Oracle Selects Sun Ultra Enterprise Servers As A Development Platform; Scalability of Servers and Solaris Cited in selection

Business Wire, August 7, 1996

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 7, 1996--Sun Microsystems Computer Company today announced that its Sun(TM) Ultra(TM) Enterprise(TM) servers running the Solaris(TM) operating environment have been selected as a base development platform for the development and testing of future Oracle RDBMS, including Oracle8, for single and multiprocessor systems.

Oracle uses Sun workstations for initial product development and now use the Ultra Enterprise business servers for Oracle's SMP build and test environments, providing a full-life cycle development environment. Since Oracle products are being developed and tested on the Sun platform, customers will benefit from proven stability and performance when Oracle8 becomes available. This life-cycle approach will deliver data center quality solutions for the open systems enterprise.

Sun and Oracle are also cooperating to create a new enterprise-scale test environment. For this new environment, Oracle recently installed several new Sun Ultra Enterprise servers and SPARCstorage(TM) Array(TM) systems with more than 2 TB (terabytes) of storage, adding to the more than 3,000 Sun systems currently in use in Oracle's development labs. Oracle is also participating in Sun's recently announced Enterprise Systems Test Center.

The new testing will ensure world-class performance for mission-critical applications on Sun Ultra Enterprise servers -- the platforms that are most likely to be used by large-scale enterprise customers. The much anticipated Oracle8 database is undergoing the most extensive testing in the company's history. Sun and Oracle have expanded their joint test environment to match their largest customers' applications and to anticipate customer needs in the future. The Sun Ultra Enterprise business servers and SPARCstorage Array subsystems are being used to simulate these enterprise-class applications.

"This is an unprecedented scale for the testing process for Oracle8," said Jerry Held, senior vice president of Server Technologies at Oracle. "We must anticipate customer requirements to ensure reliability and scalability in even the largest and most demanding environments. We have selected Sun as a partner because its Ultra Enterprise servers meet the needs for large-scale enterprise computing.

John Shoemaker, vice president and general manager of the Enterprise Server and Storage Group at Sun, added, "Sun enjoys a long-standing relationship with Oracle and we are pleased that Oracle has chosen our Ultra Enterprise servers for their development process. The new large-scale testing will ensure that Oracle8 and Sun systems are a reliable and robust combination for the most demanding OLTP and data warehousing environments."

Since its introduction in April, Sun's Ultra Enterprise server family has taken the industry by storm -- significantly surpassing the performance, scalability and reliability of competitive products and significantly increasing customer demand of Sun's server products.

Sun Microsystems Computer Company is a world leader in the design, manufacture, and sale of network computing systems and is a division of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Recognized for quality and innovation, the company's SPARC(TM) workstations and multiprocessing servers each hold the No. 1 UNIX(R) marketshare position. These systems are used primarily by businesses, educational institutions, and governments worldwide for technical, commercial, industrial, and software development applications. -0-

Note to Editors: Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, Solaris and Ultra Enterprise are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and in other countries. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing the SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd.

Press announcements and other information about Sun Microsystems are available on the Internet via the World Wide Web using a tool such as Netscape or NCSA Mosaic. Type http://www.sun.com at the URL prompt.

CONTACT: Sun Microsystems Computer Company

Cindee Mock (415)786-8323

cindee.mock@sun.com

or

Burson-Marsteller

Mark Richardson

Mark_Richardson@bm.com