[MLUG] Sun Micro to Roll Out New Low-End Linux Servers

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

I think we haven't discussed this yet.  As I see it, this means that Sun
realizes that Solaris will succumb to Linux eventually.  They also want to
rub this in Microsoft's face.  No matter what the cause, this is good news
for Linux.  --Mike

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020208/tc_nm/tech_sunmicro_linux_dc_4

Reuters
February 8, 2002

Sun Micro to Roll Out New Low-End Linux Servers

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Network computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc.
said this week it planned to offer a new line of lower-cost computer
servers based on the upstart Linux operating system rather than its own
software.

The announcement Thursday was a surprise and a defensive move by the
company. Sun has always argued its Solaris system's key asset was its
ability to run on any sized machine.

But Sun said Linux was an important alternative operating system to the
Windows system from its archrival Microsoft Corp.

Freely available Linux is spreading among corporate users aiming to cut
costs, although analysts say it cannot yet handle some of the biggest
tasks and ones that need extreme security. It is usually confined to
mundane tasks such as Web site management or payroll systems.

Sun dipped its toes into Linux about a year ago with a line of "appliance"
servers, which are computers intended for single tasks, like handling a
small business's e-mail. The company said in a statement Thursday it would
extend that line and introduce software tools and support to help programs
run interchangeably on Solaris and Linux.

"The announcement today strikes me as a big departure from your united
architecture message," Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein,
said to Sun executives in a conference call. He was referring to Sun's
strategy of offering a single software design for a wide range of
technical uses.

Sun Chief Operating Officer Ed Zander repeatedly batted the perception
that Solaris would suffer.

"We want to make sure that the open systems community, the open source
community, stands united against Microsoft and IBM," he said, drawing a
parallel between Sun's commitment to building programs on common standards
and Linux's heritage of allowing developers access to source code.

IBM led established technology companies pushing Linux, arguing operating
systems running individual machines were becoming commodities. IBM saw a
profit providing services and "middleware" software to glue a network
together.

Microsoft, meanwhile, is challenging Solaris and other expensive operating
systems for the middle ground of less expensive servers.

For Sun, the clear immediate threat is that Linux products will
cannibalize its own Solaris servers, but the larger question is whether
Sun could prosper if it refused to acknowledge Linux.

Sun executives said the operating system was simply not an issue in some
areas, and that Linux would dominate there. "This is an evolving systems
company," said Stephen DeWitt, the Sun executive who heads the current
Linux line.

Sun said it would give details of the new server line, which will run on
so-called "x86" microchips popularized by Intel Corp by mid-year.

Goldman Sachs analyst Laura Conigliaro said on the call that the early
announcement could be viewed as defensive.

But Steve Josselyn, an analyst at technology research firm International
Data Corp., said the truth of the Sun's Linux push would be in the
details.

"It can be read in both ways," he said.


Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited.

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