Sun Buys Clustra Systems To Improve iPlanet Application Server

iPlanet AOL-Time Warner Sun Microsystems Clustra Systems

At the JavaOne show here next week, Sun will introduce its plan to incorporate Clustra's clustering technology into its iPlanet app server to improve product performance, said Sanjay Sarathy, director of development enablement for Sun's iPlanet product line.

Clustering is a database technology that groups servers together so that if one server fails, the entire system does not go down. Sarathy said Sun will use the technology in a similar way to ensure that applications built on iPlanet's app server do not crash.

"[Clustra provides clustering technology that allows apps to very easily failover and provide high degrees of uptime," said Sarathy. "Even if something were to go down within the app, the Clustra technology would self-repair the actual application -- the part that is corrupt -- without bringing the application down."

Mark Tolliver, Sun vice president and general manager of the iPlanet division, said Sun eventually will use the Clustra technology across all of its products in the iPlanet middleware line."We will use the technology across the product line [to turn all this middleware into truly mission critical products," said Tolliver.

As first reported by CRN, Sun President and COO Ed Zander admitted at a Sun press event in January that Sun's iPlanet app server wasn't up to par, and that the company was eyeing a deal to boost the performance of the product. Zander would not say at the time which company Sun would acquire.

The Clustra acquisition comes as Sun officially takes over the iPlanet product line, which began as an alliance between Sun and AOL in March 1998.

Tolliver called the acquisition a "a nice thing to talk about as we conclude this [alliance project and [iPlanet takes off as a Sun organization." He added that adding clustering is the first of many steps Sun will take to improve its iPlanet middleware line.

In a letter Monday to customers, Sun Chairman and CEO Scott McNealy assured customers that Sun is committed to the success of the iPlanet product line, as it is an integral part of the Sun Open Net Environment (ONE) strategy for providing an end-to-end Web services platform.

"iPlanet is now a division of Sun and a core component of our Sun ONE offering," wrote McNealy. "As with any Sun product family, you can count on the full support of the Sun organization, our professional services, tech support, engineering, sales and marketing teams, all of which will be working to support your use of the iPlanet products."