Sun Microsystems-Reality Check

Reality Check: Straight Talk on Sun SPARC Enterprise Servers

10.May.07--On April 17, Sun and Fujitsu unveiled a new lineup of codeveloped servers marketed under the "SPARC Enterprise" product brand. The new servers, based on the SPARC technology and running the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS), are the fastest SPARC processor-based servers ever (see: benchmarks) and leverage the powerful combination of Fujitsu's expertise in mission-critical computing technologies and high-performance processor design, and Sun's expertise in open, scalable, network computing. HP's "Real Story", titled "The Real Story About Where Sun is Heading" attempts to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt about these servers. Clearly, it's time to inject a dose of reality into these claims.

HP Says: "Sun's server roadmaps are once again taking a divergent path with the introduction of the so-called 'Advanced Product Line' (APL) servers."
Fact: Sun helps to protect customers' investments while offering choice and flexibility

For customers who need traditional, large, symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) systems, and want to maintain their investments in the SPARC processor and Solaris OS, the Sun SPARC Enterprise servers are an excellent option. These servers are not a divergent path but an evolution of Sun's SPARC technology portfolio. The entire product line is still based on SPARC processors, supporting the same 4250-plus unique applications for the Solaris 10 OS that run on the entire Sun SPARC processor product line.

"A differentiator of the Sun-Fujitsu systems, according to the companies, is the use of Solaris 10, which could appeal to companies favoring the flexibility of open source environments." -- Antone Gonsalves, InformationWeek, 04/17/07, http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199100273

While Sun continues to help protect the customers' most important and costly investments (their software), other vendors force their customers to do painful and costly migrations. Sun has been fully committed to binary compatibility for well over a decade, and even offers a 100 percent Solaris OS binary compatibility guarantee. This means Sun's Sun Fire server customers can adopt the new SPARC Enterprise servers with ease and confidence, helping them to continue to use the broad range of proven Solaris applications (the number one operating system platform in the UNIX market) from the world's top ISV/IHV providers. Moreover, future systems based on next-generation Chip Multithreading (CMT) processors continue to be based on the SPARC processor and the Solaris OS, further helping to increase the longevity of customers' investment in software.

In addition to the advantages of servers based on the SPARC processors and the Solaris OS, Sun also offers its customers systems with cost-effective, x86-based servers running the Solaris OS, Windows or Linux. IT professionals also know that any discussion of a complete system's merits must include an evaluation of the operating system that is married to the processor. The fact is, Sun's technological and volume leadership stems to a large degree from its investment over the years in the advanced Solaris OS - identical code which runs on the SPARC and x86 processor-based systems: giving customers choice. Most recently, the Solaris OS received a 'Strong Positive' rating from Gartner Group: Learn more.

HP Says: "APL is OEM'd from Fujitsu and based on the SPARC64 (mid and high-end)."
Fact: The SPARC Enterprise Servers are jointly developed.

The new Sun SPARC Enterprise servers are the culmination of more than two years of joint development between Sun and Fujitsu, building on a 20-year strategic relationship. Sun and Fujitsu jointly design and manufacture the new SPARC processor based servers, using Fujitsu's SPARC64 VI and Sun's UltraSPARC T1 processors in factories owned or contracted by both Sun and Fujitsu. The servers are sold, serviced, supported by Sun, run the Solaris OS and other Sun software and are compatible with other Sun products.

Notably, the Solaris 10 OS, the operating system that powers the SPARC Enterprise server line, is entirely Sun's intellectual property. Sun was instrumental in developing and bringing these new jointly developed products to market. Sun's contribution spans market requirements, product vision, design, sales, services, and distribution strategy and processes, Solaris OS integration, ISV relationships, certification, and performance tuning.

Sun SPARC Enterprise Servers: Great for Consolidation & Virtualization

Sun's SPARC Enterprise systems are a great choice for consolidating workloads and virtualizing just about any environment-from the smallest web tier application to the largest mission critical database. The Sun SPARC Enterprise M-series servers in particular provide a highly scalable virtualization platform with the added qualities of traditional mainframes--notably high levels of availability and flexibility --without the negatives associated with traditional mainframes, such as high cost, complexity, and vendor lock-in. These Sun servers offer unique virtualization capabilities that enable customers to run up to 24 hardware partitions on a single server, with more granularity than ever before, help to ensure complete isolation and control. Add to that the highly reliable and scalable software partitioning features of the Solaris 10 Containers, and you're talking about some of the highest levels of utilization and efficiency your datacenter has ever seen. In addition, these new servers offer mainframe-class RAS (reliability, availability, serviceability) features, including instruction level retry, protected memory and registers, extended Error Correcting Code (ECC) protection and mirroring, end-to-end ECC protection, hot-swappable components, and hardware redundancy.

Logical Domains (LDOMs), Sun's new server virtualization and partitioning technology for the Sun SPARC Enterprise T1000 and T2000 servers, complements Solaris Containers, helping customers to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single server. The technology allows customers to allocate a system's various resources, such as memory, processors, and devices, into logical groupings and create multiple, discrete systems, each with their own operating system, resources, and identity within a single computer system. The Sun SPARC Enterprise T1000 and T2000 servers now offer up to 32 LDOMs, while continuing to offer savings in power, space, and cooling costs delivered by CMT technology.

For more information on Sun's virtualization solutions: learn more.

The Future of SPARC Systems

Excited about the SPARC Enterprise servers? We're just getting started! The Sun SPARC Enterprise server line plans to be upgraded with the quad core SPARC64 VII processor in the future. In addition, Sun's Throughput Computing strategy continues to pave the way for future innovation: Sun's next-generation SPARC processors based on CMT technology are well under way. In addition to the performance boosts and savings in datacenter space, power, and cooling, customers can continue to enjoy the same investment protection they've had for years: binary compatibility of Solaris applications across all SPARC processor-based systems. Sun has a SPARC processor roadmap which goes beyond the end of this decade. This is a further example of Sun's dedication to protecting customers' IT investments while delivering innovation and advanced technology.

With upgrades to the UltraSPARC IV+ processor and even more sophisticated and faster (CMT) versions of SPARC processors, as well as a strong roadmap for x64 AMD and Intel processors, Sun will continue to provide customers with ever-greater performance and choice, coupled with the Solaris OS binary compatibility guarantee.

Call to Action

The Sun SPARC Enterprise servers are now available! Configure and price this server with a Sun representative or partner today and ask about adding services from the Sun System Packs. For a complete list of Sun's offerings, visit: http://www.sun.com/servers/sparcenterprise/offerings.jsp

Free Sun SPARC Enterprise Installation
For a limited time only (through July 17), Sun is offering free site installation for applicable Sun SPARC Enterprise systems.

Sun SPARC Enterprise Technology Refresh Plan
Lease a Sun SPARC Enterprise M8000 server or a Sun SPARC Enterprise M9000 server from Sun for just 24 months and qualify for a tech refresh to the next generation systems.

Sun Upgrade Advantage Program
The Sun Upgrade Advantage Program provides a powerful incentive to trade in old equipment and save on the industry-leading Sun SPARC Enterprise servers.