SAN FRANCISCO: Network computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. is set to
announce a new server next week that will tap the market just below its
highest-end multimillion dollar machines, sources close to the company said on
Tuesday.
Code-named "Starkitty", the new machine is based on the "Starcat"
Sun Fire 15K, Sun's top of the line server which holds up to 106 processors. It
is expected to debut on April 9.Sun spokeswoman Kasey Holman declined as a
matter of policy to comment on unannounced products.
Sun and archrival International Business Machines Corp. have been fighting
with technology and prices to capture share in the moribund market for servers
running the Unix operating system, which is used in sophisticated corporate
networks and to run the Internet.
The sources said that the Starkitty would fill the niche between the 15K,
which costs $1.8 million in a 24-processor configuration, and the midrange Sun
Fire 6800, a machine that holds up to 24 processors and costs about $550,000 and
up for a 12-processor configuration, according to Sun's Web site.
Competition has heated up between Sun, IBM and the third major Unix vendor,
Hewlett-Packard Co. as recession-wary corporations have frozen technology
budgets, and analysts have given mixed signals about Sun's recent performance.
Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Milunovich said on Monday that Sun's revenue for
its third quarter ended March 31 would be flat to slightly up over the prior
quarter, in line with the company's predictions, leading the stock to rally. But
Goldman Sachs analyst Laura Conigliaro sent Sun shares down on Tuesday, when she
cut trimmed her third quarter revenue forecast and forecast a 10 cent per share
loss, a penny wider than her previous estimate.