Sun Microsystems outpaces overall market and all competitors in server unit growth

The Gartner Dataquest preliminary report focuses exclusively UNIT shipments (no revenue) for all operating systems (OS) and for worldwide x86 32-bit servers.

The report showed Sun's year-to-year server volume growth at 35.5 percent (in all OS), which outpaced all other tracked vendors and topped the 24.6 percent all OS growth rate for the overall market. In addition, Sun is the only vendor in the top five that had double-digit growth in terms of server volume on a year-over-year and a quarter-to-quarter basis, strongly outperforming the market in both instances.

In x86 systems, Sun had a whopping 109.4 percent UNIT shipment growth year-over-year and 45.6 percent growth quarter-to-quarter. Both were the largest increases of any vendor. "To complement Sun's global x86 growth, we've just introduced to the Middle East market the new 4-way Opteron Sun Fire V40z server, which will be showcased for regional decision-makers at the upcoming GITEX exhibition," said Mehmet Iyimen, Managing Director of Sun Microsystems MENA.

"The unit growth of Sun's server sales around the MENA region remains robust, and by increasing our server marketshare, we're also enhancing the leadership of the Solaris operating system software and our Sun Java Enterprise System software. Both our customers and the ISV community are showing tremendous interest deploying in Sun servers," Iyimen added.

New x86 Systems Headed for the MENA Region
Sun's AMD Opteron processor-based solutions run the platinum standard for enterprise operating systems (OS) —Solaris, as well as Linux and Microsoft Windows through Windows Hardware Qualification List (WHQL) certification. All of the new systems will be showcased at GITEX as well as a series of Sun-hosted roadshows around the Middle East and North Africa region over the next quarter.

The analyst community has welcomed Sun's new x86 solutions. "Sun has established clear differentiation in the x86 market by offering Solaris x86 on AMD Opteron processors. This gives them an opportunity to take a strong position in the over $22.5B x86 systems market," said Vernon Turner, group vice president, IDC. "Initial data indicates very strong price/performance relative to other operating systems by taking advantage of the reliability and scalability features of Solaris and AMD's Opteron processor speed".

Sun's new AMD Opteron processor-based solutions include:

The Sun Fire V40z server - Available immediately with the Solaris OS and Java Enterprise System, the Sun Fire V40z outperforms IBM and HP in real world and industry-standard benchmarks. The V40z is expanding the Sun Fire line to include both 2- and 4-way rack-mount AMD Opteron processor-based servers;

Sun Java Workstation W1100z and Sun Java Workstation W2100z - Available immediately, these workstations build on Sun's number one position in the workstation market (based on IDC reports) and continues Sun's heritage of delivering some of the fastest 64-bit workstations on the market, with the ability to boot three operating systems from the same unit;

Sun Fire V20z Enterprise Essentials Promotions - Available immediately at prices nearly 40 percent less than Dell over a three year subscription period, this new disruptive pricing model is Sun's next bold move to simplify the way computer systems are purchased and maintained; and

Sun Fire V20z server configurations and price reductions - Available immediately, Sun is offering new configurations based on AMD's higher performing AMD Opteron processor Model 250 and the Solaris x86 OS, with price reductions on servers equipped with the AMD Opteron processor Model 248.