If anyone out there didn’t know it already, ICL Plc would like to make it clear that it is not about to roll over to using Sun Microsystems Inc’s Solaris x85 Unix-on-Intel operating system on in systems in place of SCO UnixWare which it currently uses. Following its surprising capture of NCR Corp for a 64-bit version of Solaris x86, Sun’s been seeding the industry with the notion that a bunch of SCO’s OEMs are now in its cross-hairs. ICL said Sun contacted it back in May offering to service its Unix-on- Intel requirements with Solaris x86, a service ICL politely declined. Mind you, it wouldn’t be surprised if, for example, its Fujitsu Ltd parent – also a backer of Sun’s Sparc RISC – and other Japanese companies were to turn to Solaris x86. ICL says the SCO OEMs are satisfied that as long as SCO remains Intel Corp’s preferred flavor of Unix then that’s good enough for them. Given what they understand, they’re not surprised Sun’s quietly perturbed at the performance indicators supposedly being touted for Intel’s 64-bit Merced chip. Sun’s unconcerned and sticking by its guns. It says there is more than one OEM currently arranging a transition strategy to Solaris x86 but that we shouldn’t expect them to go public this quarter.
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