Sun spotlights Project Orion

By Alun Williams

Posted on 26 Feb 2003 at 17:57

Sun Microsystems has completed its annual Worldwide Analyst Conference in San Francisco. The major announcement from the two-day event involves 'Project Orion'.

Dubbed 'a radical new approach to software design, development, and delivery', Project Orion is the codename for a change in Sun's release of software. It will merge enterprise infrastructure software into a regular quarterly release in a bid to simplify its pricing and delivery. This single software system will be available for both the Solaris and Linux operating systems. More details are expected to follow.

The idea is for customers to buy a 'pre-integrated software system', or components of the system, reducing the overhead costs of managing software distributions.

Speaking at the start of the conference, Sun chairman and CEO Scott McNealy emphasised the need for innovation to reduce the complexity of the technology facing customers.

'Sun has become an enduring force by zigging when others zag,' he said. 'If you don't distinguish yourself from competition, you stand little chance of winning. Our approach is controversial but deliberate. We are focused on the end result of creating long-term value for our shareholders and customers through customer-centric R&D that creates savings and simplification.'

As well as briefing financial and technology analysts, Sun has used the event to promote its Throughput Computing strategy. This involves the use of multi-threading to improve processor performance. It also claims that plans for its SPARC microprocessors will see 'dramatic improvements in systems and throughput', including - over the next five years - increasing its UltraSPARC microprocessor throughput by a factor of 30.

'We have also increased our commitment to the entry-level market and are expanding our 32-bit offerings,' said McNealy. 'While others have beefed up their marketing messages, we're out there solving real customer problems with real technology.'