Sun Microsystems is focusing on the red-hot Asian Pacific marketplace to make its latest stand against rivals and launch some 30 new hardware and software products, plus per-citizen pricing models.
The company is hoping to bolster sales in its server division and on the desktop with announcements focused on Solaris 10, Java Enterprise System, Java Desktop System, RFID
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based network computer maker is scheduled to unveil the announcements Tuesday, June 1, as part of
its quarterly update launch party, this time in Shanghai, China. CEO Scott
McNealy and other Sun executives are framing their appearance as a discussion of alternatives to “fixed cost” computing models, as well as using Solaris and Java to deliver network services.
“To fully benefit from this new era in Network Computing, enterprises will need to shift focus away from managing disparate parts of the IT infrastructure,” said Jonathan Schwartz, Sun’s newly-appointed president and COO.
“Servers, software, storage and networking will become increasingly
simplified, self-managing and self-healing. They will be reconstituted as services — such as CRM, collaboration tools, Voice over IP and video-on-demand — that will translate into business value and competitive edge.”
Sun’s choice to visit Shanghai for its quarterly update
announcements is no accident. The company made serious inroads into China’s government in November with a Java Desktop deal and is hungry for more.
Sun is revealing 16 pre-tested reference architectures, seven of which are tweaked especially for Chinese business models. The company said the plug-in software packages cover topics such as disaster recovery, back
up, security, and intrusion detection. After producing two or three a
quarter, Sun now has 40 such profiles with execs telling
internetnews.com to expect between eight and nine new architectures next quarter.
In general, China remains a hotbed of IT activity. Government statistics released in January 2004 show the country’s Internet user base at 79.5 million putting China behind only the U.S. in the number of Web surfers. The number catapults the country ahead of fellow Asia-Pacific region country Japan, which has 56 million Internet users but below first-ranked U.S., which has 165.75 million Internet users.
Per Citizen Pricing for JES
To prime the pump, Sun announced the second release of its Java
Enterprise System 2004Q2 along with a new per-citizen pricing model for
federal, state and local governments that averages out to about $0.33 per
person. The platform now includes support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Similarly, Sun announced half-off pricing for its Java Desktop System
through December 2, 2004.
An Ounce of Prevention
One new approach is Sun’s new Preventive Services package for the data
center. Taking its cue from the insurance and health care industry, Sun is
offering a subscription-based network services delivery model that
identifies specific, measurable performance goals and offers financial
incentives of up to 20 percent off long-term services subscription costs to
customers who achieve and sustain their goals.
New Software to Help Track RFID
One of the hot markets for Sun has been its support for RFID in retail.
This time around, Sun is adding its Java System RFID Event Manager; to
process and filter information from RFID tags or sensors and its Java System
RFID Information Server; to store and query RFID data.
New Identity Management Software
Sun released a trio of new identity software slated for release on July
1. The company said the technology in its Java-based System Identity
Manager, System Access Manager and System Directory Server Enterprise
Edition will let employees, partners and customers access to the company
intranet using any number of methods (wireless phone, PC, etc.), with access
only to pre-determined areas.
Sun Solaris: Now With Dynamic Files
Standing firm on its homegrown Unix variant, Sun debuted its new Dynamic
File System for Solaris 10. The additions feature a self-healing,
self-managing technology with improved scalability for storage.
N1
As the impetus for its software blitz, Sun bolstered its N1 utility
computing platform with a new N1 Grid Engine 6 software that the company
claims can increase throughput and the ability to manage up to 10,000
non-CPU hosts. The provisioning and virtualization software has also been
tweaked for Opteron-based Sun Fire V20z Compute Grid Rack System. The
company said the improvements make the software very palatable for
enterprise high performance technical computing projects.
Utility Computing for Storage
Sun addressed its storage situation by simplifying its billing for
customers with what the company calls flexible Data Center Storage “Power
Units.” As a hardware compliment, Sun is offering up its new SE9980 systems.
SPARC Gets Tough
On the server side, Sun is introducing its Netra 440 and StorEdge 3120 for the OEM market as well as the telecommunications industry and the government. The 4-way UltraSPARC-based systems are able to run for four days
in 120-degree server rooms and other environments. Recent stats for Sun’s
server sales show the company losing revenue compared to previous years but
gaining in market share. Analyst firm IDC in particular showed Sun outpaced
all competitors in for volume level servers with 41 percent growth
year-over-year, compared to 24 percent for the market as a whole.
“They are selling anything that they can make,” Mark Stahlman, managing
director of research at financial analyst group Caris & Company, told
internetnews.com. “When they formally announce the 4-way Opteron box,
they still won’t be there. What they need is the server built by [retuning
co-founder] Andy Bechtolsheim. They have reseller channels that are starved
for these.”
