AMD Opteron Technology and x86: Raising the Standard on Industry Standards
Cost Issues
Please click on a question below or download a pdf version.
- Will Sun's licensing and pricing change for multi-core CPUs?
- Pricing has been a major obstacle in the academic space where clusters can be made from "good enough" white boxes. Are any changes afoot in pricing or marketing?
- Here in Europe, we struggle with V20z pricing. Is there going to be a low-cost version of the V20z, trying to reduce costs on all non-vital components? The "V10z" often comes out as a code name for this future server.
- Can I buy direct from Sun?
- What tier will these systems be assigned to (i.e. Will I be able to trade UE450 systems for them)?
Q: Will Sun's licensing and pricing change for multi-core CPUs?
A: We plan to continue to license per physical processor (or socket) for multi-core CPUs.
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Q: Pricing has been a major obstacle in the academic space where clusters can be made from "good enough" white boxes. Are any changes afoot in pricing or marketing?
A: Sun is constantly looking for better ways to serve our academic customers. We have free pricing for virtually all of our software, including middleware and tools. We also have substantial discount schedules for hardware, as low as cost or below cost. One of our issues is that academic customers frequently do not need or want some of the reliability features that we build into our systems, and thus the cost is too high. We are working on variations of our products to better address this, specifically for the academic and research marketplace. Please stay tuned.
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Q: Here in Europe, we struggle with V20z pricing. Is there going to be a low-cost version of the V20z, trying to reduce costs on all non-vital components? The "V10z" often comes out as a code name for this future server.
A: Sun is aggressively pricing the V20z for all segments on of the market. Please feel free to work with your local sun representative (or point them to me) for more information.
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Q: Can I buy direct from Sun?
A: Yes you can; these systems are available for purchase at the Sun Store.
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Q: What tier will these systems be assigned to (i.e. Will I be able to trade UE450 systems for them)?
A: Yes, you would be able to upgrade.
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