Sun Microsystems has been notoriously late bringing hardware to market on schedule, but if an industry analyst is to be believed, its new line of Opteron servers will arrive right on time.
Sun shipped more than 5,000 Opteron servers last quarter, according to Mark Stahlman at American Technology Research. The Opteron sales are of particular interest with Sun yet to officially launch the products or offer them to its customer base at large. "Our information is that provided a little over 5,000 Opteron boxes on early availability to key customers and channel partners," Stahlman told El Reg. "The products are not yet formally announced or priced, so this is pretty aggressive."
It's anyone's guess as to how many of the 5,000 boxes Sun actually sold as opposed to giving away. That matter aside, the shipments give rise for some optimism that Sun will manage to ship product in the first quarter as planned. This would help make up for massively delayed Xeon-based kit, blade servers and workstations. Not to mention the slothful delivery of UltraSPARC IV-based systems. But, hey, what's the rush to bring out systems in a flat market, right? With word of telco spending on the rise, Sun may be poised to see a nice rise in both Opteron and UltraSPARC shipments. Telcos largely hold Sun's fate in their hands, and a carrier recovery should lead to a bit more busy work at Sun's shipping docks.
News source: The Reg
