ACADEMIA

SAN FRANCISCO -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) today added 100 iForce(TM) partners to the list of independent software vendors (ISVs), system integrators and channel partners supporting Sun's low-cost computing strategy. Today, over 1000 applications from more than 600 ISVs are available on Sun's Solaris x86 Platform Edition. To further expand the reach of Solaris x86, Sun also announced the availability of its hardware compatibility test suite (HCTS) which enables independent hardware vendors (IHVs) to self-certify their x86 platforms. The Dell 2650 and Micron 1610 are among the first hardware platforms certified by Sun. "Our hardware, software and channel partners are all looking to provide their customers with a secure and scalable alternative to Windows," said Mark Tolliver, executive vice president, marketing and strategy, and chief strategy officer, Sun Microsystems. "Solaris x86 provides customers with enterprise-class availability and scalability with military-grade security. Our network of partners are helping us expand our Solaris x86 and Linux systems into the marketplace and target the enormous opportunity the $30 billion low-cost computing market represents." iForce development partners porting applications to Solaris x86 include: Oracle, Computer Associates, Callisto, Check Point, Continuous Computing Corporation, DeepNines, Financial Fusion, INCOGEN, Inc., Legato Systems, MatrixOne, OATSystems, RSA Security, SAS Institute, SunGard, Sybase, TIBCO Software, Ulticom, Urchin Software, XACCT Technologies and Zend Technologies. "As pioneers in real-time distributed computing, TIBCO and Sun have together built a reputation of trust and reliability, to help our customers cut out waste and improve enterprise efficiencies," said Keith Goldstein, vice president of global alliances, TIBCO Software, Inc. "Our commitment to the Solaris x86 platform gives our customers new flexibility to meet their real-time integration needs across the spectrum -- from modular blade to high-availability computing -- supporting the same trusted Solaris operating system." To widen market share in the low-cost computing market, Sun will offer increased financial incentives to distribution and reseller partners, offer promotional units of the new Sun Fire(TM) V60x and V65x systems, and simplify certification requirements. Initial distribution and reseller partners include: Insight, PC Connection, Tech Data, and the MOCA division of Arrow Electronics. "Customers look to our reseller community for high-quality, affordable server and storage technologies with enterprise class performance and management functionality," said Joe Serra, Tech Data's vice president of systems product marketing. "Sun's Solaris x86 based strategy drives new market opportunity for our partner community, allowing them to deliver low-cost solutions with increased choice and flexibility to their customers." The benefits to customers and partners of the Solaris x86 computing platform include: -- Cost Savings over Windows: Sun's Solaris x86 delivers a lower cost "out-of-the-box" alternative to Windows OS-powered servers. In a typical work group or web infrastructure environment, Solaris x86 can deliver up to 13 times lower acquisition costs over Windows 2003. -- Expertise: Sun's expanding Solaris x86 entry-level server line enables partners and customers to extract more value from their existing Sun relationship and leverage the skills and expertise of its UNIX(R) service providers. -- Parity: Solaris x86 provides the same benefits and features as Solaris SPARC(R), extending Solaris' value to x86 systems and making it the only industrial grade UNIX available on both 64-bit and 32-bit systems. -- Leadership: Solaris, the number one UNIX operating system, gives partner applications the benefits of an enterprise-class, robust and secure platform for low-cost x86 systems. -- Investment Protection: Sun provides customers with the flexibility to build an infrastructure that can scale from low-end to high-end UNIX systems helping them to protect existing investments in hardware, software and training. -- Predictability: Partners benefit from a predictable product life cycle from Solaris, with a new release every 24-30 months and quarterly updates. -- Compatibility: Sun ensures developers and ISVs compatibility with future Solaris releases through a Solaris application certification tool. ISVs may also recompile code to provide the same enterprise-class applications on entry-level hardware ported from Solaris SPARC. -- Enterprise-Class Features: In the Solaris 9 Operating System, Sun integrated key enterprise-class and popular open source applications -- including the Sun(TM) ONE Directory Server, Solaris Volume Manager, SunScreen firewall, UFS, Solaris 9 Resource Manager, IPQoS, SAMBA and the Apache Web server - into the operating system. -- Security: In addition to the built-in security of Solaris, Trusted Solaris is the only enterprise-class operating system that has been independently certified with LSPP, CAPP and RBAC protection profiles. This provides the highest level of assurance compared to any other operating system in the market. For customers deploying solutions that require this level of protection with x86 hardware, Trusted Solaris is the only option. -- Support: Sun provides full services and support for the Solaris x86 platform edition on Sun and third party certified systems. -- IP Clarity: Sun has licensing rights to UNIX code, on which Solaris is based for both SPARC and x86 systems. This makes Solaris a safe choice for customers moving forward. -- Credibility: With Solaris, customers can have a consistent Solaris environment from low-cost x86 servers to a SPARC mainframe-class system, without having to add another OS to their data center.