Getting Serious About Solaris
| /**/ /**/ |
The Solaris
is barely a blip on the desktop market-share radar, but there are a few custom-system builders finding a market for Solaris-based systems. And as Sun Microsystems places more emphasis on its software business, that opportunity could grow.
\
\
Solaris users currently make up one-hundredth of a percent of all Web surfers, according to Net Applications, a Web applications firm in Aliso Viejo, Calif. But those few system builders that have integrated Sun Microsystems' proprietary
operating system into custom desktops and notebooks, the market includes a rich mix of engineers, developers and IT managers that have come to view Solaris-based custom systems as an important part of their day-to-day jobs.
\
\
"Most of the time, they're using these machines for development," said Charlie Lee, one of the top U.S.-based executives at Naturetech, a system builder in Taipei, Taiwan, that has found success in the niche for Solaris-based PCs. "They need a Solaris environment, or they have already used these kinds of machines, and they would like to keep using them."
\
\
Naturetech builds several models of notebooks that run Solaris and are built with Sun's UltraSPARC IIIi processors, including the Meso 999. Those notebooks, with a black case, 17-inch wide-screen
and
and
ports, looks on the outside like it could be a
built by Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard, Dell or any number of other system builders. But a closer inspection reveals an unmistakable Sun-like design. For example, the Meso 999 comes with a Java SmartCard reader port—one of the few notebooks you'll find with the Sun-hyped
SmartCard technology integrated. The systems sell for more than $2,000.
\
\
Don't be fooled by the standard PC look or even the high-end notebook pricing. "It's not for the PC or the commercial market," Lee said. And while the hardware can run Linux, that configuration could become expensive and support-intensive in the wrong deployment.
\
\
Despite the limited nature of the market for Solaris desktops and notebooks, Lee said the major markets in the United States are seeing growth, helped by recent enhancements such as support for audio and video technology. "Now, for example, software engineers are working on these machines, and they have
and the kind of audio they'd have on a PC."
\
\
That Solaris could see growth in the desktop or notebook space—beyond the realm of high-end workstations—might not be viewed as a surprise by some observers. Sun Microsystems President and CEO Jonathan Schwartz has said the company's software business will be considered a stand-alone business from now on—no longer tied exclusively to sales of Sun hardware.
| /**/ /**/ |
While Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sun's fortunes have gone up and down over the past decade, the company has never seemed to grab any traction on the desktop—but not for lack of effort. The company also has invested in the Java OS, and for years, Sun's former CEO, Scott McNealy, lauded the potential of the Java-based thin
on the desktop. And Sun also has said that it would work with OEMs such as Naturetech on the desktop side, but that effort hasn't reached any broad success. B3 Computers, which until earlier this year was one of the few U.S.-based system builders of Solaris- and Java-based systems, wound up shutting down operations and abruptly going out of business this summer.
\
\
On the
side, Sun has licensed its Unix operating system to Dell, Hewlett-Packard and others. The company said it has seen good momentum there and will continue moving forward with an open-source version of Solaris, called OpenSolaris, that eventually could be deployed in both servers and desktops.
\
\
OpenSolaris is still in the early stages of development, but Sun already has established an OpenSolaris Desktop Community. Among that community's goals is to create a group of active, collaborating users running desktop applications on OpenSolaris, porting existing and creating new applications for the platform. On its Web site, the group it wants to "challenge the belief that OpenSolaris is just a server-based operating system." The group will act as an umbrella organization to bring other technologies such as GNOME, KDE and
into the OpenSolaris fold.
\
\
Naturetech, though, seems to be going against the grain of a market that, to date, has not found a successful way to deliver Sun's Unix
for the desktop. The company has a 60,000-unit-per-month manufacturing capacity in Taiwan and employs 108 people. It maintains that is has about a half-dozen U.S. resellers, including GTSI, a Chantilly, Va.-based solution provider and government VAR.
\
\
In 2001, Naturetech launched its first SPARC-based portable
on the Sun platform, and since then, it has managed to broaden its product line and integrated technologies. For example, the Meso 999 provides several PC-based functions, including an Audio DJ Control panel with an LED display—meaning engineers and developers that are getting down with software code also can get down with their favorite tunes.
\
\
Naturetech also builds portable SPARC/Solaris servers, which it markets under the Proso brand. Lee said it is an all-in-one mobile server that is also a workstation for high-performance
solutions or applications such as 3-D military simulations. And the company leverages Sun's Solaris for thin-client solutions in the goods-tracking and surveillance services segments.
\
\
A Naturetech VAR that also sells Windows- and Intel-based notebooks made by other vendors said sales of the Solaris-based desktop systems remain small compared with competing technologies, but often customers are looking for options. And for software engineers or design professionals, it's been good for business to have Solaris-based systems on the line card.
\
\
"It's a good option to have," said Jimmy Chang, vice president of sales at Acme Portable Machines, a Los Angeles-based solution provider and Naturetech reseller. "The hardware is pretty nice. It's steady and fast, too." And while Wintel customers continue to dominate the market, Chang said, "developers who use Apple or Solaris platforms are very dedicated to their platforms."
\
\
It's that dedication that gives Schwartz, Lee and Chang reason to believe betting on Solaris could be a market-share long shot that pays off.