Sun Microsystems will overhaul most its server line and cut prices Monday in an effort to show that it's got enough research power to stay competitive, even with today's depressed spending. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based server seller has changed its announcement technique so it releases one fusillade of new products each quarter. Sun argues that the breadth of this first barrage shows that its technology and expertise will let it control its future.
As expected, Sun will debut a faster 1.2GHz processor and lower prices for its top-end and midrange servers, tout its first server "blades" and accompanying N1 management software, release its new 12-processor server intended to keep Intel at bay and discontinue one significant midrange system. Chief Executive Scott McNealy and others will announce the plans at an event in San Francisco.
"We're going to really show the world why we're an intellectual property shop, why we invest in our own research and development," said Neil Knox, Sun's executive vice president of systems that ship in high volume and the general on the front lines of the battle to keep Sun ahead of servers that use Intel processors.
But the company's boasts about the power of its own intellectual property are tarnished by the encroachment of Linux and Intel into Sun's product line. That outside technology competes directly with Sun's UltraSparc processor family and Solaris version of the Unix operating system.
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News source: c|net
