The latest tidbits on Sun deals and product news

August  1997

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• Sun to cut Ultra Enterprise 3000 prices
• Sun says Apple-Microsoft pact no big deal
• Open Group to manage NC spec, certify and brand NCs
• Sun launches Java testing tools unit
• SPARCstation 20 dropped from SMCC product line

Sun to cut Ultra Enterprise 3000 prices

Sun plans to cut prices on the Ultra Enterprise 3000 by up to 27 percent, officials said. And by the middle of next year, Sun plans to add dynamic reconfiguration/alternate pathing capabilities -- first deployed in the high-end Ultra Enerprise 10000 -- to the Ultra Enterprise 3000, 4000, 5000 and 6000 servers, officials said.

The dynamic reconfiguration/alternate pathing feature enables CPUs, memory, and I/O devices to be attached and detached without disrupting the production environment. The Ultra Enterprise 3000, 4000, 5000, and 6000 already offer the ability to hot plug and hot swap system boards, disks, power supplies and cooling.

Ultra Enterprise 3000 prices now start at $43,250 for a configuration with two 167-MHz UltraSPARC processors and 256M bytes of memory. A software upgrade will be available to add dynamic reconfiguration/alternate pathing capabilities to the Ultra Enterprise 3000-6000 systems.

--Ed Golden, IDG News Service, Boston Bureau

Sun says Apple-Microsoft pact no big deal

Noting that Apple has publicly pledged to support the JFCs, Spenhoff says, "we've been working with Apple directly, mano a mano from the beginning, and we have no indication that that is going to change."

Spenhoff adds, "I think a people are speculating a lot right now."

At the heart of the speculation is an agreement between Apple and Microsoft to, "collaborate on technology to ensure compatibility between their respective virtual machines for Java and other programming languages," according to Microsoft's press release. Since the deal was announced, industry pundits have speculated that this will, effectively, create two kinds of Java virtual machines: one king for the desktop, supporting Microsoft's AFCs, and one kind for everything else supporting Sun's JFCs. Presumably, developers would then chose Java tools optimized to either the AFCs or JFCs - effectively creating two versions of Java.

Rather than bode ill for Java, analyst JP Morgenthal says the deal will actually strengthen Sun's language by making Java a more attractive platform for developers. "Part of the agreement is to get in Microsoft's Java Virtual Machine," he says, "and the Java virtual machine is good." Morgenthal, the president of analyst firm NC.Focus, suspects that even if the Macintosh VM did not ship with the JFCs, they could still be added.

Microsoft is not saying what exactly it means by "other programming languages." Redmond declined to clarify whether it meant to run some sort of Microsoft-created, not-Java language or whether the statement was merely a continuation of its "Java is just a language" marketing campaign.

Bringing Apple into Microsoft's Java development camp may not have a catastrophic effect on Sun's core market. JavaSoft's Spenhoff observes "the fact is that at the enterprise level the biggest problem that CIOs face is not how to integrate their Mac and Windows desktops. It's how to get applications running across their systems."

After all, Java applications are supposed to run on NCs, consumer devices, and servers as well as PCs.

Morgenthal puts Sun's challenge in a different light. "The desktop is sold to Microsoft," he says. "Now it's up to Solaris to secure its position as a server platform."

--Robert McMillan, SunWorld

Open Group to manage NC spec, certify and brand NCs

Oracle Corp., IBM, Network Computer Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc., and Digital Semiconductor announced the agreement with The Open Group standards organization yesterday. Since the May 1996 unveiling of the reference profile, which defines standards for NCs, the vendors have planned to turn it over to The Open Group, said Ed Harbour, director of strategy for IBM's network computer division.

"The next phase in a standard is to have a neutral party to do certification and branding and manage the mark," Harbour said. "That basically gives manufacturers who produce network computers a way to get certified as well as ... [tells users the NC] will be interoperable with other network computers."

The Network Computer Reference Profile includes basic Web standards and is being extended to cover standards for mobile network computers and smart cards. It will now be know as the Network Computer Profile, and The Open Group will manage it under its Network Computer Program, officials said.

Within the next month, the organization will unveil a Web-based testing and branding program, an Open Group spokesman said. Under the program, NC manufacturers will be able to download test suites from an Open Group Web server, run the tests on their premises, and then send the results back to The Open Group over the Internet, officials said.

--Sari Kalin, IDG News Service, Boston Bureau

Sun launches Java testing tools unit

The code-testing tools, which include those used in the JavaSoft 100% Pure Java marketing program, provide methodologies and capabilities for dealing with such Java-specifics as the language's virtual machine and cross-platform reach, according to Joseph Ols, SunTest marketing manager.

Among the tools to be delivered:

• The $1,995 JavaStar is a capture-and-playback tool that generates test scripts in Java.

• JavaSpec, priced at $1,495, allows developers to create self-documenting API test suites for automatically testing Java applications and libraries.

• JavaScope is a $495 tool for gauging the extent to which a test suite covers application code.

• JavaPureCheck and JavaSpin, the company's Java purity tester and a stripped-down version of JavaStar, respectively, are free.

The Sun unit will solicit partnerships with other testing tools providers to facilitate the testing of hybrid, or multiple-language applications, according to Ols.

SunTest has a staff of roughly 35 employees, including dedicated marketing, sales, and support staff, and is a separate profit-and-loss center within Sun, according to Ols.

Ted Smalley Bowen, InfoWorld Electric

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SPARCstation 20 dropped from SMCC product line

Novak says, "the product was simply not a competitive product any longer." He says that Sun customers wanting to stick with the old SunOS, which is not supported on the Ultra Enterprise line, can buy the SPARCstation 5, which is powered by Fujitsu's 170-MHz TurboSPARC. He adds that within his own company, "the people internal to Sun are very anxious to upgrade to an Ultra as quickly as possible in order to gain the workstation performance."

The end of the SPARCstation 20 means that Sun, for the moment at least, will cease to be a channel for troubled manufacturer Ross Technology Inc., whose hyperSPARC chip was OEM'd inside the SPARCstation 20.

Ross Technology Marketing Director John Rasco says that rather than purchasing SPARCstation 5s, customers looking for better performance on their old '20s should instead purchase hyperSPARC upgrades. He asks, "should you spend $5,000 to $6,000 on a new system, or $1,000 on an upgrade?"

According to Ross, a single CPU, 125-MHz hyperSPARC with 512K L2 cache has a SPECint_rate95 of 31.4 and a SPECfp_rate 95 of 40.3. This compares to 35 and 27, respectively for a single CPU, 170-MHz SPARCstation 5 with 512K L2 cache.

Rasco says the loss in business to Ross will not be significant. He says the SPARCstation 20 run rate has been "about 5,000 units per quarter over the last couple of quarters."

The move will be good for both Sun, which will be able to focus on its UltraSPARC line, and for Ross, which will continue to sell into the SunOS installed base, says Dataquest analyst Peter Foulkes. "I think the issue here is that Sun is, quite rightly, driving forward with the Ultra platform," he notes, adding "from the perspective of companies like Ross, it's very helpful to have a large installed base to sell into."

Sun's Novak says his company is no longer taking orders for SPARCstation 20s. They continue to be available through resellers, however.

--Robert McMillan, SunWorld

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Resources

• SunTest http://www.suntest.com/
  http://www.suntest.com/

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