Sun goes on offense with new products

Sun Microsystems announced a broad range of new products this week, including several servers, aimed at the market for Web and e-commerce site management. The Sun Enterprise 220R and Sun Enterprise 420R servers are rack-mountable for more space-efficient installation at the growing number of Internet-oriented "server farms" sprouting up around the world. The machines start at $5000.

The servers are Sun’s answer to new challenges posed by Intel’s Pentium III and Xeon processor-based servers. Intel is trying to become a major supplier of Internet server systems for which the company beliefs a huge market is looming. Sun also launched a new engineering workstation, the Ultra 80 that comes with up to four processors and four gigabyte of high-speed system memory. A base-line single 450 MHz UltraSparc II-based machine with 256 megabytes of system memory costs $15,600 Sun also said customers eager to get a preview of the new Solaris 8 operating system, may order a CD with a beta version of the upcoming OS from Sun for just $20. Finally, the Palo Alto company also released new carrier-grade servers for Internet service providers and telecommunications companies. The Netra t 1400, Netra t 1405 and Netra t1 Server Model 100, further extend the capabilities of this family.