New Blade Server and Sun Service for Solaris

By DE Editors

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Santa Clara, CA) has a new blade server, the Sun Blade X8420 server module, as well as a new subscription service, the Sun Refresh Service. Both combine with the Solaris 10 Operating System.

The Sun Blade X8420 server module has 4-socket dual-core 2.8GHz processors. The blade system is designed specifically to run resource-intensive enterprise business and technical applications. The Sun Blade 8000 modular systems can support the AMD Opteron processors with x86 performance.

The module has externally accessible I/O adapters. It also has PCIe ExpressModules, which support Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and InfiniBand technologies, allowing customers to mix applications that require different I/O configurations within the same chassis.

The Sun Refresh Service subscription program includes installation of the Sun Blade 8000 modular system with server modules, plus three refreshes of server modules over a 42-month period. Customers receive automatic upgrades, and Sun will install new server modules and remove the old ones with each refresh.

The Sun Blade X8420 server module is available now, with entry-level pricing starting at $13,095 per server module. More information on the modular systems can be found at sun.com/blades. Rates vary for the Sun Refresh Service; go to sun.com/refreshservice.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.