McNealy: I Was Wrong About 32-Bit Computing

In a press conference at LinuxWorld here Monday, the Sun Microsystems chairman and CEO unveiled the vendor's new x86-based server, the LX50, which runs the Linux and Sun Solaris operating systems.

"On the server side, about 1989-90, we dropped the 32-bit server strategy," McNealy said. "We just said, 'That's dead. It's not going anywhere.' You won't hear me say this very often: I was wr-wr-wr-wr-wrong."

Giving up on 32-bit was a mistake because there's a market for everything from 2-bit to 128-bit computing, McNealy said. Still, Sun's focus on 64-bit is on target, and the company now dominates that computing space, he said.

"I would not trade our high-end, 64-bit computing position, product line, software base, partner base or customer base, with anybody," McNealy said. "There's nobody even close. I wouldn't want IBM's computer position. I wouldn't want HP-Compaq's. I wouldn't want Intel's 64-bit position. This is our space."

McNealy used a single sentence to describe Sun's "new and improved" network infrastructure strategy: "It's basically to provide an end-to-end architecture from smart card to supercomputer, with Java cards and J2EE integrated in one stack, all open interfaces, with a world-class development community with over 3 million developers, partnering like crazy with the leading ISVs, systems integrators and VARs, and being totally focused--no PDAs, no game consoles, no digital cameras."

The LX50, a 1U rack-mount server, features a 1.4GHz Intel Pentium III processor, and Sun plans to offer two software bundles free with the server.

One bundle, based on Sun's Linux distribution, includes Java 2 Standard Edition v. 1.4; Sun Streaming Server, an MPEG 4-based streaming media application for content delivery; MySQL, an open-source database; Web cache software; Apache Web software; industry-standard SNMP-based management agents; and Sun Grid Engine, which allows the building of a computing grid. The LX50 with Linux is slated to ship this month, according to Sun.

Sun isn't new to Linux, McNealy said, noting that the vendor has already shipped more than 100,000 Linux appliances in the wake of its Cobalt acquisition last year. "But now we're going more general-purpose," he said. "And stay tuned. This is not like we just discovered Linux, or we now have to go hire a bunch of Linux engineers. We are here, and we've got the platform to support it."

The Solaris version of the LX50, expected to ship late next month, initially will support Solaris 8 and include SunScreen Firewall, an application that will enable the LX50 to act as a firewall server on the edge of the network. The Sun Grid Engine software won't be included in the bundle but will be available for download. Early next year, Sun plans to offer a Solaris 9 version on the LX50. That offering will include Sun ONE software, including Sun ONE Application Server, Web Server, Portal Server and Directory Server, as well as the Sun Grid Engine.

All versions of the LX50 start at a list price of $2,795. Because of the low price point, Sun is acting like Dell Computer with its the LX50 server, McNealy said, adding that Dell should consider being a Sun customer.

The LX50 offers better price performance than similar offerings from Dell "because we're buying the same motherboard package and the same white box from the same Intel, who's getting it from the same Asian suppliers," McNealy said. "The only thing different is the little Sun purple cover."

Sun also provides the Solaris and Linux operating systems for free, McNealy noted. "Two for the price of none, that's what we offer," he said. "[Dell has to go out and buy Red Hat, and they have to go out and buy [Microsoft Windows." And the Solaris 9 version of the LX50 includes the Sun ONE software stack, he added. "Zero cost of goods sold, zero royalties for us," he said.

To get the LX50 into the hands of customers, Sun has formulated a channel strategy that includes SunTone-certified service providers, systems integrators and other solution providers, McNealy said.

In presenting Sun's Linux and Solaris strategy, McNealy took time out to bash rival Microsoft, without actually naming the software vendor. "We don't see any real need or desire to go have one of these big off-site meetings and decide that, for instance, the Internet matters, or have a big off-site meeting and say security is important," he said. "I don't need really to issue any of those memos. My employees, they kind of figured that all out."

Even though Sun is partnering with Intel for the LX50 servers, McNealy still managed to take a swipe at the chip giant's 64-bit strategy. "In the 64-bit space, 'Itanic,' uh, 'Itanium,' is fundamentally just rearranging the deck chairs right now," he said. "This thing is all over. I mean, they announced this thing when you all were in high school, and you still haven't seen one."

Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice president of Sun's Software Group, hinted that the vendor will soon expand on its Linux strategy beyond the entry-level server space. "That's just the server," Schwartz said. "We haven't talked about the client. And if you want to know what we're going to be doing with the client, on Sept. 18 through the 20 here, see us at Sun Network 2002. We think there's a ton of momentum, and it's pretty interesting that we've got 5 million to 7 million copies of StarOffice out in the world. It seems like somebody ought to be in a position to make sure we drive that with a little bit of oomph."