Sun Micro’s biggest product launch in years

SAN FRANCISCO: Sun Microsystems Inc. has unveiled new storage and server hardware and announced its first major software product to make computer data centers work more efficiently, in what it called its biggest product launch in years.

Sun introduced a variant of its Sun Fire server, which holds 12 microprocessors, aimed at the entry level of the enterprise computing market. It also introduced entry-level data storage equipment and refreshed versions of its Sun Fire 12000 and Sun Fire 15000 ultra-high-end servers that cost $1 million or more.

Companies want to automate tasks such as provisioning storage and computer power by knitting together a network into a single "virtual" machine rather than a patchwork of parts.

"We think this is a big deal, unfolding over the next 10 years," said Frank Gillett, an analyst at market research firm Forrester Research. His firm has dubbed the software effort "organic information technology."

Under this scenario, for example, an administrator could simply assign a priority to a new task rather than looking for a specific machine to run it. Also, it would mean computing power could move more fluidly between different tasks. For instance, e-mail servers could be reassigned to be web servers if traffic on a web site peaks sharply.

Sun's first N1 product is called N1 Provisioning Server 3.0 Blades Edition. Blade server computers are stacked in racks next to one another like books on a shelf, saving space and cutting costs.

Sun executives said the announcement, due in San Francisco where Chairman and Chief Executive Scott McNealy would give details, was aimed at combating the perception Sun's products are more expensive than rival computers using Intel’s chips and Microsoft software, sometimes called Wintel.

"I do believe we have to drive a stronger message that we have always been a low-cost producer," said Neil Knox, executive vice president in Sun's computer systems business. Knox added that Sun has long sold a low-end server that costs about $1,000, with prices moving all the way up to powerful, refrigerator sized servers costing $1 million or more.

The type of data center management software Sun, IBM and Hewlett-Packard are working on will represent a sea change in corporate computing, Gillett said.

"What it ultimately means is I can buy less hardware, because the hardware that's already there or being used is being used more efficiently," Gillett said. "N1 is important for Sun to stay in the game with HP and IBM but they and everybody else will have to learn to live in a world that doesn't need as many servers."

© Reuters