Sun Microsystems Inc is hoping to increase its share of the workgroup server market with the launch, yesterday, of its new low-end Enterprise 250. The server is designed exclusively for business applications as opposed to acting as a file and print sharing device; a market that Sun says is already saturated with Wintel products and Novell-based hardware. David Douglas, Sun’s director of workgroup server marketing explained that the low-end of the server market, where the new 250 is positioned, is worth $18bn. But the commodity file and print products only bring in around 20% of the total revenue, he said, Whereas the market for business applications is less in unit terms but creates over 65% of the revenue. He said the server was designed to host applications including databases, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software, datamarts, internet and intranet applications and e-commerce sites. Housed in a mini-tower enclosure, the dual- processor PCI-based Enterprise 250 replaces Sun’s existing Enterprise 2 server and comes with the option of 250MHz or 300MHz SunSPARC chips, with up to 2MB of cache each. It has up to 2GB memory, over 100GB hard drive, 1TB external storage and four PCI slots. It also features a host of reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features including automatic system recovery, hot-swappable disks and redundant power supplies. But Douglas said the server’s biggest selling point is the built-in remote management system, a feature currently available only on the high-end Enterprise 10000 box. By building a third chip, called the system service processor, into the server, the system can be managed remotely, from any desktop, over the internet. The software allows the network administrator to manage functions including power cycle and reset, run diagnostics, display event logs and monitor environmental sensing. It can also be set up to notify the administrator, via email or paging, of any critical event information that could affect the system and bring it down. In addition, Douglas said the Enterprise 250 server comes with Solaris for Intranets software built in. The software includes integrated web, email, security and network management services. It also provides interoperability to desktops and network computers, enabling file and print sharing and access to network and other intranet devices. The entry-level configuration, with a list price of $9,995, comes with one 250MHz processor, 1MB cache, 128MB of memory and 4GB of storage.
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