Sun Raises the Bar for Network Software Environments With Introduction of 64-Bit Solaris 7

Business Wire, Oct 27, 1998

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 27, 1998--

Targets Departmental, Data Center and ISP Customers With Enhanced PC Interoperability, Ease-of-Administration and Mainframe-Class Features

Raising the bar for operating systems in the network age, Sun Microsystems, Inc., today unveiled the Solaris(tm) 7 product line which includes the Solaris 7 Operating Environment and three server software extensions aimed at departmental, data center and ISP customers. With Solaris 7, Sun delivers the highly scalable, reliable, 64-bit environment based on Internet standards that its competitors have only been promising. For SPARC(tm) and Intel computers, the new Solaris 7 product line provides full binary compatibility with previous releases of Solaris software, enhanced Windows NT interoperability, ease-of-administration and mainframe-class capabilities. It gives customers a new opportunity to deploy a single operating environment, where in the past they typically had to use MVS at the high-end, UNIX(R) in the mid-range and Windows at the low-end.

"Sun has been 100-percent focused on making Solaris the premier operating environment for the network age. Years ago we recognized the potential of the network and today with Solaris 7 software we are taking it to new heights," said John McFarlane, president of Solaris Software for Sun. "While the competition hedged their bets and gambled on NT, Sun's dedication is paying off big time. The Solaris Operating Environment has emerged as a leading network operating environment. The introduction of Solaris 7 software propels it even further ahead of the pack. It makes the Solaris Operating Environment the safe choice, the logical choice, and I dare say the only choice for customers requiring anytime, anywhere access to their data."

Enormous Capacity for Superior Performance and Scalability

The Solaris 7 Operating Environment provides enhanced performance and scalability for both SPARC and Intel platforms via a full 64-bit kernel, which can deliver four billion times the maximum capacity of 32-bit operating environments. The 64-bit capacity allows many more applications to be consolidated onto a single server running the Solaris Operating Environment and adds increased headroom to existing hardware. Because the Solaris 7 Operating Environment is fully binary compatible with previous releases, all existing applications can run unmodified and side-by-side with 64-bit applications. When these same applications are extended to take full advantage of the 64-bit capabilities, customers can achieve record-breaking performance. For example, Sun demonstrated world-record on-line transaction processing (OLTP) performance results on the Transaction Processing Performance Council Benchmark C (TPC-C), topping all competitive results of single node SMP systems, including HP, DEC, IBM and Sequent (see accompanying Sun and Sybase TPC-C release). Further, the enormous capacity of the Solaris 7 Operating Environment removes limitations for software developers, allowing them greater flexibility when designing new software and laying the groundwork for a new class of high-performance applications.

Sun also announced record-breaking performance of its Java(tm) technology based on the VolanoMark benchmark, a measure of server performance. Sun outpaced its nearest competitor by more than 300 percent.

Simple Installation and Administration Plus PC Interoperability

The Solaris 7 software environment makes it easier for administrators familiar with PC systems to install and manage Solaris software and third-party applications. It provides a familiar graphical user interface that takes advantage of the same installation technology used in PCs, as well as a central point-and-click console for installing, configuring and administering local and remote servers. These features increase customer productivity and eliminate the need for specialized personnel to install, configure and manage the operating environment. In addition, the Solaris 7 Operating Environment can seamlessly and transparently interoperate with virtually any computer on the market today, including Windows NT, 98, 95, 3.x, NetWare clients, OS/2 and Macintosh clients. Sun's network computing heritage means Solaris 7 software is also compatible with Internet standards - LDAP, TCP/IP and DNS - which enables multi-vendor interoperability.

Mainframe Capabilities at a Fraction of the Cost

Committed to making reliable computing available to everyone, Sun has enhanced Solaris 7 software with mainframe-class RAS (reliability, availability, serviceability) features, many of which were developed in conjunct with such allies as Fujitsu, NCR and Siemens. Additionally, dynamic reconfiguration, alternate pathing and hot plug support enable on-line repair and reconfiguration of system resources, minimizing downtime. With the Solaris 7 Operating Environment, these features become ubiquitous, available from low-end desktop systems to mainframes. Solaris 7 software also provides state-of-the-art security through authentication, data integrity, data privacy and single sign-on capabilities.