Sun Unveils World’s First No-Compromise Blade Platform

Sun Blade 8000 Modular System Outperforms Existing Blade Servers with Better Throughput, Longevity, Energy Efficiency and Space Usage

SANTA CLARA, CALIF. July 11, 2006 Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) today announced the Sun Blade 8000 modular system, the only modular system designed specifically for high-end x86 computing that delivers the performance, price and flexibility of top-of-the-line rackmount servers together with the serviceability and efficiency of blade servers. The Sun Blade 8000 modular system provides up to twice the system longevity and I/O throughput but uses 25% less space than comparable blade servers; when compared to leading rackmount servers, the Sun Blade 8000 modular system is designed to offer at least twice the I/O throughput and up to 40% lower power requirements in only half the space. These benefits can translate into a 49% reduction in ongoing environmental costs at an acquisition price that is up to 60% lower than comparably configured rackmount and blade servers.

The Sun Blade 8000 system’s focus on high-end x86 computing makes it an ideal datacenter compute engine for server consolidation and virtualization, business applications, large-scale HPC deployments and high-requirement databases running on the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS), the most advanced operating system on the planet. Even though no other systems company can offer a total solution of x64 hardware combined with the Solaris 10 OS, the Sun Blade 8000 modular system also provides support for Linux or Windows environments. In addition, the system is designed to support future increases in I/O, power, cooling and blade real estate -- doubling the system’s longevity compared to today’s leading blade servers.

Customers, partners and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) such as Devon Energy, SAP, SAS and VMware have already tested the system and expressed enthusiasm for the Sun Blade 8000 system’s performance, flexibility and efficiency.

In addition, the Sun Blade 8000 modular system is the only blade server in the industry supporting industry-standard, hot-pluggable blade I/O adapters based on the PCI SIG ExpressModule standard. Vendors such as Emulex, LSI Logic, Mellanox and QLogic have released or are committed to releasing industry-standard PCI Express ExpressModule adapters. For more information on customer, partner and ISV endorsements, please visit: http://www.sun.com/servers/blades/8000/perspectives.jsp

System Management Made Easy

The Sun Blade 8000 modular system is the first blade system that doesn’t require new or custom systems management tools or proprietary network switching. As a result, complexity and deployment risks are reduced, and the system provides significant cost savings in training, consulting and software licensing. In addition, optional Sun N1 System Manager software offers comprehensive infrastructure lifecycle management, which manages multiple systems efficiently across the data center. It simplifies management tasks, reduces repetition and lowers the total cost of ownership for Sun’s x64 systems. A free license and trial DVD media Sun N1 System Manager will ship with every Sun Blade 8000 system. For more information on Sun N1 System Manager, please visit: http://www.sun.com/software/products/system_manager/

Sun Blade Server Module Outperforms Existing Blades

The Sun Blade server modules, powered by the highest performing Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors with Direct Connect Architecture, have beaten the competition in performance tests, setting four world-record benchmarks. Details and additional information on the Sun Blade 8000 modular system’s benchmarks can be found at: http://www.sun.com/servers/blades/8000/benchmarks.jsp. To see the complete list of over 100 record-breaking performance results achieved by Sun’s x64 platforms, visit: http://www.sun.com/x64/benchmarks/

For more information on the Sun Blade 8000 modular system, including pricing, availability and promotions, please visit: http://www.sun.com/x64
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

A singular vision -- “The Network Is The Computer” -- guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world’s most important markets. Sun’s philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Sun Blade, Solaris, N1 and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. AMD and AMD Opteron are trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

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Sun Microsystems, Inc.

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