NSG was created last year to peddle x86 server alternatives to Sun’s own Sparc-based servers. Sun is now on track to launch products this year on a steady basis, John Fowler, NSG VP, told a group of analysts and reporters.
While the bulk of Sun’s x86 server customers are running number-crunching workloads right now, Fowler said enterprise adoption was in the mail.
A year ago [enterprise] customers would ask ‘Why AMD?’ Fowler said. We don’t get those questions anymore.
Yesterday’s event was billed as a discussion on the future of Sun’s Network Systems Group, yet executives spent much time justifying its formation.
David Yen, VP of Sun’s Scalable Systems Group, which creates the Sparc-based systems that are alternatives to the x86 boxes, said Sun partnered with another chipmaker on its newest x86 workstations because Sun’s own silicon couldn’t compete with Intel on price.
We decided this is not where Sparc should compete, which led Sun to create the Network Systems Group, Yen said.
But Sun may try to target more computational-heavy silicon applications at some future point, he said. Stay tuned.
Yen at least confirmed, for the first time publicly, that Sun’s joint venture relationship with Fujitsu Ltd on developing the Olympic Sparc64 VI processor, is a one-product-generation deal only.
The dual-core, four-threaded Fujitsu-developed Sparc64 VI chip, which is compatible with Sun’s own UltraSparc processors, is slated to be ready in late 2006 or 2007 and will sell through 2008, after which time Sun’s own Rock Sparc-compatible multithreaded processors will be available and the relationship with Fujitsu will be open, Yen said. Asked whether Sun would continue its ties with Fujitsu after 2008, Yen said he was not sure.
While Sun would like to see more software and services cooperation with Fujitsu, Yen said he wouldn’t characterize the partnership as being increasingly intimate.
With regard to AMD’s Opteron, Fowler stressed that AMD chips have at least 60% better performance per watt versus Intel processors. Low-powered CPUs may get good advertising, but they get less work done than a high-powered chip with better thermal efficiency – such as Sun’s, he said.
Fowler also said the Solaris 10 operating system had garnered two million registered users since its launch early February. He was quick to point out that number stood for registered users and not just downloads.
And while Sun always leads its customer pitch with Solaris, Fowler said that by partnering with AMD, Sun can now also qualify and support Red Hat and SuSE Linux. He defended Sun’s position as an operating system maker who bundles its software with its hardware by saying Sun’s reference architecture is based on sizing, cost and benchmarks.
Also, Yen made Sun’s intentions for storage clear. Sun is very serious about the storage business and intends to be a full-scale storage supplier, he said. We intend to be a major player whether … as a separate business or part of a system.
Sun last month paid $4.1bn for StorageTek, but just how Sun would compete with storage heavyweights EMC and Hitachi is not yet clear.
