Solaris 9 Stirs It Up

The latest version of Solaris 9, which was launched last week by departing President and COO Ed Zander, includes products and technologies to help solution providers build Web services, such as Sun ONE Application Server 7, Platform Edition; Sun ONE Directory Server for network identity; and XML support including Java API for XML Parsing, Java API for XML Messaging, Java API for XML Registries and SOAP 2.2.

"This is not an operating system announcement," said Zander, who plans to retire from Sun in July, at the launch. "This is a different kind of product."

Solaris 9 OE represents a new way of thinking about network operating systems, he added.

"I don't believe we'll talk about operating systems in [a few years," Zander said. "What we'll talk about will be Web services platforms." Observers said the built-in app server in particular could help Sun win market share against leading J2EE application server vendors including BEA.

The relationship between Sun and BEA, one of its closest ISV partners, is delicate because BEA deploys most of its WebLogic J2EE application servers on Solaris running on Sun hardware, said Shawn Willett, principal analyst at Current Analysis.

"Practically speaking, the obvious thing Sun is doing is putting an app server [into Solaris, and BEA is in the business of selling app servers," Willett said. "Sun definitely wants a larger market share in the whole middleware space."

Anil Gadre, vice president of Solaris software at Sun, maintained the company's longtime position that its Sun ONE software, including Solaris, continues to be "integratable" and that competing products from vendors such as BEA will easily work with Sun ONE.

John Kiger, director of product marketing at BEA, said Sun and BEA will continue their mutually beneficial relationship. Sun's primary goal is to sell server hardware, and sales of BEA WebLogic contribute substantially to this goal, according to Kiger.

"We continue to have a great relationship with Sun because the Sun sales guys know we sell more Sun hardware than any ISV partner other than Oracle," he said. "The Sun sales guys know that. . . . It's BEA and Sun together. That's how Sun beat IBM [in server sales."

Yet one source, who requested anonymity, said he would be "surprised" if BEA was not vexed at Sun's decision to build an application server into Solaris.

Sun is well-entrenched with hardware customers, said Mike Landry, director of consulting services for Burntsand, a Toronto-based solution provider. As Sun begins promoting its software sales in earnest, this could affect BEA, Landry said.

"There's a lot of loyalty [to Sun there, but they've only played in one [market segment," Landry said. "Now they're playing in a bunch of other segments. There's definitely a conflict, and that affects the partner relationship."