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IBM Expands Support for the Sun Solaris OS on x86 Systems

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IBM and Sun have announced that IBM will distribute the Solaris Operating System and Solaris Subscriptions for select x86-based IBM System x and BladeCenter servers to clients through IBM channels.

The agreement is an extension of IBM's existing support for the Solaris OS on select IBM BladeCenter servers and exemplifies the company's commitment to offer clients the widest choice of operating systems, said an IBM spokesperson. It also reflects Sun's commitment to offer customers a wider choice of systems for the Solaris platform. IBM and Sun's support of interoperability via open standards also means that customers will be able to extend their infrastructure by connecting new platforms easily, while preserving their initial investments.

IBM says it is the volume leader in the high-performance segment of the Intel-based server market, where technology innovation is crucial. IBM's X3-Architecture, the third generation of the enterprise X-Architecture, has positioned IBM as the fastest growing vendor in high-end x86 servers in the first quarter of 2007.

The Solaris OS is supported on more than 820 x86 platforms and runs more than 3,000 unique x86 applications, including IBM Websphere, Lotus, DB2, Rational, and Tivoli.

As part of the expanded support, Sun and IBM will invest in testing and system qualification so joint customers will realize Solaris' leading performance and reliability on BladeCenter and System x servers. IBM servers that will support the Solaris OS include: IBM BladeCenter HS21 and LS41 servers; and IBM System x3650, System x3755, and System x3850 servers.

"IBM provides the broadest choice of server platforms and operating systems to customers with AIX, Linux for x86 and Power, Microsoft Windows Server, and now Solaris," said Bill Zeitler, senior vice president and group executive, IBM Systems and Technology Group. "IBM is the first major x86 vendor to have such an agreement with Sun and the first big vendor apart from Sun to offer Solaris on blade servers. Today we expand that agreement to help clients migrate to Solaris on IBM x86-based System x servers."

The announcement further affirms the value that Solaris OS delivers in Web, application, and data-tier deployments, the company said. By adding the Solaris OS to its operating system portfolio, IBM is expanding customer choice. And by participating as one of over 800 partners in the IBM BladeCenter ecosystem, Sun has effectively joined others in the industry helping IBM accelerate the development and adoption of open blade server platforms.

"We're thrilled to be working with IBM to bring the Solaris OS to the broadest market possibleù(IBM is) a natural partner for Sun," said Jonathan Schwartz, president and CEO of Sun Microsystems. "Solaris adoption continues to accelerate, among both the open-source and commercial communitiesùdriven by bundled virtualization for servers and storage, support for thousands of ISVs, including nearly the entirety of IBM's software portfolio, and outstanding operational economics. Solaris is clearly a choice customers are demanding."

The Solaris OS offers a unique feature set, including Solaris ZFS, Predictive Self-Healing, and Solaris Dynamic Tracing (DTrace) to help customers improve uptime, cut costs, and speed time to market. The Solaris OS allows BladeCenter and System x customers to get excellent application performance on today's and tomorrow's multi-core 64-bit x86 processors. The Solaris OS and IBM System x and BladeCenter servers bring to market a mission-critical platform with a wide array of leading configuration options, such as native 10G Ethernet, InfiniBand, and IBM-attached storage.

Solaris Subscriptions gives users a flexible, cost-efficient choice of four software support levels to match their needs: Basic, Standard, Premium, and Solaris Everywhere. With a Solaris Subscription, users get a one-stop shop for product and service with full indemnification, guaranteed binary and source code compatibility, access to updates, and upgrades to the latest Solaris technologies, as well the expert support that users are used to receiving from Sun.

Meanwhile Sun Microsystems announced that its award-winning office productivity software, StarOffice, is now available through the Google Pack software download service. StarOffice is Sun's commercial implementation of the popular open source office suite OpenOffice.org and supports Open Document Format (ODF). StarOffice is also compatible with Microsoft Office documents and is supported and indemnified by Sun. Google Pack is a free collection of essential software to help users set up their computers, find things faster, and stay safe online.

In addition, Sun also announced that it has added Web search functionality to all StarOffice products, enabling online search capabilities directly from its productivity suite. This new functionality is now available through the Google Pack download.

"Using ODF within StarOffice allows for interoperability and choice among those seeking free and open standards-based office productivity applications," said Rich Green, executive vice-president of Software, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "With OpenOffice.org adoption growing at nearly three million downloads a month, we are seeing overwhelming adoption and exciting new opportunities emerging. We are absolutely thrilled to offer a new version of StarOffice that includes Google's Web search capabilities."

Google Pack offers users a safe and easy way to install all the essential software they need in a matter of minutes. The addition of Sun's StarOffice gives Google Pack users free access to an enterprise-strength office application. Starting now, users can install StarOffice as part of the Google Pack installation process. For more information about Google Pack, visit Google Pack.

About StarOffice

StarOffice software is a powerful, affordable, and comprehensive office productivity suite (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, database, drawing program, Web publishing application) that runs on Solaris, Windows, and Linux. Compatible with Microsoft Office, it includes a built-in PDF export tool and supports ODF, XML, Flash and HTML. Based on OpenOffice.org software, StarOffice software suite is indemnified and supported by Sun Microsystems.

About IBM

For more information about IBM, visit IBM

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Sun Microsystems develops the technologies that power the global marketplace. Guided by a singular vision—"The Network is the Computer," Sun drives network participation through shared innovation, community development and open source leadership. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at Sun.

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