Sun to pump up high-end servers

Sun Microsystems is planning to unveil a series of upgrades to its high-end servers, including faster 1.2GHz processors and the ability to switch out many components without shutting the computer down, sources familiar with the company's plans said.

The top-end improvements will be called "Starcat+" after the code name of the company's top-end 15K "Starcat" servers. Sun will also cut prices on midrange and high-end machines by as much as 35 per cent, release its new 12-processor Sun Fire v1280 and its new "blade" servers, and improve its N1 plan for managing large quantities of computing hardware.

However, sources expect Sun will discontinue its Sun Fire 3800 server, the smallest machine in the company's "midframe" line with higher-end features, but a model that overlapped with the less expensive v880 and the new v1280 systems.

Sun plans a faster 1.2GHz chip for the top half of its Sun Fire line--the "midframe" models including the 12-processor 4800, 24-processor 6800, 36-processor 12K and 72-processor 15K. (The 12K and 15K can accommodate more processors if input-output abilities are sacrificed.)

The new chip is faster but dissipates 30 per cent less heat than predecessors, sources said - a key feature for keeping servers from suffering data corruption and crash problems that arrive with overheating.

Sun also is working on its UltraSparc IV chip, a product that will fit into existing UltraSparc III servers when it arrives later this year. That processor will be a "dual-core" model that packs two processors onto a single slice of silicon, something IBM has with its Power4 chip and HP plans with its PA-RISC 8800 "Mako" chip.

According to sources close to Sun, the new processors will be available on the 4800 and up, but not on the eight-processor 3800. That doesn't bode well for the 3800, which sources familiar with Sun's plans say will be phased out.

Sun declined to comment on the plans.

The product overhaul comes at a critical time for Sun, a company striving to maintain its number one ranking in the marketplace for Unix servers. Sun is fighting to return to long-term profitability, something that's eluded it since surging sales and plump profit margins of the late 1990s were replaced by today's constrained buying and aggressive discounting.

At the same time that the Unix server market has been shrinking, competition has been intensifying. IBM continues its parade of new systems, which it can subsidise with revenue from its software and services businesses, while Hewlett-Packard has maintained its strength in midrange systems and can lean on its profitable printer business for support. Dell Computer and the arrival of the Linux operating system ensure that there's no refuge to be found selling lower-end systems.

It's essential that Sun deliver its promised products soon, Giga Information Group analyst Brad Day said.

"If they don't come out with these products - with quantity shipments this quarter and next quarter - these salivating HP and IBM (salespeople) will take full advantage of that time-to-market constraint," Day said. "Both IBM and HP - they're hungry."