Tatung Science and Technology Inc is cutting prices on its recently introduced UltraSparc-II based U2300i web server line (CI No 3,190) by up to 8.5% and plans to bundle in a new internet software package across the range. Kam Chan, president of Tatung in the US, claims such hardware price cuts are in line with what would normally be expected on a quarterly basis but conceded that the move was partly in response to the increased competition from PC server vendors. That pressure has already led to fellow Sparc clonemaker Axil Computer Inc bailing out of Sparc and moving to Wintel (CI No 3,250). Chan says Tatung is currently selling the systems at a rate of a hundred or so per month. The company is now offering the servers with expanded disk drive capacity which now stretches to 18Gb. It’s also licensing SunSoft’s Intranet Extension suite to bundle with the servers as a complete package which it says still sells for less than the comparative Sun offering without the enhanced memory or the software. Just to twist the knife, Tatung says it offers a range of customizable options that it says are not available from Sun. A 128Mb system with 4GB hard drive, Solaris 2.6 Server and Solaris intranet extension now sells for $26,455 compared to the previous price of $28,910.
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