Can Sun succeed in the 32-bit server market?

Sun Microsystems’ 32-bit Sun Fire V60 and V65x servers have done well in the market. AKHTAR PASHA says that there’s a market opportunity for Lintel-based systems

Sun Microsystems is a clear winner in the 64-bit Unix server market. Now the company is targeting the market for 32-bit servers with its Sun Fire V60 and V65x servers that run Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Solaris 9 x86. Two months after the launch, Sun India has shipped 160 servers (V60 and V65x put together) in three deals—ST Microelectronics, Medicon Solutions and a government deal in Delhi. Sun expects to sell about 1,000 servers within a year of the launch.

S Govind, executive director and chief operating officer, Medicon Solution says, "Medicon Healthcare Information System is a high-end enterprise-wide hospital information system. It runs on Sun Fire V60 servers [15 units running Solaris 9] at various customer installations." Medicon is also testing a Sun Fire V60 running Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its desktop environment. Govind adds that Sun Microsystems wants to leverage the fact that enterprise customers want to deal with the same vendor across their enterprise IT infrastructure. The 32-bit servers are expected to give depth to Sun’s offerings.

The Sun Fire Intel Xeon-based servers ship in one and two rack units (1U and 2U). These systems are linked with the Sun ONE Grid Engine to deliver high compute power for memory-intensive applications. It offers an effective solution for customers looking for an inexpensive workgroup server, high-performance compute clusters, an expandable clustered database or application server or a horizontally scaleable corporate desktop platform.

What value will Sun deliver?

Sun Microsystems says its strategy will be to target its existing enterprise customer base because they know the value Sun brings to the table. Mid-size enterprises can use these boxes for single application or workgroup servers, database servers and for security solutions without compromising on scalability, reliability and affordable prices. These servers can also be used to run banking front-ends. Anil Valluri, director-Systems Engineering at Sun Microsystems India says, "We have introduced 32-bit systems for customers who don’t have a pressing requirement for 64-bit but want a solution that is scalable from 32-bit to 64-bit." Sun sees the V60 and V65x as effective and
affordable solutions.

Sun Microsystems is expecting its V60 and V65x to be a runaway success in segments such as mid-market, education and government because of the price sensitivity and familiarity with x86 based systems. Both systems are designed to support enterprise Linux clustering features and to complement the low-cost Sun StorEdge 3310 SCSI storage array.

Sun sees a big market opportunity in the 32-bit x86 Intel server market with 1- or 2-CPU systems known as the SIAS (Standard Intel Architecture Servers) market. Customers can start with 32-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux-based V60 servers for non-mission-critical applications and easily migrate to the Solaris environment for their mission-critical applications. It will give the same user-interface (API), no bug fixing problems and protect the customer’s investment. "This option will be a compelling alternative to Microsoft as it provides a robust, secure and integrated platform. Solaris 9 x86 lowers the total cost of acquiring software when compared to Windows server," says Valluri.

Sun is offering Project Orion to its customers, which will simplify software purchasing and deployment. Customers can only buy a single license for all of Sun’s enterprise software and get regular updates from Sun Microsystems.

Why Sun entered the Intel server market space

Valluri says, "Windows-based servers have dominated the entry-level 32-bit Intel server market, which does not provide the scalability of 64-bit computing environments. ‘Lintel’ (Xeon with Linux) all is going to change all that. We are creating a new market with Linux servers, and it will open doors to new markets and will bring additional revenue streams from Linux/Solaris x86-based Sun Fire servers."

Whether Sun Microsystems gains considerable market share in the 32-bit Wintel market space or not, one thing is clear—it is creating a new market where a lot of business could result.

Sun’s 32-bit servers

* All prices are List Prices || Source: Sun Microsystems