Sun Microsystems Inc. this month plans to boost its midrange Unix server lineup by announcing a set of multiprocessor systems based on the company's 64-bit UltraSPARC III chip.

The upcoming systems -- which Sun is calling "midframes" -- are expected to feature the 900-MHz version of the copper-based UltraSPARC III processor, according to analysts familiar with the company's plans. The machines are scheduled to be introduced March 21 at a press conference in New York.

The UltraSPARC III is the most advanced processor Sun has built thus far. The chip, which began appearing in systems late last year, contains 29 million transistors, supports 8MB of Error Checking and Correcting (ECC) protected external cache and comes with an integrated memory and system controller.

The first systems based on the chip -- an engineering workstation and a low-end server -- were announced last September after several months of delay. At the time, analysts said it would likely be another six months before users could get their hands on more powerful servers that utilized the new processor.

The machines being launched this month should provide significantly better performance at the midrange level compared with Sun's existing product line, said Tony Iams, an analyst at D.H. Brown Associates Inc. in Port Chester, N.Y. Its midrange servers currently range from the eight-processor Sun Enterprise 3500 to the 30-processor Sun Enterprise 6500.

Sun has "been incredibly successful over the past few years," Iams said. "This is going to make them even more competitive." But how much appeal the new servers have to corporate users will depend on Sun's pricing and on how well applications and database software have been tuned to take advantage of the UltraSPARC III technology, he added.

Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp. has just retired some of its older Sun servers and is looking at UltraSPARC III-based systems for possible replacements, said Mike Hoskins, a systems supervisor at the Burlington, N.J.-based retailer. "If we can get the horsepower we need in a smaller box with smaller power consumption and less heat, I'll definitely take them," Hoskins said.

Users who haven't yet upgraded to Sun's Solaris 8 operating system will have to do so to migrate to the new midrange servers. That's the only version of Sun's Unix software that supports the UltraSPARC III chips. Based on his experience testing Solaris 8, Hoskins said that shouldn't pose a major problem for Burlington Coat Factory.

» posted by ITworld staff

Computerworld

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