This week's issue looks at the latest news from Sun, including the
company's third quarter 2004 financial results [12829] and the new 'Rock'
processor taking the place of the UltraSPARC V processor [12794].
Security
Protect against a potential Denial of Service with two SunSM Alerts
on the Sun Secure Shell Daemon and SunTM Cluster [12790]
A new solution is available that functions as an open source Web
server scanner [12754]
Storage
Learn about the Sun StorEdgeTM 6000 Family Host Installation
Software Version 2.3 [12769], and plan for its installation with the
software guide [12757]
Buy a selected Sun Fire or Netra server any time through September 30, 2004, and receive 15 percent off the purchase of any Sun StorEdge 3310 SCSI array or Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array in any configuration. There
are no limits to the number of these named Sun StorEdge products that
can be purchased at a discount.
Take 15 percent off the purchase price of any Sun StorEdge 9980
system when purchased with a Netra 1280 server or any
12-way or larger Sun Fire server. Promotion ends September 30,
2004.
Sun StorEdge Remote Response Spectrum Instant Upgrade Program
allows buyers to receive 3 years of Sun Spectrum Instant Upgrade
(SIU) Gold 7 by 24 or Platinum support and only pay for 2 years. Just
activate the Sun StorEdge Remote Response (SSRR) Service on Sun
StorEdge 6300 systems or Sun StorEdge 6900 systems.
Receive a 35 percent trade-in allowance on existing Sun Fire V1280,
Sun Fire 4800 server, Sun Fire 6800 server, Sun Fire 12K server and Sun Fire
15K server boards when upgrading to UltraSPARC III Cu 1.2 GHz uniboards.
This extended promotion runs through June 30, 2004.
Sun has reported its fiscal 2004 third quarter results, showing
revenues of $2.65 billion, up 8.2 percent from the last quarter and up
five percent from the same period one year ago. The results
were in line with the projections released on April 2nd 2004.
Since the appointment of Jonathan Schwartz as new chief operating
officer and president of Sun the first week of April 2004 (see article
[12707] for details), Sun has made some reorganizations, including two new
organizations within Sun for Throughput Systems and Network Systems.
Sun's acquisition of Kealia, Inc. is complete. This acquisition, first
announced in February, gives Sun access to Kealia's advanced computer
system design that directly applies to its systems business. Noted as
an industry visionary and technology leader, Kealia and Sun co-founder Andy
Bechtolsheim returns to Sun.
Sun will not be developing or releasing its UltraSPARC V chip,
code-named Millennium, as planned. The Gemini processor will not go to
market either. Instead, Sun will focus on multicore processors code-named
the Rock and Niagara that are designed to process multiple software
threads.
Sun's VP and chief technical officer, John Fowler, recently discussed
the significant agreement reached between Sun and Microsoft that ended
the ongoing litigation between those two companies. The interview
specifically focused on the impact the agreement has on Sun's Software
business, as well as the Java platform, other standards efforts and
open source.
Sun's CEO Scott McNealy talked with Computerworld.com about topics such
as the data center and R&D to competitors and even the current
SCO/IBM/Novell debacle. McNealy conceded a point or two, such as Sun's
high cost structure, but overall defended the way Sun is positioned as
well as its plans for the future.
Livestock Improvement Corporation Ltd. of New Zealand operates one of
the largest bovine databases in the world. When they needed to reduce
their licensing costs, they migrated 130 GB of dairy herd records from
DB2 on IBM's OS/390 to DB2 on the Solaris Operating System (Solaris
OS).
Companies continue to be persuaded away from Microsoft Windows and
towards Linux and the Sun Java Desktop System, according to a
recent theglobeandmail.com article. Taking advantage of the familiar
Windows look and feel that the Sun Java Desktop System sports, Mark
Johnson, senior network and systems engineer for MDSI Mobile Data
Solutions, is evaluating the Sun solution and contemplating an outright
switch.
Multiple new features and an updated media kit with the latest version
of the Sun Java Enterprise System is what to expect with Sun's
recent release of the Solaris 9 4/04 Operating System (Solaris OS)
for SPARC and x86 platforms.
Ease is key in the latest release of the Solaris 9 Operating System
(Solaris OS) for SPARC and x86 platforms with easy installation,
administration and application deployment. Offering improvements in
code quality and overall performance, Solaris 9 4/04 OS comes with
advanced patch and update capabilities along with comprehensive
adoption tools and services.
The Seventh Jini Community Meeting held this past March at Cambridge,
MA, yielded a wealth of information regarding Jini technologies and
developments. Presentations featured at the meeting included
"Development and Deployment Using the Jini Technology Starter Kit -- Tips, Tools, and Idioms" by Brian Murphy of Sun.
A macro conversion utility for Sun's StarOffice software is in the
works easing the move of customer-written macros from Microsoft
Office. This Sun initiative is in response to customers' desire to
break from Microsoft's volume-licensing deals while maintaining a
semblance of their current desktop. StarOffice software's next major release
will be early next year.
This article is a calendar of upcoming events, with links to the articles about them. Click on the article numbers in the calendar to get more details about the event and how to register.
New at this year's JAX 2004 Conference in Frankfurt, Germany, are
tracks in Model Driven Architecture, Management and Sun Java
Desktop technologies. Other tracks include Enterprise, Web Apps and
Web Services. The conference will be held on May 10-14, 2004.
The Object Management Group (OMG) will host the Model Driven
Architecture (MDA) Implementers' Workshop -- Succeeding with Model
Driven Systems. The event will focus on a model driven approach to
designing software systems. The event will be held May 17-20, 2004 in
Orlando, FL.
Sun is a platinum sponsor of the upcoming Gt '04 (Grid Today 2004) grid
computing conference. Other sponsors include Intel, HP, Butterfly.net,
Data Synapse, IBM and the IDC. Adrian Cockroft, HPTC Chief Architect,
Sun, will be one of the panel participants.
i2 Planet 2004 is set for April 27-29 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in
San Diego. Over 80 breakout sessions will be held organized into 18
tracks from Aerospace and Defense to Energy and Chemicals to Retail
covering best practices, product enhancements, road maps and more.
The Pan European Portals 2004 principle conference tracks are
management and technical, with a focus on practical solutions and
implementations across the Higher and Further Educational sectors. This
event is devoted specifically to the use of Web portals within higher
education.
Sun commissioned Forrester Research, Inc. to examine the total economic
impact (TEI) of deploying Sun's Sun Ray thin client technology in
an environment that had primarily PCs. Four organizations were
evaluated. The Forrester report provides an aggregation of those
results and presents a composite. Results found include cost savings,
efficiency and the ability to set policies from a central location and
reduce administrative labor.
Sun has qualified an optional 48X CD-RW drive for the Sun Blade
2500 workstation, giving customers a re-writable drive and more than
one option for saving data. It supports applications that run on
Solaris 8 HW 5/03 Operating System (Solaris OS) or later.
The Sun Blade 2500 and Sun Blade 1500 Workstation Maintenance and Troubleshooting course (WE-3355-90) covers common concepts, architectural details, key features and configuration techniques for these workstations.
The SNIA has passed the first
group of products conforming to the strict SNIA Conformance Testing
Program (SNIA-CTP). Now customers can
purchase products that have been built using a tested and standardized
management interface that aids in the deployment and management of
multi-vendor storage environments.
Sun is releasing the latest version of the Sun StorEdge 6000 Family
Host Installation software. Version 2.3 is available for the Sun
StorEdge 6120 array and the Sun StorEdge 6320 system, and
contains new device management software. The solution should offer
several user interface improvements and simplify the management of
large system configurations.
The Sun StorEdge 6000 Family Host Installation Software Guide is a
54-page document that covers planning for installation, installing the
software and logging in to the software.
Sun plans to EOL (End of Life) the Sun StorEdge 9900 Series ESCON
compatible eight port adapter. The replacement for the product is the
Sun StorEdge 9900 48 ESCON channel card. Orders for the EOL'd adapter
will not be taken past July 9, 2004, with the last units shipping on
October 8, 2004.
Sun Java Studio Creator (formerly known as Project Rave) is an
application development tool which incorporates the first release of
production JavaServer Faces (JSF) technology. In a tech tip
article, author Dana Nourie explains how to use Sun Java Studio Creator
to make Web applications.
German software vendor Innoopract has extended the Linux capability of
its popular W4T Eclipse Plug-In, giving developers the ability to
develop on a Linux operating system. The plug-in can be used with the
Eclipse 3.0 beta IDE to create the presentation layer of Java
technology-based server applications more quickly.
The Oracle Technology Network provides a tutorial that outlines the
features of Java DataBase Connectivity (JDBC) technology in
relation to the new enhancements that they bring to the Oracle 10g
database.
Developers, do you want to know what's in the Sun Java System
Application Server Platform Edition 8 for you? See the list of
developer-specific features such as support for JavaServer Faces
1.0 technology and for JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library (JSTL)
technology.
Purchase hardware and software at discounted prices through the 2004 U.S.
Education Matching Grant Program from Sun and authorized Sun education
partners. The program runs until June 18, 2004, but supplies are
limited and grants will be processed on a first-come, first-served
basis.
The Research Foundation of State University of New York recently saw
the volume of sponsored programs activity that it manages surge by 64
percent. Already relying on Oracle applications to track and administer
these related activities, the company looked to Sun, who was able to
offer a plan for a robust and centralized infrastructure.
Sun recently sent a team of senior officials to visit HUMANSOFT-New
Horizons in the United Arab Emirates, the only Authorized Sun
Education Centre, Service Provider teaching courses on the Sun Java
System (formerly Sun Open Net Environment, ie, Sun ONE) and the
Solaris Operating System (Solaris OS), according to ameinfo.com.
Two Sun Alerts have been posted: One concerning the Sun Secure
Shell Daemon (sshd(1M)) which may fail to log the IP address of client
systems which connect to the sshd(1M) daemon with the ssh(1) client
utility. The other alert addresses a security vulnerability in the Sun
Cluster Global File System.
Nikto 1.32 is an Open Source (GPL) Web server scanner that tests Web
servers for dangerous files/CGIs, outdated server software and other
problems. It performs generic and server type specific checks. It also
captures and prints any cookies received. The newest version contains
bug fixes and updated documentation.
The Open Source Vulnerability Database (OSVDB) Web site is an
independent and open source database created by and for the community.
The goal is to provide accurate, detailed, current and unbiased
technical information.
A white paper from Waveset, "The Business Case for Identity
Management: Linking Business Value to Financial Investments in
Technology," discusses how identity management can transform security
and IT infrastructure from a necessary overhead cost to a potential
source of significant and compelling payback.
Sun's Java Card technology was selected as one of four pilot IT programs to be
implemented within the US Department of Defense under the new Rapid
Acquisition Incentive-Net Centricity (RA-INC) pilot program that was
approved last year. The RA-INC hopes to deliver business case-driven
pilot projects and IT initiatives providing scalable proof of concept
demonstrations.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) wants a single
standard in radio frequency identification or RFID to ensure that all
government departments are appropriately regulated and interoperable.
At the recent RFID Summit for Industry in Washington, DOD
representatives said they plan on establishing an intra-government RFID
council.
Gartner projects government spending on IT to reach at least $59.7
billion in 2004, and Sun stands ready to meet the needs of government
customers seeking the best in IT solutions. Already available are
Sun's infrastructure solution offerings for government, which address
network identity, enterprise consolidation and continuity and Sun's
Infinite Mailbox solution.
Customized news reports about Sun Microsystems. Just the news you need, none of what you don't. 50,000+ Members. 20,000+ Articles Published since 1998.
