Sun debuts 64bit ebusiness systems

Sun Microsystems has started volume shipments of its second-generation 64bit microprocessor, the UltraSparc III, and announced two products incorporating the chip.

The UltraSparc III, which includes 29 million transistors and 9.6Gbps address bus, is being positioned by Sun as a robust "engine" for ebusiness systems. The application of copper interconnect technology will eventually allow the chip to scale up to 1.5Ghz, according to Sun.

John Shoemaker, executive vice president of Sun's system products group, said: "The UltraSparc III is the engine that will power the next generation of Sun systems."

Shoemaker said the chip will be incorporated across Sun's product range from workstations to high-end servers during the next six to nine months, with products at the bottom of Sun's range already available.

At a launch event in New York, Sun unveiled two systems that will use the UltraSparc III, both of which double the performance of previous products. A high-end workstation, the Sun Blade 1000, is available in 750Mhz and 900Mhz versions, and starts at about $10,000. A special entry-level 600Mhz configuration Sun Blade 1000 workstation will be sold at auction via the web, with no minimum bid.

Sun also launched the Sun Fire 280R server, built on a 750Mhz UltraSparc III, expandable to 8Gb memory and positioned as a web/ecommerce gateway server. The Sun Fire 280R, which runs the Solaris 8 operating system, starts at $10,000.

To encourage smooth migration across its range, Sun is promising a complete binary compatibility guarantee to ensure applications written for previous generations of UltraSparc work with the UltraSparc III.

Sun president Ed Zander claimed the company is offering "complete compatibility with no recompiles, no shifts and no major upgrades".

Chris Ingle, a research associate at analyst IDC, said: "The UltraSparc III looks good initially but we need to look at the detail - certainly it is a strong competitive offering to what Hewlett Packard and IBM are doing. It needs to be successful, because it is the centrepiece of Sun's strategy - despite the acquisition of Cobalt, a Linux-based appliance vendor."

The UltraSparc III has been hit by delays - which Sun's competitors have made great play of - but Ingle said IDC has not recorded any adverse effects on Sun's figures as a result of the hold-up.

At the launch event, Sun ran a demo of its workstation against a competitive product from HP, which was more than twice as expensive, but - embarrassingly for Sun - outperformed the Sun box in the test.