In the Wintel world whenever Intel is a bit slow in bringing out a new faster processor, manufacturers of PCs and servers don't worry, because they know that arch rival AMD is waiting in the wings and will soon come up with such a solution. That competitive pressure keeps the performance curve leaning into the wind. The same used to be true in the world of SPARC processors, back in the early 90's when the data bus was still operating at 32 bits.

A company called Weitek produced a clock doubling SPARC processor which was a user installable upgrade for single processor workstations like the SPARCstation 2. At about the same time another company, Ross Technology brought out its hyperSPARC chips for multi-processor systems like the SPARCstation 10 and 20. The hyperSPARCs were typically 30% to 40% faster than Sun's own SuperSPARC chips at that time. Both products achieved significant market share (upto about 20% of compatible systems). Both products attacked Sun at its core, and this was good for users because they got faster products quicker and cheaper. The change to 64 bits gave Sun an advantage over wouldbe chip rivals, because Sun controlled the operating system. Fujitsu owned HAL Computer launched the first 64 bit SPARC workstation in 1995, but within weeks Sun did the same, and little more was heard of HAL until the company was closed down some years later.

Sun's recent acquisition of Afara Websystems deals a death blow to the prospect of a rank outsider coming in with acceleration options anytime soon for owners of legacy Sun servers. Fujitsu still makes its own SPARC chips, but 1995 was the last time that a Fujitsu designed SPARC chip ran faster than one from Sun, so it's unlikely that the Sun marketers in Mountain View are trembling in anticipation of what comes next. (Unlike Intel when it comes to new product announcements by AMD.) The Sun marketers already know that the next fastest SPARC chip will be one designed by Sun. And when they're good and ready, they'll let you buy it.

In the meantime if you're a Sun user and would really like that 30% speed up now, without having to change a single line of SPARC applications software, take a look at Solid state disks. There's always a solution if you look hard enough.

However, Microsoft's recent announcement of the Internet Blueprint for the Microsoft Systems Architecture (see below) looks like it's intended to cut off Sun's oxygen supply. Cleverly though, this aggressive move into the Dot-in-dot-com's native territory is unlikely to fall foul of anti-trust lawyers because it's being described as a "partnership" designed architecture, which includes Dell, EMC and other leading companies. My guess is that Sun's lawyers will be looking at this just as closely as Sun's marketing department.

Internet Blueprint for the Microsoft Systems Architecture

REDMOND, Wash. - July 31, 2002 - Avanade Inc., Brocade, Dell, EMC , Emulex , Nortel Networks, and Unisys announced today the Internet Blueprint for the Microsoft Systems Architecture and the Internet Blueprint Plus for the Microsoft Systems Architecture. These are the first in a series of Microsoft Systems Architecture Qualified partner-led Prescriptive Architecture Guides (PAGs) by industry leaders designed to provide tested guidance to support enterprise customers looking to simplify core infrastructure implementations and reduce the time and cost associated with deployment of data center solutions built on the Windows 2000 Server platform. This solution is designed to deliver faster time to service with lower operational expense and better utilization of resources meeting the needs of customers looking for common operating environments, server and/or storage consolidation and migration to the latest technologies.

Today Microsoft Corp. also announced the Microsoft Systems Architecture program, developed with the goal of architecting, validating, and documenting a set of IT infrastructure architectures that simplify deployment and management of storage to support Microsoft software-based applications. Industry leaders Avanade, Brocade, Dell, EMC, Emulex, Nortel Networks, and Unisys worked together to design, develop, and qualify these prescriptive blueprints in the EMC lab in Redmond, Wash. These Microsoft-qualified architectures are designed to deliver a complete, Web-enabled, IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, storage networking infrastructure, software, and other tools and scripts to support an extensive array of e-business applications with a high degree of availability, reliability, scalability, and manageability.

To address the unique needs of Internet data centers running enterprise applications, the Internet Blueprints help provide enterprises the high availability and data security they need to meet service level agreements and run 24x7x365 operations. These configurations are designed to offer maximum information protection and scalability. The Internet Blueprint for Microsoft Systems Architecture is built to feature Dell PowerEdge servers and EMC CLARiiON® Enterprise Storage systems. The Internet Blueprint Plus for Microsoft Systems Architecture features Unisys ES7000 and EMC's Symmetrix® Enterprise Storage systems for highest levels of scalability and availability.

"Microsoft, together with strategic industry partners, is focused on delivering integrated systems architecture that has been implemented, tested and proven to lower implementation risks, improve ROI and reduce time to market," said Cliff Reeves, vice president for the Windows .NET Product Management Group at Microsoft. "We are pleased to support these industry leaders in creating the first partner-led prescriptive guide to support the next generation of Internet-based business solutions."

Don Swatik, Vice President of Global Alliances and Information Sciences at EMC said, "EMC has worked extensively with Microsoft and our partners to test and integrate EMC's information storage systems and software into these architectures. We provide our customers with reliable, cost effective alternatives to their mainframe and UNIX platforms. This close cooperation is fundamental in further establishing Windows computing infrastructures in enterprise environments." ...EMC profile, ...Microsoft profile