 Microprocessor Report Analyst Choice Awards event on January 18, 2001.

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. With $18.3 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com.

Sun Microsytems, Inc. today announced that its recently introduced Sun Fire[tm] servers have captured the lead in Java technology performance. These new SPECjbb2000 server-side performance results are world records in Java technology performance and beat the previous results for this benchmark posted by IBM for this benchmark by up to 35 percent.

Unlike IBM, Sun’s systems provide a single, highly scalable architecture across the entire product family. The Sun Fire Midframe servers are a new class of system that brings mainframe features to affordable UNIX(R) midrange computing. No other vendor is delivering design innovations such as redundant component interconnection technology, the ability to dynamically split one system into multiple domains, duplicate hardware components and “on-the-fly” processor upgrades into price points starting below $75,000.

These performance results indicate that the Solaris[tm] 8 Operating Environment (OE), UltraSPARC® III processor and Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) [tm] 1.3.1 release are one of the premier platforms to deploy server-based applications for Internet and enterprise environments. They highlight the unmatched Java technology performance delivered by Sun Fire servers, and the Java HotSpot[tm] virtual machine implementations.

Sun Microsystems’ Sun Fire 6800 server, which uses 24 award-winning UltraSPARC III processors running Sun’s Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition 1.3.1. sets the world record of 109,146 operations per second for server-side Java technology performance using the industry-standard SPECjbb2000 benchmark. The Sun Fire 6800 was benchmarked against IBM’s AS/400e Server Series. This system was also re-configured to run 8-way and 12-way SPECjbb2000 tests. In these, it achieved 43,353 and 62,463 JBB operations per second, respectively. The results demonstrate near-linear performance scalability and efficiency with the new product family.

Since J2SE is the basic building block for Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) [tm] on which many application servers, such as the iPlanet[tm] Application Server, are constructed these results further highlight the advantages of the Sun platform and demonstrate Sun’s focus on the real world benefits of increasing delivered application service levels while reducing service level cost and risk.

Established by the System Performance Evaluation Cooperative, the Java Business Benchmark, SPECjbb2000, represents an order-processing environment running typical Java business applications similar to those used in large commercial systems. Enterprises use the benchmark to evaluate performance of servers used at the application layer, as well as the performance of different vendors’ JVM[tm] platforms.

The SPECjbb2000 benchmark demonstrates the compute power and efficiency the new Sun Fire deliver based on the UltraSPARC III platform and the Solaris 8 OE, in combination with the improved performance and efficiency of Sun’s J2SE 1.3.1 release. In addition, the results from the benchmark demonstrate the cost-effective and efficient use of memory that Sun delivers. The four new Sun Fire Midframe servers contain up to 24 CPUs and 192GB of memory.

The SPECjbb2000 benchmark is an objective benchmark developed to represent real world performance of the Java platform on servers. It measures the performance of CPUs, caches, memory hierarchy and the scalability of Symmetric MultiProcessor (SMP) systems. It also measures the implementation of Java Virtual Machine (JVM) including code generation, garbage collection, thread synchronization and some aspects of the operating system. According to SPEC, combining a JVM with a high SPECjbb2000 throughput with a database tuned for online transaction processing will provide businesses with a fast and robust multi-tier environment.

©2001 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Sun, Sun Microsystems, SunFire Servers, Java, the Sun Logo 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.

Sun Blade™ 100 Workstations with Electric Image Universe Software Offer Workstation-Class Performance and Professional Quality 3D Graphics

Continuing its momentum in digital content creation markets, Sun Microsystems, Inc today announced its plans to offer a professional-level 3D animation promotional package that runs on the new Sun Blade[tm] 100 workstation and is powered by Electric Image’s new Universe 3D animation software.

The combined hardware and software promotional package will be available for a limited time for as low as $2,995, representing more than 30 percent in savings if purchased separately. I

The 3D animation promotion coincides with the announcements of the Sun Blade 100 workstation–the first 64-bit workstation priced under $1,000–and the Sun[tm] Expert3D-Lite graphics accelerator, a sub-$1,000 professional-level 3D graphics board (see related press releases issued today at www.sun.com). Featuring Sun’s reliable and scalable Solaris[tm] Operating Environment and the new highly integrated UltraSPARC® IIe processor, the Sun Blade 100 workstation with Universe software provides a UNIX-based, 64-bit architecture with workstation-class features and professional-quality graphics at an unprecedented price point for customers in film, broadcast, game development and industrial design. The solution was also developed for users in a number of industries, such as MCAD and MCAE, in which rendering and animation are used during product development.

In addition to the Sun Blade 100 workstation, Electric Image’s Universe software package is also supported on Sun’s full range of 3D graphics workstations, including the Sun Blade 1000, Ultra[tm] 80, Ultra 60 and Ultra 10 systems, offering complete scalability and performance for the most demanding projects and production environments.

“Professionals in animation and digital content creation demand large memory capacity, 64-bit data addressability, and graphics that feature quality and flexibility without performance trade-offs,” said Robbie Turner, Vice President, Client and Technical Market Products, Sun Microsystems. “The Sun Blade 100 workstation with a Sun Expert3D-Lite graphics accelerator board and Electric Image Universe software deliver a high-quality 3D animation workstation at a PC price point.”

“Sun’s growing presence in the 3D marketplace is important to Electric Image and our customers. Sun’s powerful 64-bit UltraSPARC® architecture and highly scalable Solaris Operating Environment should provide big performance advantages to our customers,” said Dwight Parscale, CEO of Electric Image. “The Sun Blade 100 workstation is an excellent host for Universe and the bundle will provide digital content creators with a high-quality, high-performance solution at a very accessible price point.”

About Universe

Electric Image’s Universe 3D is one of the largest upgrades to the company’s Electric Image Animation System (EIAS) visual effects software in over a decade. The animation package is based on a new framework that provides powerful new modeling, animation and rendering capabilities, as well as support for multiple platforms.

Universe offers highly sophisticated modeling capabilities and the ability to create complex objects more efficiently with its hybrid surface/solids modeler. Artists can now create resolution independent shapes with solids, NURBS surfaces or UBER-NURBS (subdivision surface modeling). Its animation system has also been enhanced with deeper character animation tools, a new Inverse Kinematics system, and advanced camera projection mapping with real-time image previews.

Universe’s rendering system, Camera, features a new raytracing engine that produces extremely high image quality and offers network rendering, reflection maps with occlusion, and channel-based controls for optimized rendering times. Additionally, Universe continues the EIAS legacy of having one of the industry’s fastest renderers and the ability to handle enormous amounts of data.

Availability, Price, and SupportM

The $2,995 3D animation bundle is expected to be available for purchase beginning in April 2001. For more information about the promotional bundle and its availability, go to www.sun.com/desktop. The limited time offer will include a Sun Blade 100 workstation with 512 MB memory, USB, IEEE 1394 port, DVD ROM drive, 15 GB hard drive, Sun Expert3D-Lite graphics board, and a full license of Electric Image Universe software. The Sun Blade 100 workstation also features Sun’s standard service and support with a one-year warranty.

Support for Universe on Sun’s Solaris Operating Environment is currently available through Electric Image. Electric Image training is available through live and DVD-based courses. Electric Image’s support group can be contacted at www.electricimage.com or 714-433-0400.

About Electric Image, Inc.

Originally founded in 1987, Electric Image has pushed the limits of computer-generated imagery for over a decade with its award-winning 3D animation systems. Its software provides world-class animation tools for artists across all industries and is consistently called upon for the creation of blockbuster motion pictures and network television programs. Recent examples include “Austin Powers II,” “Star Wars: Episode 1,” “Dinosaur,” “Mission to Mars,” “Space Cowboys” and “U-571” as well as “The West Wing,” “Extreme Australia,” “Dateline NBC,” and “Babylon 5.” For more information, visit www.electricimage.com.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision – The Network Is The Computer[tm] — 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 dot-com their businesses. With $17.6 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com.