Sun Microsystems Inc thinks we should take the latest International Data Corp figures, as interpreted by its rival Hewlett-Packard Co, with a grain of salt. Last week, HP claimed the lead in high-end Unix server shipments of systems valued at over $1m. It claimed to have sold twice as many V-Class systems in the last nine months as Sun had sold comparable systems in 18 months (CI No 3,493). But Sun claims that the V-Class is comparable to its E6000 servers, not to its E10000 Starfire servers, the systems it categorizes in the $1m and up bracket. Shahin Khan, director of marketing at Sun’s DHPG Starfire division, said that HP had been claiming two conflicting things: first that its V-Class systems were less expensive than Starfires – below $1m – and second that V-Class systems were as fast or faster than Starfires. Only the more expensive, higher configured systems might claim this, said Kahn. They must choose one thing or the other he said. Sun still claims its Starfires are two to three times faster than HP’s V-Series, and says it has some SAP application benchmarks coming out shortly that will prove it. Sun also points out that HP users face both a hardware and an operating system swap in the future transition to Intel Corp’s Merced. Last week Sun said it had sold 800 Starfires since the machines were first launched last year. It said it expected to retain its overall lead in servers – the only figure that counts, it says – when IDC’s calendar 1998 figures are released.
