Sun swallows its pride and sells Windows Server

 

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By Simon Aughton

Posted on 13 Sep 2007 at 11:24

Sun Microsystems has announced that it is to become a Windows Server OEM. Microsoft's arch-rival during the late 1990s dotcom bubble will begin selling Windows Server systems within the next three months.

Under the agreement with Microsoft, Sun will provide Windows Server running on its own x64 hardware. For its part Microsoft "recognises Sun's compelling x64 server and storage products in the market today," and has committed to working with Sun to test and validate the Windows platform on systems designed for scalable enterprise installations.

The announcement is something of a climbdown for Sun, whose former CEO, Scott McNealy, once described Windows as a "giant hairball".

The companies will also collaborate to ensure that both Sun's Unix-based Solaris operating system and Windows Server run as guests on each other's virtualisation technologies. They will also collaborate on virtualisation support for end users.

"Sun is now a single source for today's leading operating systems - Solaris and Windows - on the industry's most innovative x64 systems and storage products," says John Fowler, executive vice president, Systems Group, Sun Microsystems. "Customers can now take advantage of the virtualisation benefits of Windows and Solaris on Sun's energy efficient x64 systems. Microsoft's recognition of our x64 systems and storage systems is a testament to the superior system design at the heart of our product portfolio."

Internet TV

The two companies' burgeoning relationship will also extend to internet television. Sun has agreed to working towards the worldwide deployment of Microsoft's Mediaroom IPTV and multimedia platform on Sun servers and storage systems. AT&T is an early adopter. Its U-verse digital TV service running on Sun servers is one of world's largest deployments of the Mediaroom platform. Sun expects the combined offering to accelerate the introduction of IPTV services.

The whole shebang will go on display at Microsoft's Redmond campus, where a new Interoperability Center will house a demonstration area for Sun x64 systems, act as a working lab for Windows on Sun benchmarks and allow customers to run proofs-of-concept for projects focused on Windows on Sun x64 systems.

Taken as one, the agreement underlines Microsoft's commitment to 64-bit computing, claims Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools Division at Microsoft.

"The Sun hardware platform is an excellent foundation for Windows-based enterprise solutions, such as Microsoft Virtual Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Edition," he says.

The Sun-Microsoft détente began with a 2004 co-operation agreement. Since then, they have collaborated on interoperability for web services, identity management, thin clients, systems management and Windows Server engineering.

For more information on Sun servers and Windows go to sun.com/software/windows.