Sun Adds Sub-$1,000 Server to Sun Fire Line

Sun Microsystems Monday unveiled the latest addition to its Sun Fire server line. The Sun Fire V100 is a single-processor, general-purpose server based on the Netra X1.

The V100, a single-processor, general-purpose server based on the Netra X1 is being positioned as the entry server to the Sun Fire line.

Priced at $995, the same price point as the Netra X1, the V100 is the least-expensive Sun Fire server on the market, and it is being positioned as the entry server to the Sun Fire line, John Phillips, group marketing manager for Sun told ServerWatch.

The V100 is very similar, both footprint- and feature-wise, to its Netra predecessor. And now that it is part of the Sun Fire family, a host of features have been added. For example, the V100 comes with a 500 MHz UltraSPARC processor and the Solaris 8 operating system. It also holds up 2 GB of memory and can contain two 40GB/7200 RPM IDE drives.

Footprint-wise, the 1U server is 17 inches wide by 19 inches deep and comes with a CD-ROM (something the Netra X1 lacked), slide rails to help with in-rack servicing, and a 19-inch deep chassis to enable two or four post racking

The V100 comes with Lights Out Management software, which provides remote system management that includes environmental monitoring and control, NVRAM containing more than 700 of the last events, host status monitoring, power control, automatic server restart, programmable soft alarms, and a unified serial management interface.

The V100 also comes with what Sun is billing as “$2,000 worth of free software”: iPlanet Web Server Enterprise Edition 6.0 is pre-installed, and Apache HTTP Server and Sun Chili!Soft ASP are included.

Like the Netra X1, The V100 servers come standard with a system configuration card that contains the system’s identity and makes the servers easily hot swappable. The system administrator removes the card from the back of the server he or she is taking down for a maintenance or parts upgrade (or that has crashed), and slips the card into the system taking its place. The standby system then appears on the network as if it were the original unit.

Radianz, an extranet and hosting provider, was one of the first enterprises to sign up for the V100. The company is currently using the V100 to power its TIB Message Routing Service, a middleware service that offers ubiquitous routing of TIB messages among multiple customers connected on Radianz’s extranet.

Although the V100 is the next release of the Netra X1, Sun has no plans to discontinue the Netra line at this time. Rather, the uni- and dual-processor server line will be “tightened” Phillips said. The current image of Netra servers that most enterprises hold is that of a product aimed at telcos. Phillips acknowledged that this perception is largely true, and as a result, going forward, servers in the Netra line will all be NEBS-certified, carrier grade products designed with telcos in mind. The Netra X1, Phillips noted, although NEBS-compliant, was never NEBS-certifed.

The V100 is available for immediate purchase from Sun’s online store.