Aries Research licenses Sun's UltraSPARC SBus reference design for new UltraSPARC workstation clones

Business Wire, Nov 3, 1995

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 3, 1995--Aries Research and SPARC Technology Business, a division of Sun Microsystems Inc., today announced that Aries Research has licensed Sun's UltraSPARC SBus reference design for building desktop workstations and servers using the UltraSPARC 64-bit RISC processor.

With this license, Aries Research is expanding its product line based on SPARC technology to incorporate the UltraSPARC processor. Aries Research will provide motherboards based on the UltraSPARC processor to OEMs, complete systems and motherboards to resellers, and complete systems directly to corporate end users.

Aries Research's initial implementation of the UltraSPARC processor will be 100 percent feature-compatible with Sun UltraSPARC workstations.

"We are excited to greet the new era of SPARC V9 architecture from Sun Microsystems," said Dr. Lawrence Kou, president of Aries Research. "With Sun's recent emphasis on open systems strategy, we are working closely with SPARC Technology Business and SunSoft. All our products will have the standard implementation of the UltraSPARC system. We will also manufacture and market Marixx systems with added features."

"SPARC Technology Business is pleased that Aries Research has extended its long-term support of SPARC technology by licensing the UltraSPARC SBus reference design," said Chet Sylvestri, president of SPARC Technology Business.

"This reference design provides workstation manufacturers such as Aries Research a valuable time-to-market tool."

"SPARC Technology Business has been very helpful in cooperative efforts with compatible manufacturers such as ourselves. Because of this, Sun's open-system, open-architecture philosophy is truly becoming a reality," added Val King, director of marketing and Aries Research. "We are working with Sun as closely as possible and are committed to UltraSPARC technology for all future revisions to Sun's product roadmap."

"The UltraSPARC SBus reference design is one of a family of UltraSPARC reference designs that enable OEM system design and manufacturing teams to quickly deliver high-performance, software-compatible UltraSPARC systems," said Jim Venable, director of product marketing at SPARC Technology Business. "As one of the world's premiere design companies, Sun is committed to providing complete, manufacturing-qualified design databases and motherboards."

UltraSPARC, first introduced in September 1994, is Sun's high performance, 64-bit RISC microprocessor and the first processor to deliver the multimedia and data movement requirements of today's and tomorrow's networked systems. UltraSPARC is the industry's first processor with on-chip multimedia support for desktop videoconferencing, real-time MPEG-2 decompression, video effects, and texture mapped triangle rendering. Its highly scalar and high data throughput design enables UltraSPARC to move data at a peak rate of 1.3 Gbytes/second. While employing the visual instruction set (VIS), it can operate at a rate of 1.67 GOps/second.

Founded in 1989, Aries Research, a privately-held and internationally-invested company, designs, manufactures, develops and markets workstations and servers based on SPARC (under the Marixx label) as well as graphics accelerators. All products are manufactured in the U.S. and developed from the ground up to be 100% compatible with software that runs under the shrink-wrapped Solaris Operating System.

Aries Research markets its workstation solutions based on SPARC processors in the U.S., Europe, and the Pacific Rim through resellers, OEMs and corporate end users.

SPARC Technology Business, a division of Sun Microsystems Inc., was formed in April 1993 to develop, design and distribute SPARC technologies and products worldwide. The division's portfolio includes microprocessors, chipsets, modules, boards, technology licenses, silicon and system packages, and consulting services. Currently, the division has more than 500 employees working in product development, engineering, marketing, and international sales support. Complete information on SPARC Technology Business is available via the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com/stb. Information on the SPARC architecture, including a complete list of its supporters, is available at http://www.sparc.com. -0-

Note to Editors: Aries Research Inc., the Aries Research logo, Marixx and the Marixx logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Aries Research Inc. Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, SunSoft, Solaris, and VIS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems Inc., in the United States and other countries. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks of SPARC International Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems Inc.

CONTACT: Aries Research, Inc.

Val King, 510/659-1544

or

SPARC Technology Business

Sheree Fitzpatrick, 408/774-8703