Sun Launches Storage Blade

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAVA) today expanded its systems portfolio with the addition of a new storage blade and two new server modules targeted at improving efficiency in the enterprise. The Sun Blade(TM) 6000 disk module, Sun's first Open Storage blade, offers up to 1.2 TB of storage capacity and coupled with Solaris(TM) ZFS is a flash-ready platform targeted to change the economics of the enterprise datacenter. The new UltraSPARC(R) T2 Plus-based Sun Blade T6340 server module features built-in, no cost virtualization technologies via Solaris Containers and Logical Domains (LDoms), making it an ideal platform for consolidating and virtualizing web scale applications, large scale databases, ERP and CRM. The Sun Blade X6240 server module, based on the Quad-Core AMD Opteron(TM) processor, excels on high performance computing (HPC), consolidation and virtualization workloads with industry leading memory and I/O capacity. Sun also announced the Sun Netra(TM) CP3250 ATCA blade server, a new Intel(R) Xeon(R) blade server built for the telco market. All enterprise systems announced today are available for a free 60-day trial via Sun's Try and Buy Program at www.sun.com/tryandbuy.

With today's announcement, Sun is expanding its blades portfolio to provide customers with new options. Sun's blades portfolio has delivered four consecutive quarters of triple digit or better revenue growth year-over-year and seven consecutive quarters of quarter-over-quarter unit shipment growth, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, August 2008(1). The outstanding value and performance of Sun's blade portfolio is recognized by a breadth of enterprise customers who have integrated the Sun Blade products into their infrastructures, across industries including government, energy and utilities, education, media, telecommunications, and Web 2.0. New Sun Blade customers include Citco Technology Management, DLR Case, Western Governors University, Last.fm, and SAP University Competence Center. Sun Blade customer success stories can be found at http://www.sun.com/customers/.

Customers today want performance, efficiency and choice and clearly Sun is delivering. We've nearly tripled our blade server marketshare year-over-year(1),” said Lisa Sieker, vice president, Systems Marketing, Sun Microsystems. “Sun's blades portfolio offers datacenter efficiency at every level and provides the building blocks, x64 and SPARC(R), for infrastructure that costs less from the start and is easy to grow over the years. And now, with the addition of our first storage blade, we're bringing the Open Storage revolution to the blades market.”

Sun Microsystems Inc.