SUN's New Server and offerings + Multicore Processors.

Sun Fire T1000/T2000 servers Toppling a series of world-record
benchmarks to claim its leading position for price/performance, Sun
announced today the release of the Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers
featuring patented CoolThreads technology. A major advancement that
leverages the Solaris(TM) 10 Operating System (OS), the new server line
is based on the recently announced, massively-threaded UltraSPARC T1
processor and offers industry leading, world record price/performance
for web, database and application processing. The new system is
designed to save customers millions in power, cooling and space costs.
The new Sun Fire T2000 server is available immediately, and the Sun
Fire T1000 can be ordered now for delivery in March 2006. Both servers
include a host of new integrated offers designed to stimulate rapid
adoption.
SPECweb2005
Sun Fire T2000 (8 cores, 1 chip) 13854 SPECweb2005.
IBM x346 (2 cores, 2 chips) 4348 SPECweb2005.
SPEC, SPECweb reg tm of Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation.
OpenSPARC(TM) Project Sun announced its intent to open source its
UltraSPARC processor technology and publish certain specifications for
the UltraSPARC-based chip including the source of the design expressed
in Verilog, a verification suite and simulation models, instruction set
architecture specification (UltraSPARC Architecture 2005) and a Solaris
OS port.
Space, Wattage and Performance (SWaP) Metric Sun is also announcing an important new metric for customers to use as they evaluate their datacenter efficiencies and systems performance. It is the big picture for datacenter managers -- it measures Space, Wattage and Performance SWaP). The new SWaP metric is the only true measure of industry-standard server efficiency: performance / (space x power).
Try It Before You Buy It -- Given the high level of interest in these
new breakthrough systems, Sun is now offering the industry's largest
"Try and Buy" program that enables customers and ISV partners to test
out a new Sun Fire T1000 or T2000 server running the highly threaded
UltraSPARC T1 processor free of charge for 90 days, with the option to
purchase the system at the end.
Full Protection Plans Sun also announced two new Full Protection
Plans, integrated system and services programs that offer customers low
total cost of ownership, reduced budgetary risk and increased system
availability. When customers choose the Sun Fire T1000 or T2000 system,
they get more than just a server; they receive the world's most
powerful operating system, Solaris 10, and the option to purchase a
Full Protection Plan that goes far beyond basic break/fix warranty
programs. Sun's Full Protection Plans are simple to purchase, include
the essential, recommended services and offer transparent three-year
pricing that enables customers to predict and better manage their IT
budgets.
CoolThreads Prize For Innovation Sun launched its CoolThreads
competition to inspire new software development for its breakthrough
Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 server line. In this competition, developers
and ISVs have the opportunity to win $50,000 in cash by developing
ground-breaking applications or improving on existing applications,
within the next six months, for optimal throughput performance and
scaling. For further details about the CoolThreads Developer Contest
and full contest rules, please visit this site.
Sun N1(TM) System Management software -- Sun N1 System Manager v1.2 now includes support for the Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers. This integrated solution allows customers to perform operating system provisioning and system management of the Sun Fire servers announced today and Sun's x64 industry-standard systems announced in September. Sun Management Console 3.6 adds support for several Solaris 10 features including Dynamic Tracing, Predictive Self-Healing and Solaris containers. The Sun N1 Management portfolio includes Sun N1 System Manager, Sun Management Center, N1 Service Provisioning System and the Sun N1 Grid Engine. These products help enterprises lower operational costs and improve business efficiency by simplifying the management of systems and services in customers' heterogeneous datacenters.