SAN FRANCISCO, -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. (and its iForce(SM) Partner Community came together to deliver Network Computing 03 to customers. Sun has garnered extensive iForce partner support as the first blade server vendor to have more than 20 partners' products available for its new Sun Fire(TM) Blade Platform, including products from industry leaders such as BEA Systems, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Opsware, Oracle Corp., and Symantec Corp. Sun is one of the most partnered companies on the planet," said Mark Tolliver, executive vice president, marketing and strategy, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Our ability to delve more deeply into business and technology strategies with our iForce partners, results in more effective customer-centric solutions that expand our mutual business opportunities. Together with our iForce community, customers will know what complexity-free and cost-effective network computing is all about." iForce Partner Program Strengthens Sun Fire Blade Platform The new Sun Fire Blade Platform benefits from a variety of partner offerings designed to help ensure customers are up and running quickly with applications and support to meet their business needs: -- Blades Solutions Community -- one of the industry's largest blade-centric partner communities offering customers pre-tested solutions from Sun and its iForce partners focused on security, Web services, technical computing and content management. -- Extensive Partner Product Support -- more than 20 partner products available for its Sun Fire Blade Platform from companies such as: Aprisma Management Technologies, BMC Software, CenterRun, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Coalsere, F5 Networks, FatWire Software, INCOGEN Inc., Kasenna, Opsware, Oracle Corp., Sanctum Inc., Symantec Corp., Trend Micro Inc., TripWire Inc., and VERITAS Software Corporation. -- Blade Platform IHV Developer Offering -- one of the only vendors to offer a comprehensive IHV developer kit for enterprise blades. Video Propulsion (streaming media blade) and Antares (accelerator blade) are among the first IHVs to deliver specialty blades for the Sun Fire Blade Platform. -- Multi-Partner Collaboration -- enables multi-partner products, real-world environment testing to help ensure linear performance scalability of products across the Sun Fire Blade Platform. -- Pre-installed Blade Systems -- sales and delivery iForce partners provide pre-installed Sun Fire Blade Platforms with the Sun(TM) ONE software stack or grid computing software, as well as the ability to offer the N1 Blades Starter Kit. -- Security Reference Architectures -- developed with iForce partners, the Sun Firewall Reference Architecture helps customers quickly deploy new technologies for increased security. -- Go-to-Market Activities -- working with system integration allies such as Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGE&Y) to identify and pursue joint business opportunities supporting the Sun Fire Blade Platform. Sun Fire(TM) V1280 System Outperforms Competition on Industry Benchmarks -- Superior Benchmark Ratings -- The Sun Fire V1280 server, the industry's first 12-way, rack-optimized midrange system, has achieved record-setting performance on the SPECjAppServer2001 benchmark running Oracle9i Application Server and the SPEC CPU2000 benchmark.* -- Competitive Performance -- The Sun Fire V1280 server delivered a SPECint_rate2000 score of 73.2 (est.), as measured by the SPEC CPU2000 benchmark, achieving 98 percent scalability in the test. The 12 CPU Sun Fire V1280 server obtained a SPECint_rate2000 mark that is higher than any 16 CPU system configured with Intel processors.* -- Upgrade Allowances -- Upgrades to the Sun Fire V1280 server are available as a full system swap through the Sun Upgrade Allowance Program, which helps customers to consolidate multiple boxes to a Sun Fire V1280, or migrate from Sun Enterprise(TM) 450 through 4500 series systems to the new Sun Fire V1280 system. -- Reference Architecture -- Customers can simplify the design and deployment of location-based applications and services, as well as add location enablement to existing applications through Sun's new Mobile Location Services Reference Architecture, which combines location-based services middleware and Sun Fire 280R, V480 and V1280 servers. Sun Fire V1280 System Outperforms Competition on Industry Benchmarks -- Visualization Software Support -- Nine software providers, including Opticore Inc., EDS PLM Solutions, Open Scene Graph, Parametric Technology Corporation and ICEM Technologies, have applications available for the Sun Fire V880z visualization system. These software companies are leading providers of manufacturing/virtual prototyping, oil & gas, high performance technical computing and visual simulation software. -- Test-Before Customers Invest -- Sun Fire V880z server is available for customer proof-of-concept engagements through Sun iForce Solution Centers and in the EDS Virtual Reality Center in Troy, Mich., an Authorized iForce Solution Center. Additional information about iForce partner offerings and sales incentives can be found on the iForce Partner Portal. Information about the Sun Fire Blade Platform IHV Developer program, including the download for the IHV developer kit, can be found at http://www.sun.com/soldc/blade .