Sun's Solaris 8 Early Access Showcases Next Generation of World's Leading UNIX

Business Wire, Nov 2, 1999

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 2, 1999--

Anyone, Anywhere Can Get Aggressively Priced Preview of

Only OS that Marries Datacenter and Dotcom Requirements

Sun Microsystems Inc. turned up the heat on the operating system wars with the announcement today of an Early Access Program that gives anyone, anywhere a preview of the Solaris(tm) 8 operating system, the next generation of the world's leading UNIX(r) environment.

Sun has aggressively priced the Solaris 8 Early Access package to preview the software's superior capabilities to the widest possible audience. The Early Access CD set includes the software and a free license, complete documentation, and other tools for only $19.99.

Available for SPARC(tm) and Intel systems, the Solaris 8 software stands alone in combining industrial-strength datacenter features with advanced Internet technologies, and in protecting software investments by delivering compatibility for customers' existing applications.

"Enterprises are searching for ways to adapt their businesses in an Internet age, and dotcoms are seeking to adopt the valuable datacenter lessons of availability and scalability in a trustworthy, manageable environment," said Anil Gadre, vice president and general manager, Solaris Software, Sun Microsystems. "Only one operating system - Solaris 8 - meets the needs of both the datacenter and dotcom worlds."

"Solaris 8 Early Access lets any and all customers experience first-hand why we believe Solaris software is years ahead of Windows and other UNIX systems. It's what customers demand in a Dotcom OS," Gadre added.

No Limits, New Technologies and Investment Protection

With second-generation 64-bit technology and support for IPv6, the Solaris 8 operating system forever removes the limits that exist in Windows and other worlds, including support for a near-infinite number of Internet addresses (more than a one with 38 zeros), 18 exabytes of memory (a billion, billion bytes), and up to a million simultaneous processes.

The Solaris 8 operating system also supports the latest technologies from the desktop to the Internet, including mission-critical quality Java(tm)2SE for building web-centric software applications; the Java Media Framework for streaming media; X-server video enhancements; synchronization for personal digital assistants (e.g., Palm Pilot PDAs); and Networked Real Time processing.

Extending its mainframe-class capabilities, the Solaris 8 software adds jobs, projects and accounting capabilities for charging back computer use (ideal for service providers); automated dynamic reconfiguration for heightened uptime; and hot patching for dynamically changing the operating system without taking down the system.

Installing and upgrading is also simpler. A Web Install feature makes installing the software as easy as using a browser, and a Live Upgrade capability lets customers install the new environment while their current Solaris operating system version and applications are running. Once installed, a simple, quick reboot completes the installation.

Finally, in contrast to the application upgrades required by Windows 2000 and the migration experiences in HP and IBM environments, existing Solaris applications are already compatible with Solaris 8 software. Software developers and enterprise customers can help assure that compatibility by running an application certification tool, aptly called AppCert.

"Oracle 8 is already running on the first beta version of the Solaris 8 operating system with compatibility with Solaris 7 software," said Barbara Reed, vice president, Sun Products Division, Oracle Corporation. "Since so many other software providers run on Oracle databases, we wanted to ensure that applications could be run, tested and available when Solaris 8 ships."

Solaris 8 Early Access can be ordered now at http://www.sun.com/solaris8/earlyaccess. The $19.99 CD set includes the Solaris 8 Early Access software and license, AppCert and other tools, complete documentation, and an unlimited license for Sun's StarOffice productivity software suite.

AppCert and other Solaris binary compatibility tools and information for both SPARC and Intel are available now for free at http://www.sun.com/developers/tools/abi.> About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The Computer(tm)," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc., (Nasdaq: "SUNW"), to its position as a leading provider of hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $11 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com.

Note: Sun, the Sun logo, Solaris, The Network Is The Computer, Solaris Compatible logo, Java and Sun Microsystems are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. SPARC is a trademark or registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. 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 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.