Sun Microsystems Inc jumps aboard the server consolidation train next week, exhorting users to trade in multiple departmental application servers for a couple of big ‘ol data centers. It’s quoting the same kinds of numbers as other server vendors that suggest that running applications on two servers instead of six, supporting 800 to 1,000 users, can save as much as one third of the total cost of ownership over a three year period. There’s only a small saving on the cost of buying the two servers and software rather than six, but Sun claims administration and support costs could be fall by more than a half. The company says better resource management, the ability to physically and logically isolate application and processes from one another and improved scalability for supporting many applications at the same time are the reason this is possible. Sun servers will support up to eight separate instances of the Solaris operating system by year-end. And for improved resource management it will bundle Softway Pty Ltd’s Share II tools with Enterprise servers. It’s offering trade-in programs that can save 21% of the cost of an Ultra Enterprise 6000 or 28% on a 10000 Starfire.