Sun Microsystems Delivers Highly Scalable X64 Servers For Next-Generation Virtualization And Datacenter Efficiency

New Intel Xeon Processor-Based Sun Servers Set New World Records on Industry Benchmarks; Solaris 10 10/08 OS Optimized for Sun Fire Servers Powered by Intel Xeon Processor 7400 Series

SANTA CLARA, CA - Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) today extended its family of Intel Xeon-based servers with two new offerings designed for exceptional scalability, virtualization and consolidation, leveraging the industry’s first and only four-socket (24-way) x64 (x86, 64-bit) 2U rackmount server among top-tier vendors, and a four-socket blade server with 50 percent more memory capacity and up to 71 percent more processing cores per rack than the competition. The Sun Fire X4450 server and Sun Blade X6450 server module, powered by Intel Xeon processor 7400 series with up to six processing cores, run a variety of operating systems, including Solaris 10 10/08, the latest update to the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS), in addition to Linux, Windows and VMware. To take advantage of special offers and promotions for the Sun Fire X4450 server and Sun Blade X6450 server module, including Sun’s Try and Buy program and Sun Startup Essentials program, visit: http://www.sun.com/tryandbuy and http://www.sun.com/startup

“Sun’s Intel Xeon-based products are seeing strong customer adoption and stellar product reviews,” said Lisa Sieker, vice president, Systems Marketing, Sun Microsystems. “Today we’re adding new value for customers with Intel’s next-generation six-core Xeon chips in our high-density, highly scalable, energy-efficient systems. We also continue to work with Intel to optimize Solaris for Xeon processors.”

Sun Fire X4450 and Sun Blade X6450 server customers will have the option of deploying Solaris 10 10/08, the latest update to the Solaris 10 OS. Through the collaboration between Sun and Intel, Solaris 10 10/08 features new capabilities including performance and energy efficiency enhancements, specifically optimized for Intel’s new Xeon processor 7400 series. Solaris offers excellent performance and scalability on Xeon processors and is the ideal OS to deploy on hardware powered by the new Intel Xeon processor 7400 series. Solaris 10 10/08 users can also select Solaris ZFS as their root file system and take advantage of a number of key virtualization enhancements enabling them to better consolidate and maximize datacenter efficiency. Solaris 10 10/08 is scheduled to be available in mid-October. For more information on the Solaris 10 OS visit: http://www.sun.com/solaris/10

New Sun Servers Ideal for Virtualization and Consolidation

The Sun Blade X6450 server module is an ideal fit for virtualization and server consolidation, HPC, database and enterprise applications, designed for deployment within a wide range of solutions. Supporting the six-core Intel Xeon 7400 series processor, the Sun Blade X6450 server module has 50 percent more memory capacity than competing blade servers, making it an excellent solution for memory-intensive applications. Additional key features include:

* Performance Boost: Sun Blade X6450 server modules provide up to 11 TFLOPs of peak performance per fully populated Sun Blade 6048 chassis, giving 1,152 cores per rack and up to 71 percent more compute power than competing blade servers. The Sun Blade X6450 server has four built-in PCIe I/O connections that enable high-speed system interconnects required for solving customers’ many complex computing problems.
* More Memory: With 24 memory DIMM slots, the Sun Blade X6450 provides 50% more memory capacity than competing HP BL680c, HP BL685c, IBM LS41 and IBM LS42 blade servers. This feature allows customers to process more loads, support more virtual machines per Sun’s blade and simplify overall system management.

The Sun Fire X4450 server is the industry’s first and only four-socket (24-way) x64 2U server among top-tier vendors and the most scalable x64 server for datacenter virtualization. Ideal for consolidating workloads, the Sun Fire X4450 server saves customers datacenter space, as well as energy and cooling costs. Other key features include:

* Lower power consumption: The new Intel Xeon processor 7400 series consumes up to 33 percent less watts per core than the previous generation processor.
* Higher scalability: Packaged in half the form factor of comparable servers, the Sun Fire X4450 server is highly optimized for datacenter consolidation, providing capital equipment cost reductions and increased datacenter efficiency. When combined with the new Intel Xeon processor with six processing cores, the Sun Fire X4450 server provides greater virtualization and energy efficiencies.

Sun Platforms Deliver World-Record Results, Blue-Ribbon Product Reviews

Increased processing capacities offered by the new generation of Intel Xeon processor 7400 series allow the Sun Fire X4450 server and the Sun Blade X6450 server module to reach new performance heights on divergent workloads ranging from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to Java technology-implemented encryption and encoding algorithms. Today, Sun is announcing the following record-breaking results:

* x86 world record on SPECjbb2005 benchmark with a single Java Virtual Machine (JVM) running Solaris 10 OS on a Sun Fire X4450 server: This result complements the multi-JVM 4 processor record on the same platform, recently announced at IDF, and highlights the well-rounded performance implementation of the Java HotSpot (version 1.6.0_06 Performance Release) software.1
* World record 4-processor result for UNIX on the two-tier SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) Standard Application Benchmark, as of September 12, 2008. The Sun Fire X4450 server with four Intel Xeon processor X7460 (24 cores, 24 threads) that was running the SAP ERP application Release 6.0 with Unicode software and MaxDB 7.6 database on top of the Solaris 10 OS, was able to support 4,600 SAP SD Benchmark users. This benchmark result highlights the optimal performance of SAP ERP on Sun Fire servers running the Solaris OS and the seamless multilingual support available for systems running SAP applications.2

For additional details on these and other record-setting benchmarks by Sun’s Intel Xeon-based platforms, please visit: http://www.sun.com/intel/benchmarks

In addition to breakthrough performance and swift customer adoption, Sun Fire servers powered by Intel Xeon processors have been getting rave product reviews from the press, including ZDNet, Computerworld and InformationWeek.

Sun Services and Support Slashes Datacenter Operational Costs

Customers can maximize performance of both the Sun Blade X6450 and Sun Fire X4450 servers with virtualization, datacenter efficiency, and support services from Sun. These services help ensure the servers are running efficiently and cost-effectively. Sun offers an array of services to reduce costs and maximize efficiency, including heterogeneous support, Eco and Virtualization services and training. For more information, please visit: http://www.sun.com/services

Availability and Pricing

The Sun Fire X4450 server and Sun Blade X6450 server module powered by Intel Xeon processor 7400 series is scheduled to begin shipping next month, with entry-level pricing starting at $8,545 and $9,455, respectively. For current trade-in offers, please visit: http://www.sun.com/tradeins/offerings/x64intel/. For more information on the Sun Fire X4450 servers and Sun Blade X6450 Server Modules, please visit: http://www.sun.com/intel
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Sun Microsystems develops the technologies that power the global marketplace. Guided by a singular vision -- “The Network is the Computer” -- Sun drives network participation through shared innovation, community development and open source leadership. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Sun Fire, Sun Blade, Solaris, Sun Startup Essentials, Java, Java HotSpot and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Intel and Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company Ltd.

All prices noted are U.S. list price. All prices quoted are in U.S. Dollars.

SPEC and SPECjbb are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. Results from www.spec.org as of 9/12/2008 and this announcement. For comparison purposes, the terms CPU, chip and processor are used interchangeably. For the latest results visit: http://www.spec.org.

(1)Sun Fire X4450 (4xIntel Xeon X7460, Solaris 10, 1 JVM) - 448,262 SPECjbb2005 bops, 448,262 SPECjbb2005 bops/JVM. Sun Fire X4450 (4xIntel Xeon X7460, Solaris 10, 4 JVM) - 531,669 SPECjbb2005 bops, 132,917 SPECjbb2005 bops/JVM.
(2)SAP and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries. For more details, see http://www.sap.com/benchmark. Two-tier SAP SD Standard Application Benchmark -- Configuration: Sun Fire X4450, 4 Intel Xeon Processor X7460 / 24 Cores / 24 Threads, Solaris 10, MaxDB 7.6, SAP ERP 6.0 with Unicode. Results: 4,600 SAP SD Benchmark users, 23,120 SAPS, certification number 2008051.