Sun offers best of both worlds

Sun Microsystems has announced a range of initiatives which will dramatically boost interoperability between its own Unix-based machines and Windows NT.

The company unveiled software tools which allow its servers running Solaris - Sun's version of Unix - to use native Windows NT network services such as authentication, file and print sharing. The tools will be bundled with Solaris.

Sun also announced the release of a plug-in card which will allow its Ultra workstations to run Windows applications at high speed. The SunPCi card boasts a 300MHz AMD K6-2 processor and up to 256MB of PC memory. A Sun spokesman said: "It's like a PC 'daughterboard' which sits inside the workstation. Some of our customers need to able to run Windows applications, but they don't want two machines on their desk."

Although the move appears to be an acknowledgement of Microsoft's increasing influence in the server market, Sun's spokesman insisted Solaris will continue to be a major player in larger corporate networks. "We can run native NT services, but in a much more scalable manner than NT boxes can," he said.