Sun Microsystems Drives New Levels Of Datacenter Efficiency For Telco Service Providers; Introduces Solaris OS-Powered Carrier-Grade Servers Designed For Extreme Scalability, Performance And Density

Sun Netra X4450 Server is the Industry’s Highest Density Four-Socket x64 System; Sun Netra T5440 Server Offers Industry’s Highest Throughput

SANTA CLARA, CALIF. Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) today announced additions to its Sun Netra carrier-grade server family, driving new levels of performance, efficiency and scalability in the datacenter for telecommunication service providers. The new servers include the Sun Netra X4250 server, a 2U rackmount server powered by two high-performance LV quad-core Intel Xeon processors; the Sun Netra X4450 server, a 4U rackmount server and the industry’s only carrier-grade server powered by four quad-core Intel Xeon processors; and the Sun Netra T5440 server, a 4U rackmount server powered by two UltraSPARC T2 Plus processors, offering the highest thread count in the industry. Sun Netra servers are the only carrier-grade servers in the industry that give customers a choice of DC or AC power options and a variety of operating systems, including the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS), Linux and Windows. To take advantage of special offers and promotions for the new Sun Netra servers starting in October, including Sun’s Try and Buy program and Sun Startup Essentials program, visit: http://www.sun.com/tryandbuy and http://www.sun.com/startup

“These new Sun Netra servers are raising the bar in terms of datacenter efficiency and performance, while adding more choice to the broadest, most comprehensive line of carrier-grade servers in the industry,” said Mark Butler, Netra systems director, Sun Microsystems. “Telco service providers can now leverage Sun’s product innovation and partner support to consolidate and virtualize their datacenters, giving them new levels of performance they could not attain with competitive solutions.”

The Sun Netra X4250 and Sun Netra X4450 servers bring high performance and datacenter efficiency to the telco market, enabling customers to save on space, energy consumption and cooling costs, while allowing them to scale for future growth. Using Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors with large on-die caches, high clock speeds and low power envelopes, the servers are equipped with two or four power-efficient processors, while keeping performance levels on par with enterprise-quality servers from HP and IBM. Both servers support high-efficiency AC and DC power, and are capable of forwarding large packets at near-wireline speed, measured on the Layer 3 forwarding tests using IP version 4 protocol. Other features include:

* The Sun Netra X4250 server is designed to be energy-efficient, supporting up to 16 memory slots and four internal disk drives in a 2U, 20-inch-deep carrier-grade package. It also features the low-power Intel Xeon Processor L5408, which dissipates a maximum of 40W of power, or 10W per core. The Sun Netra X4250 server outperforms the IBM BladeCenter HS21 on integer- and floating-point-intensive benchmarks, as well as an integer-intensive throughput test.
* The Sun Netra X4450 server is the industry’s only four-socket quad-core carrier-grade server powered by Intel Xeon processors, offering an excellent platform for consolidation and virtualization. Features such as 32 memory DIMM slots, more than 1 TB of storage, and 10 PCI slots allow customers to consolidate Solaris OS, Linux and Windows applications on a single 4U NEBS-certified server. Powered by the low-power Intel Xeon Processor E7338, each processor dissipates a maximum of 80W of power, or 20W per core.

The Sun Netra T5440 server, powered by two UltraSPARC T2 Plus processors, delivers unprecedented application throughput. Its dual processors support 128 compute threads -- twice the number of threads as previous systems using a single UltraSPARC T2 processor. In addition:

* With the highest thread count and highest throughput in the industry among carrier-grade rackmount servers, the Sun Netra T5440 server allows hundreds of virtualized services to be developed, deployed and supported on a single system. The Sun Netra T5440 server delivers more than three times the throughput as competitive dual-socket x86 systems, based on the TM1 benchmark, the first database benchmark designed specifically for high-throughput telecom industry applications.
* Each UltraSPARC T2 Plus processor is a full “System on a Chip” with eight Floating Point Units, cache coherency logic, cryptographic acceleration, and PCIe I/O onboard, which results in a lower cost of equipping the server.
* The system’s new, high-efficiency power supplies reduce power consumption and heat generation, and its chassis design optimizes air flow to further minimize cooling needs.

Customers and ISVs Demonstrate Support for New Sun Netra Servers

Sun has seen tremendous growth and customer adoption of its Netra server line, with total customers in Q4FY08 up 32 percent year over year. Customers deploying the new Sun Netra servers in their datacenters include Nokia-Siemens, Sonus Networks and TELES Communication Systems.

“Nokia Siemens Networks in Berlin is currently completing an evaluation of the new Sun Netra X4450 servers for our Authentification, Authorization, and Accounting Platform,” said Ralf Moritz, CIO of Apertio Germany AG, which was merged into Nokia Siemens Networks GmbH & Co. KG in August 2008. “Sun’s new four-socket Netra X4450 NEBS-certified server in a highly dense compact form factor provides an ideal upgrade path from our current solution and provides the necessary increase in performance required for future deployments at Mobile Service Providers throughout the world.”

“In a market landscape of growing operational costs with vastly increasing service offerings, everyone is trying to maintain a reasonable operating cost -- and the cost-to-performance ratio of the Sun Netra X4250 server was ideal for us and our customer,” said Matt Hoffman, product line manager, Sonus Networks. “The Sun Netra X4250 server has the scalability and reliability necessary to meet the demand of our service provider customers.”

In addition, Sun is working to expand its ecosystem of ISV partners for the Netra product portfolio. These partners include Continuous Computing and Validus DC Systems. Validus DC Systems enables high-efficiency datacenter operations and can reduce energy consumption by up to 50 percent. Continuous Computing collaborates with Sun to support their Trillium Multi-Core networking protocol software on the newest Sun Netra servers.

For more information on customer and ISV support of the Sun Netra servers, please visit: http://www.sun.com/servers/netra/products

Availability and Pricing

The Sun Netra X4250 and X4450 servers are available now, with entry-level pricing starting at $4,295 and $14,995, respectively. The Sun Netra T5440 server powered by the UltraSPARC T2 Plus processor is available now with entry-level pricing starting at $19,635. For more information on the Sun Netra server family, please visit: http://www.sun.com/servers/netra/products
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, Java, Netra , Solaris, Sun Startup Essentials 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. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Intel and Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

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