Sun Offers Pay-for-Use Grid Computing
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Sun Microsystems has introduced a pay-for-use pricing model for grid computing, enabling customers to gain access to computing cycles on an on-demand basis.
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The creators of the widely-used Globus Toolkit have formed a company to provide commercial software, services and support for the open source software that has become the de facto standard for grid computing.
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Sun Microsystems will pay $1 billion for Swedish software company MySQL, whose open-source database is used for some of the most widely visited Web sites in the world.
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As interest grows in the open source suite, Sun decides to offer back-line support for firms that distribute OpenOffice.org.
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Hewlett-Packard was the first company to offer a grid storage device, but others are moving to catch up.
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(InfoWorld) - You've heard of LAMP, the popular open-source infrastructure stack featuring the Linux operating system, the Apache Web server, MySQL's database, and the Perl, Python and PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) scripting languages. Well, Sun plans to spotlight a variation on that mixture, replacing Linux with its own Solaris Unix OS as part of its Solaris + AMP, or SAMP, stack for building Web applications. Featured in Sun's rollout on Tuesday are versions of the open-source AMP components optimized for the Solaris 10 OS plus Sun developer tools. The Solaris + AMP unveiling is part of a multifaceted announcement of free development offerings to debut on Tuesday with Sun hoping to sell support as a way to generate revenues. While stressing that Sun was not trying to compete with LAMP itself, Dan Roberts, Sun's director of developer tools marketing, did note that Sun believes its Solaris platform presents a viable competitor to Linux. Developers can build to Apache, MySQL, and the scripting languages but deploy their applications on Solaris or the open-source variant, OpenSolaris, to get advantages such as reliability and security, he said. "We're very much competing [with] Red Hat," and Suse, Roberts said. The company is featuring the PostgreSQL object-relational database as part of the stack along with MySQL. Sun tools and other open-source technologies also are included, and step-by-step instructions on deploying the stack are offered. Analysts recognized Sun's Solaris + AMP effort as a way to entice open-source developers to the Sun camp. "Theyâre trying to make it more comfortable for those who had been working in Linux to consider coming to Solaris as an alternative," said analyst Jean Bozman of IDC. Although IDC does not rank operating systems, Sun does have tools in its Solaris arsenal, such as the DTrace tracing framework and ZFS (Zettabyte File System), that could be attractive to Linux developers, Bozman said. "It's very clear that Sun is going after the same set of developers in the open-source community," as Linux, she said. Making a stronger case for Sun, Andi Mann, senior analyst at Enterprise Management Associates, said Sun with Solaris + AMP had taken the best parts of the LAMP stack, swapped out Linux with Solaris, and added other open-source technologies. "In terms of standing a chance against LAMP, absolutely, I think it's a very strong offering," Mann said. But Sun faces an obstacle in that Solaris still is considered by some to be a proprietary Unix variant, even if that is not true anymore, Mann said. "It's going to be difficult just to get mind share over Linux," he said. Users of Solaris + AMP also can avail themselves to Sun's Try and Buy program, in which customers can try out Sun hardware for 60 days. Sun also plans to unveil Solaris Express, Developer Edition on Tuesday. "Itâs a new distribution of OpenSolaris specifically targeted at developers on x86 or x64 workstations or Intel AMD-based laptops and workstations," Roberts said. Developers can use the OpenSolaris distribution to build applications that would then be deployed on Solaris 10 or OpenSolaris. "It's just like [how] a Windows developer can deploy a solution that runs on Linux." Roberts said. An integrated environment for developing applications for Solaris, Java, and Web 2.0 is featured, and a simplified install mechanism is part of the package. Also included is an improved Gnome-based desktop and Sun development tools, including Sun Studio 11 and the NetBeans 5.5 IDE. Sun is packaging more than 150 open-source applications with Solaris Express, Developer Edition. The Glassfish application server is featured as well. Also on Tuesday, Sun will offer a second iteration of its Startup Essentials Program for startup firms to use discounted Sun hardware and Solaris. New to the program is the inclusion of storage solutions and low-end SPARC systems. Discounts have been 60 percent to 70 percent less than list prices. Through its Sun Developer Expert Assistance Program, Sun offers support for $49 per request. An annual subscription featuring support for unlimited requests costs $249.
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In case you missed it, Scott McNealy&#39;s big on the subscription model. And, Sun Microsystems is weighing a new desktop hosting initiative to go along with already-announced hosting options.
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Sun Microsystems plans to unveil the latest version of its flagship Solaris operating system and offer a free version of the program to make it more attractive to corporate and academic computer users.
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Sun is moving to a two-tier development environment in which corporate customers can get the commercial version of Solaris and developers can access the binary version.
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Hoping to attract developers and customers, Sun Microsystems will announce its next-generating operating system will be offered for free. The company spent roughly $500 million and years of development time on the software.
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Sun Microsystems will pay $1 billion for Swedish software company MySQL, whose open-source database is used for some of the most widely visited Web sites in the world.Sun said the deal will augment its position in the enterprise IT market, including the $15 billion database market.MySQL&#39;s product line will help Sun give further support to the open-source Web application platform known as LAMP, the acronym for the Linux OS, Apache Web server, MySQL database and the PHP/Perl programming languages.Sun will pay $800 million in cash and $200 million in options.&#160;(More to follow.)
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Sun adds several business partners to a plan to offer supercomputing centers that customers can pay to use according power consumed.
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Sun Microsystems launched the much-anticipated new version of its Solaris operating system this week, and announced an overhauled pricing model designed to compete with Linux.
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Hoping to prove that grid computing can work in the business world, Dell, EMC, Intel and Oracle have announced a joint effort designed to show business users how to use the distributed computing technology.
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Year-old start-up Cassatt has launched a new service for automating IT operations using grid technology. Cassatt will aid the management and aggregation of a large number of machines
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Pays $1bn for Web's favourite free database Sun Microsystems is to pay $1bn for open source database developer MySQL.â¦
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Extends Eco Responsibility Initiative Sun Microsystems has announced a comprehensive suite of programs and solutions to help customers design more energy-efficient, eco-responsible datacenters while saving money.â¦