Sun’s new servers address Wintel threat

SAN FRANCISCO: Sun Microsystems Inc. on Monday will introduce low-end network
computers that pit its fastest processor against challenging commodity servers
running Microsoft Corp. Windows software.

Sun will unveil an entry level server with two to eight processors, the V880,
designed in part for consolidating smaller machines, which Sun and competitors
say is one of the main reasons customers are buying new machines in the current
economic slump, the firm said.

It will also debut a two-processor machine in its low-end Netra line, sturdy
machines aimed at industries such as telecommunications and the military.

The Sun Fire V880, costing $30,000-$120,000, and the Netra 20, starting at
about $11,500, both run on Sun's UltraSPARC III processor and run the Solaris
operating system which powers all of Sun's line.

Sun computers are generally thought of as the massive machines that run the
Internet rather than the low end which is increasingly dominated by Windows
machines running on Intel Corp chips, long called Wintel.

"Despite the historical perception, we really are competing very much
head to head in the Wintel entry level server marketplace," said Neil Knox,
general manager of Sun's Volume Systems Products, in an interview ahead of the
launch.

Salomon Smith Barney analyst John Jones wrote in a research note anticipating
the launch that replacing current low end machines with ones using UltraSPARC
III processors could improve profit margins. Entry-level computers account for
21 percent of Sun's revenue, he said.

(C) Reuters Limited.