We've got a developer's wish list fulfilled: Grab a special deal before it expires on the Sun Fire T1000 server (See article [16802]). Need support? No problem: The S3P -- Sun Software Service Plans -- are an all-in-one comprehensive package [16779]. Working with Sun Studio 11? Got it covered with another support plan [16774]. Questions about JavaServer Faces? Ask the Experts in [16814]. Want to comment on ODF? Click on [16812].

Sys Admins need to be happy too: BrandZ from the OpenSolaris community extends Solaris Zones to accommodate Branded Zones that can contain non-native operating environments (see [16788]). Get maximum performance on CMT architectures with the tech tip in [16786]. If you need a book on LDAP, we've got two for you in [16803].

Where would we all be without storage? The 1,000th Sun StorageTek SL8500 tape library was just delivered. Everyone's got one, even the people who did production work for the "DaVinci Code" movie [16799]. No mystery about it: if you need it, Sun's got it.

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There is a lot of news this week, starting with the new workstation and midrange and high-end servers Sun announced this week; article [16861] provides an overview. Some of the servers use the 1.8 GHz UltraSPARC IV+ processor which doubles the memory capacity while others use the next-generation AMD Opteron processor. We will continue to cover the individual servers over the next few weeks until we get them all.

Also making news is discounts on electric bills: PG&E is offering rebates to California businesses that use Sun Fire T1000 or T2000 servers in their datacenters (see article [16867]).

Also new is the Sun StorageTek 6140 array and 6540 array [16855], the first new products created by the combined Sun and StorageTek teams. Get the 6140 array for less in a new promotion [16754] when you purchase a server and the array.

This week we also have more storage and server announcements such as new pricing or support. There's a training class for sys admins who work with the Sun Fire T2000 servers [16835]. For those interested in the Java SE 6 (Mustang), see a new Net Talk online and information on the beta release [16854].

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Sun kicks off its 9th worldwide "Sun Tech Days" series of technical seminars. The Atlanta OpenSolaris User Group will host Ryan Matteson talking about the "DTrace Toolkit" on September 12th.

Fostering communities: that's what the new OpenSPARC and Italian OpenSolaris online portals are doing. Each gives developers and others the opportunity to participate and contribute to these open source projects. See articles [16900] and [16942] for details.

More awards for Sun this week, this time for the Sun Java Composite Application Suite (Java CAPS), a flexible and scalable integration solution that enables financial institutions to make the most of new solutions; see [16920].

We cover more of Sun's new Sun Fire mid-range servers: the E4900 and E6900 servers [16919], the Sun Fire E2900 server [16914], and the Sun Fire X4100 server [16905], an x64 server. Also in News, read how Sun's x64 servers beat out HP when a genome research center re-evaluated its server needs [16931].

To keep everything up and running better, Sun has enhanced its SunSpectrum Service Plan coverage without adding to the cost [16894]. The Sun i-Runbook Service is designed to help customers manage their data center operations more effectively; see article [16913] for details.

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If you've been wondering what Scott McNealy has been up to lately, see article [16831] to read about his continuing push to eliminate the digital divide by including open source applications in schools. Before the kids head back to school, they might want you to take them to see the film "Barnyard"; since its computer graphics were made with Sun technologies [16830], it could be considered work-related fun.

In our Education section this week, we feature StarOffice software training resources [16834], especially good for schools that recently implemented the software. Solaris Service Plans are also explained [16773].

A new migration guide is available from Sun for developers who are migrating JBuilder to NetBeans [16827]. The recently announced Sun Blade 8000 comes with free services as part of a new promotion [16839], and a download is available for the blade [16815].

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Servers lead the news again this week: Sun gained server market revenue year-to-year, IDC reported, surpassing Dell [16907]. A new benchmark shows how the new Sun Fire V490 server beat an IBM server [16901]. Upgrade to a Sun Fire server with the UltraSPARC processor in this promotion [16873]. For details on the Sun Fire V490 and the Sun Fire V890 servers, see article [16864]. This week we also feature technical details of the Sun Fire X2200 M2 server in article [16882] and the Sun Fire E25K and Sun Fire E20K servers [16871].

What will Sun make open source? The Java SE, the Java ME CLDC and CDC [16885]; an audio link of the announcement is included in the article.

The recently announced storage products, the Sun StorageTek 6540 array is covered in article [16875] and the Sun StorageTek 6140 array is detailed in [16859].

The Java Enterprise System team is looking for participants in its beta 5 program [16860]. Participants will receive early access to the JES 5 software and more.

For a detailed look at DTrace and other process tools in Solaris 10 OS, see the sample chapter from the Solaris Performance and Tools book [16870]. Another book featured this week is a guide to native LDAP implementation [16869]. If you are just getting up to speed on DTrace and want to know more about the features in Solaris 10 OS, there's a free web-based course available [16868].

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