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| Sun
Microsystems |
Sun is World's Fastest
Growing Server Company, Says IDC
PALO ALTO, CA - March 14,
2001 - Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced today that in calendar year 2000 it
was the fastest growing server vendor in the industry, according to the final
year-end worldwide data from industry analyst firm International Data
Corporation (IDC). Moving up from No. 4 just a year ago, Sun now stands at No. 2
worldwide, just behind IBM in total server market revenue.
In addition, Sun continued its reign as the undisputed leader of the
UNIX® server market during a year in which HP and IBM rolled out new systems
in an attempt to unseat Sun's industry-leading servers. Sun's tremendous growth
in 2000 widened its lead over HP, IBM and Compaq in this space, making it the
number one vendor in UNIX server shipments for the past 15 quarters.
- Sun outpaced IBM in two key server segments: entry-level and high-end
systems. In the entry server market, year-over-year, Sun posted gains of 80
percent in shipments and 44 percent in revenue. In contrast, IBM saw only an 18
percent increment over the same period in shipments and suffered an 8 percent
decline in revenue. In the most recent quarter, CYQ4, Sun's revenue grew 86
percent year-over-year, gaining 7 share points, while IBM managed only 11
percent growth with no market share gain.
- In the high-end server market, year-over-year, Sun grew revenue at 84
percent and shipments at 14 percent, compared with IBM's 8 percent loss in
revenue and only 4 percent growth in shipments. Sun led the high-end category in
shipments with 28 percent market share.
- "The IDC report shows that Sun's surge in the market was the reason
behind much of the growth in servers worldwide last year. It's simple, Sun is in
the driver's seat, growing faster than IBM and overtaking them in key markets,
such as the U.S.," said Shahin Khan, vice president of marketing for Sun's
systems products. "Over the year, IBM and HP have thrown their best at us
and we continued to make gains. Customers are voting with their dollars."
...IDC profile,
...Sun Microsystems
profile |
Sun is World's Fastest Growing
Server Company, Says IDC
Force Delivers Centellis CO 88540-15U NEBS
Level 3 Tested High Availability Cluster Server Solution
Continuous Computing Appoints Jeff Stever to Vice President of
Business Development System Sales
Gartner Dataquest Says Worldwide
Workstation Revenue Declined 13 Percent in 2000
Ecrix and Knox Software
Announce Turnkey Server and Storage Solutions for Sun Cobalt
How many
products use SPARC Technology, or are designed to work with SPARC systems?
VERITAS Software chooses SPARC portables from Tadpole-Cycle to train
customers in enterprise storage management
earlier
news - archive |
 |
| SPARC market history |
| Spellabyte and
Terrorbyte loved sitting around the campfire, discussing the good old days of
computing. | |
View from
the Hill
Where have all the Sun User Groups Gone?
When
we first published this directory in 1992, Sun User Groups were at the height of
their powers. They published magazines. They ran events. They really mattered.
Since then, they have mostly gone bust or collapsed from user apathy. So most of
the information which used to be listed on our
user group page
has become obsolete.
Why did they disappear? There are several possible reasons...
- the web provided pretty much the same kind of information
about Sun products and support issues, which were previously the remit of user
groups. There was no need to pay money to belong to a user group, when
other sources of
SPARC info could provide this information quicker, and free.
- Sun found that focus groups were a much more effective way
of getting feedback from users, and so scaled down its financial support for
user groups which mainly consisted of a skewed sample of academics and other
people who were not representative of the business and commercial users in the
fastest growing strategic markets for SPARC.
- the Sun compatible market became so large, that there was
no longer a need for unfocused users groups, which tried to do everything
(often badly). SPARC products were everywhere, and if you needed specialised
training or
independent repair and
maintenance services, there were plenty of commercial organizations out
there which could help you.
- Sun User Group's were typically run by committees which
might take as much as 6 months to make simple decisions which a commercial
company would get done in 5 minutes. When your overheads are being paid by
someone else, and there's no pressure to get things done, the organization just
becomes a talking shop... and the web has millions of those, which don't ask Sun
for a handout...
- Nowadays manufacturers and resellers can use much more
sophisticated techniques based on
CRM (Customer
Relationship Management) software and training. They can do this from their own
web sites, and they don't need intermediaries to interfere with the
communication process.
Am I right? Am I being
fair? If you know of any live Sun User Groups, just let me know. During the last
5 years, this offer has been open on our special user group page, which hardly
ever got visited by anyone. So I've zapped all the dead links, and I think that
proves my point... |
| . |
|
| |
| Force Computers |
Force Delivers
Centellis CO 88540-15U NEBS Level 3 Tested High Availability Cluster Server
Solution
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 14, 2001 - Force Computers today
announced its carrier-grade Centellis(tm) CO 88540-15U embedded cluster server,
the latest in the Centellis CO Series 88000 line of CompactPCI(r)-based
platforms. Based on the UltraSPARC-IIi(r) processor and Solaris(r) 8 operating
system, this embedded cluster server offers a highly available,
open-systems-based, NEBS Level 3 tested platform for communications applications
that require fault resilience and easy integration into Central Office
solutions. |
| Utilizing its many years of
experience in designing NEBS-tested products, Force has leveraged its
FaultZone(tm) Technology into the new Centellis system which delivers 99.999
percent uptime reliability-also known as "five nines"-for network
equipment manufacturers in need of a carrier-grade server that leverages
engineering investments in CompactPCI and Solaris technology. |
|
The Centellis CO
88540-15U chassis is ready for applications that must withstand earthquakes,
office vibration, fire containment, electromagnetic interference, power faults,
airborne contaminants and other extreme environmental conditions.
"Any downtime suffered in a communications network means lost
revenue and possible risk of liability. Network equipment manufacturers can
reduce system downtime by relying on Force's CompactPCI design expertise and
experience developing NEBS-compliant systems," said Chris Williams, Force
vice president of Standard & Telecom Platforms, the Americas. "The
Centellis CO 88540-15U provides the reliability required to ensure the
continuous functioning expected of CO operations-especially during times of
disaster or extreme environmental conditions."
The unit features dual high-performance, 440MHz UltraSPARC-IIi
processor-based single board computers (SBCs) on a dual eight-slot
PICMG-standard CompactPCI backplane. Support is provided for up to six
hot-swappable, 3.5-inch Wide Ultra2 (LVD) SCSI hard disk drives and two
5.25-inch single-ended SCSI devices. The Solaris 8 operating system is factory
installed, ready for the installation of third-party cluster software.
Availability and pricing The Centellis CO 88540-15U will be
available through Force's Early Access Units (EAU) program in March 2001 with
volume shipments scheduled for May 2001. Prices start at US$39,955. ...Force Computers
profile | |
| Continuous Computing |
Continuous
Computing Appoints Jeff Stever to Vice President of Business Development System
Sales
SAN DIEGO, March 14, 2001 - Continuous Computing
Corporation today announced the appointment of Jeff Stever as vice president of
business development system sales. Stever was the former director of sales for
Continuous Computing and his promotion is a result of the company's rapid growth
and the increasingly diverse products that Continuous Computing now provides to
its customers. |
| Continuous Computing
provides telecommunications equipment manufacturers with complete computer
systems |
|
for Central
Offices, board-level telecommunications products, specialized software and is
scheduled to expand into data storage this quarter.
Stever will
continue to work out of the company's office near Denver, in Lafayette,
Colorado.
Continuous Computing Chairman and CEO Ken Kalb said, "Because of
his vast experience in sales and ability to provide our customers with
solutions, Jeff has increased our customer base and has been integral to our
success."
...Continuous
Computing profile
| |
| Gartner Dataquest |
Gartner Dataquest Says
Worldwide Workstation Revenue Declined 13 Percent in 2000
SAN JOSE, CA, March 12, 2001 - Workstation vendors are faced with
the challenge of competing in a much more saturated market, and, as a result,
worldwide workstation revenue in 2000 declined 13 percent from 1999, totaling
$8.6 billion in 2000, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. The
industry's growth area for shipments has been in Intel-architecture (IA)
workstations, for which shipments increased 19 percent, but this has not
translated into strong revenue growth for the industry because of the ongoing
decline in average system prices.
"Aggressive growth of the
IA-NT workstation market and convergence of the technologies has led to a
blurred distinction between PCs and workstations," said Pia Rieppo,
principal analyst covering workstations for Gartner Dataquest's Computing
Platform Worldwide group. "Navigating this no-man's land will be the
biggest challenge the workstation vendors face in the near future."
Despite its decline of worldwide workstation revenue of 10 percent,
Hewlett-Packard was the No. 1 vendor in the market (see Table 1). Dell was the
only top-tier vendor to experience positive growth in 2000, as its revenue
increased 41 percent over 1999 results.
|
 |
Additional information on the
workstation industry is available in the Gartner Dataquest Alert, "Worldwide
and U.S. Fourth Quarter and Year 2000 Final Estimates for Workstations."
This Alert provides workstation vendor market share results both worldwide and
in the United States on a revenue and shipment basis. To purchase this Alert or
subscribe to Gartner Dataquest's Workstations Quarterly Statistics Worldwide
program, please call 800-419-DATA, or 408-468-8009.
Editor's note:-
see also - Market research
& STORAGE analysts |
Ecrix
Knox
Software
Sun |
Ecrix and Knox
Software Announce Turnkey Server and Storage Solutions for Internet Providers
Boulder,
CO - March 12, 2001 - Ecrix Corp. and Knox Software, unveiled a reseller
program under which the companies, in collaboration with the Sun Cobalt™
server appliance business unit of Sun Microsystems, provide complete turnkey
storage backup solutions in concert with Sun Cobalt's RaQ™ 4i and Qube™
3 server appliance sales. |
| With these solutions,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can offer increased data security, adding
value to their product offerings.
|
|
| The reseller
program offers an incentive through the use of manufacturer rebates; making the
total solution cost less than if the various components are purchased
separately. The rebates are available to resellers for products purchased
through distribution or direct from the manufacturers. Sun is offering the
corresponding promotion to Sun Cobalt reseller partners through their
web site. As a result, resellers get
turnkey hardware and software solutions whose interoperability is directly
supported by the manufacturers. These solutions make the deployment of
applications, layered services and data backup over the Web quick, easy and
profitable. More importantly, a web browser-based user interface simplifies
administration and enables out-of-box installations in 30 minutes or less.
...Ecrix profile,
...Knox-Software profile
| |
| SPARC-FLASH |
How many products use SPARC
Technology, or are designed to work with SPARC systems?
San
Jose, CA -March 8, 2001 - SPARC International has been conducting ongoing
surveys with our member companies over the past few months. From time to time we
will publish the information we have received in SPARC-flash. The following is
our first publication submitted by Zsolt Kerekes, editor of the SPARC Product
Directory offered by Applied Computer Science, Ltd. who has been tracking this
market since 1992. Kerekes was asked if he knew approximately how many products
use SPARC Technology, or are designed to work with SPARC systems?
Editor's note:- today you can click on the link to
SPARC-FLASH to see this feature, or
scroll down, and see what I said in column on the right. |
Tadpole-Cycle
VERITAS Software |
VERITAS
Software chooses SPARC portables from Tadpole-Cycle to train customers in
enterprise storage management
Carlsbad (CA) and Cambridge
(UK), March 8, 2001 - Tadpole-Cycle, Inc today announced that its portable
UltraBookIIi workstations have been selected for VERITAS Software's innovative
training program aimed at providing customers with the earliest ROI in network
and storage management solutions.
|
In establishing VERITAS
Mobile Academy, the question of how best to organize on and off-site customer
training sessions became a fundamental issue as VERITAS Software examined
whether shipping ahead bulky Sun-based desktops to customer sites remained a
viable and economic formula.
Instructors needed an effective and
productive solution... one that could be set up on-site in minutes. |
|
Continued
dependence on shippers, and their time needed to forward hardware from one
location to another, was inconsistent with VERITAS Software's business
challenge. Using Tadpole-Cycle's UltraBookIIi portable workstations,
economically and conveniently solved these logistics problems.
"Tadpole-Cycle's
portable UltraBookIIi workstations met our immediate need for a hardware
solution that not only was supported by our software, but also could be shipped
easily and economically," said Tony DeCicco, vice president of professional
services, VERITAS Software. "The majority of our enterprise storage
management solutions are based on Sun's Solaris technology, so the portable UNIX
workstations are a perfect fit in VERITAS Mobile Academy."
UltraBookIIi UltraBookIIi is Tadpole-Cycle's flagship portable
workstation built around Sun Microsystems' UltraSPARC IIi and Solaris
technologies. ...Tadpole-Cycle
profile, ...VERITAS
Software profile | |
