Feature Story

Leading edge.

New Sun LX50 servers speed services to the far reaches of the Net.

12.Aug.02--With Web services continuing to drive exponential expansion of computing infrastructures, it's no surprise that businesses are seeking cost-effective ways to deliver new services and increase performance levels. Enter the Sun LX50 server. First in a line of entry-level, general-purpose systems running either Sun Linux or the Solaris Operating Environment, the Sun LX50 takes computing to the cutting edge.

Through edge computing--placing low-cost, powerful servers at critical infrastructure edges to handle specialized functions--companies can gain the performance boosts they require without breaking their budgets. Need faster content delivery to external users? Deploy entry-level Sun LX50 servers at network edges to send cached data quickly. Want to enhance Web serving or server load balancing? Place general-purpose Sun LX50 servers at the edge of your data center. Require stronger security measures without sacrificing performance? Install entry-level Sun LX50 servers at security boundaries to speed intrusion detection and encryption processes.

"At a time when the availability and scalability of Web services is becoming increasingly important, the Sun LX50 server lets companies build out their edge network to accelerate any number of computing tasks," explains Peder Ulander, marketing director for x86 solutions. "Our introduction of Sun Linux running on a low-cost, high-performance box gives our customers an exceptional solution for their rising-edge computing needs, supporting fast, secure, and cost-effective service delivery."

In addition, the Sun LX50 server is available with the industry's leading commercial UNIX® solution, the Solaris Operating Environment (OE).

"By offering the Sun LX50 server with the Solaris OE, we are protecting customer investments, supporting the Solaris Operating Environment across Sun servers, from our entry-level Sun LX50 servers to our high-end Sun Fire 15K systems," adds Graham Lovell, director of marketing for the Solaris OE. "With the Sun LX50 server, we can offer our customers a great entry-level platform with the industry's best-known UNIX brand."

A Perfect Proposition

Horizontal scalability is key to edge computing. For maximum impact, you need to be able to deploy a large number of servers at various infrastructure points to speed a wide range of processes. At the same time, management must be easy to maximize your return on investment.

Sun has the perfect solution. Leveraging Sun's UNIX, hardware, and service expertise, the Sun LX50 server offers companies outstanding value to support widespread deployment of edge servers. Unique benefits include:

• Excellent price/performance. A starting price of $2795 helps keep costs low, while dual Intel Pentium III 1.4-GHz processors deliver plenty of power. The server's rackable, high-density 1U form factor also helps reduce costs by saving floor space.
  
  
• Simplified management. The integrated Sun Control Station management tool allows IT departments to save time by managing Linux servers securely from a single screen, streamlining such tasks as software and patch distribution, system monitoring, and inventory management.
  
  
• Highly reliable Solaris OE. Years of UNIX leadership enables Sun to deliver an extremely stable environment that is perfectly tuned to the hardware platform.
  
  
• Leading services platform. Sun is delivering the industry's leading services platform on the Sun LX50 server, with the Solaris OE combining traditional operating system functionality, application services, and identity management.
  
  
• Preconfigured, pretested applications. Helping customers quickly deploy solutions, the Sun LX50 server ships with a wealth of preloaded applications.
  • The Sun LX50 server with Sun Linux includes the Sun Open Net Environment (Sun ONE) application and development tools, the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE platform), the Sun Chili!Soft ASP Web server plug-in software, the Sun Grid Engine software, and the mySQL database.
    
    
  • The Sun LX50 server with the Solaris OE includes the J2SE platform, the SunScreen firewall software, the Sun Grid Engine software, the mySQL database, and Apache Web server software. The Solaris OE also offers one of the largest portfolios of ISV-supported products.

Already sound good? Well, we saved the best for last. In addition to offering the Solaris OE on the Sun LX50 server, Sun is the only company delivering a complete Linux solution. By developing and supporting both the hardware and the Sun Linux operating system, Sun can provide fast, integrated single-source servicing for the Sun LX50 server. One call takes care of all your needs, letting you say goodbye to finger pointing. And we're even reducing your chances of needing to call, by pretuning and pretesting the server's hardware and software components.

Taking Computing to the Edge

By offering a high-value, general-purpose server that runs either Sun Linux or the Solaris OE, Sun is helping customers leverage edge computing to:

• Speed traditional applications, such as e-mail and Web services
  
  
• Enhance high performance computing, such as scientific applications
  
  
• Deploy new initiatives, such as instant messaging, peer-to-peer computing, or grid computing

Through its increased commitment to Linux, Sun is also expanding its investment protection story for customers and opening the door to opportunity for developers. Sun now offers a complete, integrated lineup of products based on UNIX, Linux, Java technology, and XML at the operating system, tools, and middleware level, providing companies with unprecedented flexibility. Customers already invested in the Solaris OE can continue to deploy it on the Sun LX50 server, selecting from thousands of software solutions available on Sun's leading UNIX platform. Customers can also deploy a wide breadth of Linux applications on the Sun LX50 server, from such leading application providers as Oracle, BEA Systems, Veritas, and Check Point.

So what's holding you back? Come join Sun on the cutting edge.

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