Sun, Oracle Team on Low-End Servers
Sun Fire V60x and V65x launch 'low-cost computing drive.'
Joris Evers, IDG News Service
Admitting it is arriving late to the game, Sun Microsystems has released a line of new low-cost rack optimized servers based on Intel processors and a partnership with Linux vendor Red Hat, following rivals such as Dell and IBM.
Also, reaffirming its relationship with Oracle, Sun says Oracle's software will run on all of its systems whether they run Solaris x86, Solaris SPARC, or Linux. Together, Sun and Oracle will go on a low-cost computing drive and launch a joint "Oracle makes Sun unbreakable" advertising campaign, they said Monday.
"We did not exactly jump on the 32-bit low-cost bandwagon early, but we're jumping on it big now," said Scott McNealy, Sun's president, chairman and chief executive officer.
"Maybe we got over-fired up over 64-bit and over-fired up over large scale server models. We are still really bullish about that, but everybody is really looking at low-cost ways to build their computing environments," McNealy said.
Server Specs, Prices
The new rack optimized servers are the Sun Fire V60x and V65x. The V60x is priced starting at $2450 and the V65x at $2650. Both come with either 2.8GHz or 3.06GHz Intel Xeon processors, and a choice of Solaris x86 or Red Hat Linux, Sun said. The systems offer six PCI-X slots and support up to 12GB of memory.
Also, Sun lowered the price of its existing LX50 system by almost 30 percent, to $1995.
McNealy shared the stage with Larry Ellison, Oracle's chairman and CEO, to show that the two Silicon Valley companies are still good friends. The relationship between Oracle and Sun appeared to cool off somewhat as a result of Oracle's extended flirt with vendors of low-cost Intel-based servers, which are widely seen as a threat to Sun's Unix server business.
"Larry bought me three dinners in the last month and a half and they were really nice and I think they are going to pay off for him," McNealy said, as if Ellison had to make up for something.
Sun made large sums of money selling big, costly servers at the height of the technology boom. Teaming with Oracle, the companies appear to want to banish a perception that combining their products with the term "low-cost" is an oxymoron.
"This (announcement) really does serve to put the industry on notice that Sun and its partners are the leaders in low-cost computing," said Mark Tolliver, executive vice president of marketing and strategy for Sun.
Sun's Other Side
Still, it appears that Sun has not completely fallen in love with the low-cost computing model, at least not as much as its partner Oracle, said Gordon Haff, a senior analyst with Illuminata.
"Sun certainly wants us to believe that they are very committed to low-end servers. I think it is fair to say that Sun has a greater focus on low-end servers than in the past. Having said that, Scott (McNealy) did dance around it a bit and it does somewhat beg a question whether Sun feels as strongly as Larry Ellison and Oracle do about this 'scale-out' style computing," he said.
In teaming with Red Hat, Sun is replacing its own Sun Linux. On stage for the announcement, McNealy put a Red Hat box next to boxes of Sun Solaris. Still, McNealy promoted Solaris as superior to Linux, noted Haff.
"There was on one hand a Red Hat announcement, but on the other hand Sun quite clearly positioned Solaris x86 as kind of the preferred or premier operating system for Intel platforms," Haff said. "They very much believe in Solaris as their strategic operating system."
The global partnership with Red Hat calls for Sun to offer Red Hat on its x86 compatible systems and for the Linux vendor to include Sun's Java Virtual Machine with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Sun said.
Laptop Showcase
Go Wireless on Printing
- Great year-end deals for small business!

-
Get 24/7 live remote AT&T Tech Support 360* service along with select Lenovo* PCs (with Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processors and save up to 200!
-
HP EliteBook* 6930p Notebook with Intel® vPro™ technology and a free HP Basic Docking Station - $641 instant savings!
- *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. ©2009 Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo, vPro and Core trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries. All rights reserved.
Dell Fast Track
-
Free Next Day Business Shipping on Dell's Most Popular Systems
Over 35% off Dell’s most popular systems. Delivered in 48 hours with free next business day shipping! Ends 12/22 at 3 PM CST
People who read this also read:
Best Prices on Laptops
XPS M1330 (PRODUCT) RED Laptop Computer (Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 250GB/2GB)Price: $599.00
VAIO VGN-NW270F/S NotebookPrice: $729.99
MacBook NotebookPrice: $954.59
Compaq Presario CQ61Z Notebook - CustomizablePrice: $399.99
G71-340US NotebookPrice: $579.98
Eee PC 1005HA Seashell NetbookPrice: $289.83
- Perfect Printing Solutions Find just the right All-in-One Printer for you from HP. Visit the HP Resource Center.
- Acer Laptop Center Forget the Mouse...check out the next generation multi-gesture touch screen technology from Acer.
- Dell Shopping Center Check out great deals from Dell!
Cameras
Camcorders
Cell Phones
Components
Desktops
HDTV
Home Theater
GPS
Laptops
Monitors
MP3 Players
Networking &
Printers
Storage







