the most complete guide to SPARC® based systems and suppliers

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Web directory publisher ACSL celebrates 1000 binary (8) years of publishing the #1 independent Sun Microsystems compatible hardware buyer's guide.

Looking ahead: ACSL predicts that rackmount SPARC systems will become the volume driver replacing desktop workstations and that Solaris will lose substantial market share to Linux and other "free" Unix type operating systems within a rapidly growing independent SPARC systems installed base.

Baughurst, UK - March 20, 2000 - ACSL, publisher of the SPARC Product Directory(sm), is pleased this week to celebrate 8 (eight) years of publishing their buyer's guide to Sun Microsystems compatible systems and suppliers. "That's 1000 years in binary, and it sure feels like a long time, but the market has never been more exciting than it is today" said Zsolt Kerekes, editor and publisher.

Kerekes says, "I got the first orders for the book, which was then called the SBus Product Directory at the end of March 1992. At that time it listed Sun bus compatible add-in cards and complete systems from 75 manufacturers in 140 pages. Noone could have imagined at that time how successful the SPARC systems market would become. Our website replaced the book over 3 years ago and it's now used by over 200,000 readers every year," Kerekes adds.

Kerekes continues, "The web has no memory, and it's only when looking at those early print editions that you realize how much has really changed. I've listed below some of the key changes in the last 8 years of the SPARC systems market."

Products
Surprisingly most of the product categories have remained unchanged since the very first edition. SPARC UPGRADES was added in 1993, when Weitek launched a competitive SPARC overdrive style processor. PCI bus cards were added in 1997, shortly followed by compact PCI, and more recently PMC modules. RACKMOUNT SPARC systems which were in the original 1992 directory as a niche industrial/military product have become in 2000, the hottest products on the web site because of their wide use by ISP's and telecoms companies. A popular history of the SPARC systems market can be seen at http://www.sparcproductdirectory.com/history.html.

Future Outlook
Traditionally the strongest area for SPARC has been the multi-processor server market. However, desktop workstations have been the main volume driver for the chip and add-in card business. During the next year 2000 to 2001 the huge demand for rackmount SPARC systems, which are the building blocks in many ISP's and telco will change the balance within this market.

"I talk to more SPARC manufacturers and resellers than anyone else in this market, and the website lets me see which subjects readers are actually interested in," Kerekes says.

As a result, Kerekes says, " I predict that rackmount SPARC systems will overtake desktop SPARC systems in volume and the replacement of Solaris by Linux and other OS's possibly in as many as 40% of all SPARC systems shipped in the next couple of years." (Most ISP and telco applications don't need the full scalability of Solaris, because they run a large number of independent communications and switching tasks. Most applications written in a portable form of Unix and ported to Solaris, can be just as easily ported to one of the many robust versions of Linux.)

About the Company
ACSL was founded in 1991 to research the Sun Microsystems market and publish related data products. ACSL publishes 2 web directories: the SPARC Product Directory http://www.sparcproductdirectory.com and STORAGEsearch http://www.storagesearch.com. ACSL is a member of the branding organization SPARC International, Inc.

ACSL (Applied Computer Science, Ltd.)
Highview Farm
Haughurst Hill
Baughurst
Tadley
RG26 5JR
England
tel:- +44-1189-820-880
fax:- +44-1189-820-445
email:- info@SPARCproductDirectory.com
url:- www.SPARCproductDIRectory.com

See also:- orientation articles about the SPARC market for background on http://www.sparcproductdirectory.com/articles.html

main index and search engine	SPARC computers	SBus & PCI cards
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SPARC(R) is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. SPARC PRODUCT DIRECTORY(SM) is a service mark of SPARC International, Inc used under license by ACSL. Products using the SPARC trademarks are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.