October 4, 2002
(Computerworld)
Beginning early next year, Sun Microsystems Inc. will start selling "several" models of Sun-branded Intel hardware running its Solaris 9 operating system, according to Graham Lowell, a Solaris director.
Sun will also support Solaris on non-Sun-branded Intel hardware. For $20, users will be able to download an early-access version of Solaris 9 for Intel in about two months from Sun's Web site. A production version of Solaris 9 for Intel will become available in January, and will sell for $99 per CPU.
The latest announcement reverses earlier announcements by Sun relating to its Solaris-on-Intel plans. In January, Sun said it would discontinue development of Solaris 9 for Intel. In August, the company reversed that announcement and said that it would, in fact, support Solaris 9 on Intel -- but only on Sun-branded hardware (see story).
Unlike Solaris 8, which can be licensed on any Intel hardware, Sun said it would sell Solaris 9 only as part of a "whole system" Sun hardware and software bundle, such as its LX50 server, which it also announced in August.
With the latest announcement, Sun has reversed that decision as well and now says users will be able to license Solaris 9 on both Sun and non-Sun Intel hardware.
Driving the decision is pressure from customers and software vendors, Lowell said. "There's been a lot of publicity that's resulted from our previous announcements. A lot of software vendors and customers have come to us and expressed interest in having broader support," Lowell said.
Sun may have underestimated the user interest in seeing Solaris supported on Intel platforms, said Charles King, an analyst with the Sageza Group, in Mountain View, Calif.
"I think the company's decision to tie the distribution of Solaris 9 to its own hardware may have been a public relations mistake," he said.
Building wider support for Intel also may be important for Sun in the long term, King said.
"I think they are being forced by circumstances to realize that more and more customers are looking at x86 architecture and are liking the performance and stability, both of which have improved dramatically. And they sure like the price," he said.