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Breaking News - Operating Systems & Middleware:

Sun Broadens Solaris Availability On AMD, Intel-Based Systems

Sun Microsystems Inc announced the availability of the Solaris Operating System (OS) on a variety of AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon-based systems with 15 new Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for a total of 20 x86 platform partners, including ASA Computers, Continuous Computing Corp, Electronic Business Solutions, Flight System Consulting Inc, NatureTech, Pinnacle Data Systems, Portable One, PSSC Labs, Rave Computer Association Inc, S-Terra Group, System Works Corp, Think Computer Products and Tokyo Forex Financial.

The addition of new system and embedded device OEM partners - representing a range of servers, workstations, supercomputers, telecom equipment platforms, VPNs, notebook computers and other products -- helps Sun to further extend the reach of the Solaris OS while opening up new market opportunities for OEMs by providing them with an established enterprise-class OS. Sun will sponsor a Solaris x86 Partner Pavilion at the upcoming SunNetwork 2004 conference June 2-3 in Shanghai, China. Partners will showcase their Solaris OS solutions and attendees will have the opportunity to meet with Sun technical and sales representatives at the event.

"Following on the heels of last month's agreement with Rackable Systems, this groundswell of support from 20 OEMs is further proof of the strong momentum behind Solaris x86," said Ann Wettersten, vice president of systems software marketing at Sun Microsystems Inc. "As we continue to push hard on growing the Independent Hardware Vendor (IHV) ecosystem for Solaris x86, we believe this will have a snowball effect in driving even more Independent Software Vendor (ISV) adoptions. Key ISVs like BEA, Sybase, and Veritas have already signed on to support their solutions on Solaris x86. With over 900 solutions from over 600 ISV partners on Solaris x86, Sun continues to expand the community for the Solaris OS, giving end customers greater flexibility and choice in their Solaris deployments."

The OEM program for the Solaris x86 is a low-risk, high ROI program since there is no cost involved for system builders to participate. OEMs are able to freely certify their systems using Sun's Hardware Compatibility Test Suite. They can also license the Solaris OS for redistribution to customers under flexible general purpose or embedded use licensing. As part of the program, Sun provides worldwide backline support, contractual support at the development coding level, as well as low-cost training and free resources. OEMs can also participate in the Sun Software Express program for Solaris OS to preview the next-generation Solaris 10 OS and enable faster time-to-market with the latest cutting-edge technologies.

Sun's Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) for Solaris x86 has doubled in size in the last six months and currently includes more than 200 supported x86 systems from both Sun and third party vendors. The Solaris OS HCL offers certification to system builders and IHVs looking to leverage the Sun brand and the growing market for Solaris x86. Customers can access the HCL at www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl and take advantage of a full range of drivers and system configurations that have been certified on Solaris x86, as well as a growing catalog of third-party and open-source applications.

About Sun Microsystems Inc

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems Inc to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com .

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