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Sun’s new servers address Wintel threat

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CIOL Bureau
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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.

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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.

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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.

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