SUN debuts Solaris 8

New York 26 Jan 00 Sun Microsystems unveiled the Solaris; 8 Operating Environment. Sun also announced free access to the Solaris source and end-user binary code to foster innovation and ubiquity. The Solaris 8 Operating Environment is available for both the SPARC and Intel platforms.

In addition to the operating system software, the Solaris Operating Environment includes a comprehensive co-package of software from Sun, iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions, Oracle and others.

The Solaris 8 Operating Environment delivers new capabilities required to deal with rapid and unpredictable growth, including:

  • Network Cache Accelerator for a fourfold improvement for serving web pages.
  • IPv6 support for a near-infinite number of IP addresses, a number so large that it approaches the number of molecules on the planet. Java HotSpot ; technology, a feature for delivering the industry's fastest Java 2 platform performance.
  • A 70 percent improvement in database performance.
  • Integrated iPlanet Directory Server, the industry's leading e-commerce LDAP directory with 70 percent market share.

In the Internet economy, up-time requirements demand that the IT infrastructure be available 24x7x365. The Solaris 8 Operating Environment includes new capabilities that support these demanding requirements, including:
  • Clustering, supporting up to four 64-processor systems today and moving to eight later this year.
  • Automated Dynamic Reconfiguration, for reallocating system resources on the fly as demand changes.
  • Expanded hot patching capabilities for modifying the OS kernel of mission-critical systems while the system is running.
  • Live Upgrade for installing and reconfiguring new versions of the OS while the current system is still running.
  • IP multiplexing for support of multiple network connections.
Where traditional IT environments are accustomed to managing hundreds of systems, Internet infrastructures often scale to thousands and beyond. The Solaris 8 Operating Environment meets this challenge with new capabilities, such as:
  • The Sun; Management Center Technology, which supports management of all Sun systems from a central location.
  • New web-based capabilities that offer quick, easy installation and upgrades of the operating environment across multiple severs from one location.

Security in the Internet world shifts IT requirements; in addition to protecting data, businesses also make it broadly available. Solaris 8 Operating Environment security is rock-solid, with integrated features that put it at the head of competing operating environments. These include:

  • Built-in firewall and fire ridge technologies for creating multiple levels of security.
  • Support for the latest version of Kerberos, which is a key building block for creating single sign-on systems.
  • IP sec, an industry-standard approach for encryption over the network.
  • Role-based access control, a key datacenter feature for setting multiple levels of pemission for system administrators.

The Solaris 8 Operating Environment includes comprehensive features that build on Sun's vision of providing access to the network anywhere, anytime, to anyone, on any device, including:
  • Mobile IP to support IP addresses that follow you anywhere in the world where you have access.
  • Support for key Internet building blocks used to create the service-driven network including XML; Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition; and Network File System.
  • Solaris PC Netlink software for interoperability with Windows systems and networks.


Starting with the Solaris 8 Operating Environment release, Sun will no longer charge an end-user license fee for the right to use the runtime software on systems with eight or fewer processors. This aligns with Sun's strategy of shifting to a fee-based service model

The Solaris 8 Operating Environment co-packages comprehensive software capabilities for end-user services, web servers, application servers and databases. The comprehensive co-package includes:

  • Sun StarOffice office productivity suite.
  • iPlanet Webtop software.
  • iPlanet Web Server software.
  • iPlanet Application Server software.
  • iPlanet Certificate Management System.
  • Apache web server.
  • Oracle8i database.
  • Oracle Migration Workbench - SQL Server migration tool.

While the software and co-packaged code is free, Sun is charging $75 for the cost of media, which includes the Solaris 8 Operating Environment in 10 languages, a Solaris Software Companion CD, and co-packaged software. The Solaris 8 Operating Environment is scheduled to ship in early March; customers can get access to Sun's Solaris 8 source code in 90 days from today, for a $75 media fee.

 

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