Sun Microsystems Announces Up to 33 Percent Faster Performance for Ultra AXi Processor Board - SPARCengine Ultra AXi - Product Announcement

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, July 19, 1999

Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:SUNW) Monday announced that its SPARCengine Ultra AXi motherboards now offer up to 33 percent faster performance.

Based on the UltraSPARC IIi microprocessor technology, Sun's embedded motherboard products reflect the aggressive speed curve set by the recently upgraded microprocessors from 330- and 360-MHz to 440 MHz and 480 MHz.

Extending this performance boost to the embedded board market demonstrates Sun's commitment to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) designing high-performance and highly reliable solutions for telecommunications and Internet Service Provider customers.

"We look forward to extending the new benefits of Sun's SPARCengine Ultra AXi motherboards to our customers in the telecommunications and Internet Service Provider areas," said Dr. Kam Chan, president of Tatung Science and Technology Inc., a leading provider of SPARC-compatible workstations and servers. "This speed upgrade will allow us to design faster performing PCI-based servers to meet the demanding needs of ISPs, OEMs and communications applications."

"The SPARCengine Ultra AXi board continues to be one of the most popular boards of its kind on the market today," said Marge Breya, vice president of marketing, Sun Microsystems, Microelectronics. "UltraSPARC technology-based solutions, such as systems built on the SPARCengine Ultra AXi board, are becoming the platform of choice for companies whose business depends upon the network. This newest speed upgrade proves Sun's commitment to having a superior price/performance offering in the embedded motherboard product market."

Sun sells the SPARCengine Ultra AXi motherboards to OEMs that design solutions targeted for network intensive applications like ISP services, telecommunications, and adjunct communication processors. The PCI-based platform leverages the highly integrated UltraSPARC-IIi microprocessor family, receiving all the benefits of the SPARC microprocessor technology including high-performance, scalability and reliability at prices comparable to lower performing offerings of OEMs and integrators building systems for these markets.

Pricing and Availability

Sun's 440-MHz SPARCengine Ultra AXi motherboard will be available this month at a price of $2350 in volume. The 480-MHz SPARCengine Ultra AXi will be available at the end of the calendar year with pricing announced then.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The Computer," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq:SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of high-quality hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide Intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $10.5 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com.