SAN FRANCISCO -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. expanded its x86-based product line today with the debut of the highly affordable, rack-optimized Sun Fire V60x and V65x systems. These new systems will offer customers a choice of either Sun's enterprise-class Solaris x86 Platform Edition or Red Hat Linux and Sun's latest high performance Java(TM) Virtual Machine (JVM). These systems deliver unprecedented opportunities for reducing costs and a secure platform for the deployment of applications. The Sun Fire V60x and V65x are priced at $2,450 and $2,650 respectively -- significantly less than comparable systems from Dell, HP and IBM -- and offer the best performance according to industry benchmarks. At $2,450, the Sun Fire V60x system is 30% less expensive than the IBM x335 or the HP DL360G3. For a typical enterprise secure web server solution, the Sun Fire V65x system running Solaris 9, x86 Platform Edition offers customers up to 50% savings over a Dell 2650 running Windows Server Standard Edition. The Sun Fire V60x and V65x systems are ideal for critical infrastructure applications such as web serving, firewall, workgroup or database server and high performance compute clustering. "We will lead the x86 server space by delivering enterprise-class systems with high performance, aggressive pricing, a total commitment to Solaris and Linux, and unprecedented value," said Neil Knox, executive vice president of the Volume Systems Products group at Sun. "Customers are tired of the fragility, insecurity and raw expense associated with Windows. We also deliver the added benefit of a single customer interface for service, support, software and hardware." The Sun Fire V60x and V65x expand Sun's x86 product line which also includes the LX50 server, and soon to be released x86 blade servers which are part of the Sun Fire Blade Platform. The Sun Fire Blade Platform is the first blade system that enables customers to mix, match and manage SPARC(R) and x86 architectures, Solaris and Linux operating systems and special function blades from Sun and partners, in the same chassis. Sun's first N1(TM) software product, the N1 Provisioning Server 3.0 Blades Edition, which ships today, serves as the platform's management environment, enabling IT administrators to manage 20 times the number of servers and slash server farm deployment time from days or weeks to under an hour. Redefining Value in Low-Cost Computing The Sun Fire V60x and V65x systems include best-in-class features such as 2.8 or 3.06 GHz Intel Xeon(TM) processors, six PCI-X slots and support for up to 12 GB of memory -- which is more expandability than Dell, HP or IBM deliver. The Sun Fire V65x system also features redundant, hot-swappable power supplies with independent power cords for mission-critical environments. Deployed with the StorEdge 3310 SCSI Array, the new systems provide advanced management capabilities, flexibility and scalability to evolve with growing businesses. Superior Software and Services Support from a Single Source For Sun Fire V60x and V65x systems, Sun provides its customers a comprehensive solution stack, and a single interface to global hardware, software and professional services support. Customers have access to this enterprise-class experience with Solaris x86 Platform Edition or Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems, which both provide better value at a lower price than Microsoft Windows 2003 based systems. For Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and solution providers, Sun's open, standards-based architecture enables easy addition and integration of applications, systems software and services on the Sun platform. Customers can take advantage of the wide range of Solaris x86 and Linux applications developed over the past few years. Among Sun's solution partners are Check Point for VPN/firewall, Computer Associates for systems and network management, Fluent Inc. for MCAE / computational fluid dynamics, MSC.Software for mechanical simulation and Sourcefire Inc. for intrusion detection. Pricing and Availability The U.S. list price for the base configuration of the Sun Fire V60x system is $2,450 and $2,650 for the Sun Fire V65x system. Both systems are currently available and include a promotional Right to Use License for Solaris 9, x86 Platform Edition free through September 30, 2003. Sun is offering special financial incentives to its Sales and Distribution partners to assist in demand generation for the Sun Fire V60x and V65x systems. In related news, Sun has dropped the price of its Sun LX50 system by nearly 30 percent. The base configuration of the general-purpose Sun LX50 system now starts at $1,995 U.S. list price. New Sun Compute Grid Rack Systems At NC03Q3, Sun will announce the delivery of two fully integrated and supported Compute Grid rack systems for faster and more reliable compute grid deployments. The Sun Fire V60x and Sun Fire V210 Compute Grid Rack Systems, that are currently in development, will have Sun Control Station and Sun(TM) ONE Grid Engine software integrated and pre-loaded on the management node. The management software is designed to help simplify compute grid management, reduce system administration cost, increase compute resource utilization, and improve productivity of the compute grid. Sun further removes the complexity in compute grid implementations and other customer solution deployments with its Customer Ready Systems Program and Grid Practice service offerings. Sun's Customer Ready Systems Program (CRS) delivers integrated solutions utilizing Sun and/or third-party products and offers additional flexibility to meet unique customer specifications. Sun Services provides Grid Consulting Services (Assessment, Architect, Implementation Services), as part of the Grid Practice, for fast, secure and optimized Grid computing implementations. These services are now available in North America and EMEA, and will be made available globally next quarter. Sun is the "one-stop technology source" for sales, service, support and consulting for compute grid customers. More information on Sun's low-cost computing strategy can be found at http://sun.com/presskits/lowcostcomputing For additional information on Sun's new Sun Fire V60x and V65x systems, visit http://www.sun.com/servers/entry/v60x and http://www.sun.com/servers/entry/v65x