SUN BLADE 1000 WORKSTATION DEBUTS AT 900MHZ.(Product Announcement)

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) has introduced the Sun Blade(TM) 1000 workstation, the next generation desktop system designed to help technical enterprises take advantage of the opportunities coming from the tremendous growth of the Internet. The Sun Blade 1000 workstation, offered at a sub $10,000 price point, features the first implementation of the UltraSPARC(TM) III architecture and gives twice the performance, memory and disk capacity of existing UltraSPARC II systems.

The Sun Blade 1000 workstation is the first in a wave of Sun technologies, products, and services to help customers keep pace with and capitalize on the Net Effect.

The undisputed leader in Unix workstations with a 60 percent share of the market, Sun backs the 900 MHz and 750 MHz Sun Blade 1000 workstations with more than five years of 64-bit hardware experience, in contrast to industry competitors who have only recently begun to offer 64-bit systems. The Sun Blade 1000 workstation is part of a broad compatible product line that combines next-generation system architecture with greatly enhanced CPU performance, and incorporates Sun(TM) Grid Engine software to tackle compute intensive solutions.

"This is phase one of our full UltraSPARC III architecture-based product roll-out and Sun's next big step in providing the fundamental tools to help companies take advantage of the net explosion," said John Shoemaker, executive vice president, Systems Products at Sun Microsystems, "The Sun Blade 1000 workstation demonstrates Sun's commitment to providing customers with innovative solutions at unprecedented industry price-points so they can succeed in the networked economy."

Next Generation Architecture

The Sun Blade 1000 workstation is designed to offer industry-leading return on investment for technical computing with an up to five times increase in compute power and up to ten times increase in graphics performance over a 36 month period. Other cutting edge features of the Sun Blade 1000 workstation include the blazing Sun Fire Plane interconnect at 4.8 Gb/s, and mixed speed CPU module support -- from 750 MHz through to 900 MHz today, and through well over 1 GHz in the future -- in the same chassis, for unmatched flexibility and investment protection.

Designed for use in a network and featuring Sun's robust and scalable Solaris(TM) Operating Environment, the first UltraSPARC III architecture-based desktop systems provide the power for customer solutions to meet increasingly competitive demands in a variety of compute intensive markets -- including software development, MCAD/MCAE (mechanical computer-aided design/mechanical computer-aided engineering), EDA (electronic design automation), financial services, oil and gas and digital content creation. Sun also has also announced that Grid Engine software is available free download at http://www.sun.com/gridware The load balancing and resource management Grid Engine software allows customers to harness idle compute resources and deliver network-wide compute power to the desktop by employing a Sun(TM) Virtual Compute Farm system.

Sun also introduced one of the first fiber channel external storage solution for workstations in the office environment -- the Sun StorEdge(TM) MultipackFC array. Designed, tested and optimized for the Sun Blade 1000 workstation, the compact array is ideal for both desktop and deskside use. Because it is a fully integrated solution, customers can simply "plug it in" to the workstation's high-speed serial interface to seamlessly scale storage capacity to nearly half a terabyte and take advantage of a data transfer rate of up to 100 MB per second.

Sun Blade 1000 Workstation Features

The UltraSPARC III architecture-based systems run at 900 MHz and 750 MHz. The Sun Blade 1000 workstation supports the Sun(TM) Expert 3D board, a high-performance graphics accelerator board, continuing Sun's momentum in markets that require extreme graphics and immersive collaborative visualization solutions.

Other features of the first UltraSPARC III workstation include the following:

-- Twice the performance, memory and disk capacity of existing UltraSPARC II processor systems.

-- The scalable Solaris(TM) 8, 64-bit Operating Environment, which allows all SPARC Solaris applications to run unchanged on the Sun Blade 1000 workstation.

-- Mixed speed CPU module support for unmatched flexibility and investment protection.

-- 8GB memory footprint to allow more intensive simulation.

-- An FC/AL disk subsystem, which offers tremendous capacity and high bandwidth in order to handle huge data sets.

-- An IEEE 1394 port compatible with devices that operate at 100, 200 and 400 Mbit/sec, supporting the new Sun(TM) 1394 camera and providing higher quality video capabilities.

-- A 12 Mbit/sec USB port allowing for the support of off-the-shelf USB devices.

The Sun Blade 1000 workstation is backed by Sun's excellent standard service and support and a one-year warranty. The Sun Blade 1000 workstation operating at 750MHz is available at pricing starting at $9,995, and includes an 8MB L2 cache, Creator3D Series 3 graphics, 512 MB of RAM, and a 18 GB hard disk. Pricing of the Sun Blade 1000 workstation operating at 900 MHz starts at $19,995, and includes an 8MB L2 cache, Creator3D Series 3 graphics, 1 GB of RAM, and a 36 GB hard disk.

Sun Blade 1000 workstations are available through standard distribution channels as well as web-based ordering. To learn more, visit http://www.sun.com/desktop/index.html.

Auction Only Version

Also introduced was a special entry-level configuration running at 600MHz with a 4MB L2 cache, Creator3D Series 3 graphics, 512 MB RAM, and 18 GB hard disk. This full UltraSPARC III system, aimed at high-end PCs, is the first product from Sun available only via auction on eBay to bidders within the US. For further information, visit http://www.sun.com/auctions.

The Solaris Operating Environment

The Solaris(TM) Operating Environment includes more than 30 new enhancements, and is optimized for Sun's new systems using the UltraSPARC III microprocessor. New features designed to increase system availability and system management include Solaris WBEM Services -- making the Solaris Operating Environment manageable by tools from enterprise vendors other than Sun -- and the Sun WBEM SDK, a comprehensive set of Java(TM) technology-based tools and services.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- The Network Is The Computer(TM) -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. to its position as a leading provider of high quality hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide Intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With $15.7 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 170 countries.

For more information, visit http://www.sun.com or call 650-786-7215.