The Solaris Operating System for x86-Based Platforms

The only industrial-grade UNIX environment for x86 systems, the Solaris Operating System (OS) provides the same enterprise-class functionality across UltraSPARC, AMD Opteron, and Intel Xeon-based systems. The Solaris 10 OS offers many exciting new features designed to deliver the relentless availability, extreme performance, and unparalleled security today’s enterprises demand. With the Solaris 10 OS, businesses can leverage the benefits of low cost hardware, yet standardize on a single operating system that can run throughout the enterprise.

Benefits of the Solaris OS for x86-Based Platforms

Enterprise Ready Out of the Box

The Solaris OS provides the stable, high-quality foundation that companies can depend on to develop, deliver, and manage business- and mission-critical services — right out-of-the box. With new features such as Predictive Self-Healing, Solaris ZFS (zettabyte file system), Solaris Containers (formerly N1 Grid Containers) technology, and more, the Solaris 10 OS provides organizations with all the tools and technologies they need to quickly and confidently create powerful computing infrastructures.

A new Dynamic Tracing facility provides built-in analysis and diagnostic capabilities, eliminating bottlenecks and enabling greater system utilization by diagnosing problems in minutes rather than days.

The Solaris 10 OS even integrates many of the most popular open source packages and applications, including Apache, Tomcat, Samba, and Secure Shell. Many additional open source applications are provided — compiled, tested, and ready to run, reducing time to deployment. Additionally, with Sun Cluster 3.1 software, Sun extends data center-class availability to low-cost Sun x86-based systems with high-availability features such as Global File Systems, Global Devices, and Scalable Services.

Low Total Cost of Ownership

The Solaris OS for x86 platforms delivers lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than comparable competitive offerings. For example, the Solaris OS is 22 percent less expensive compared to Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES, and 58 percent less expensive than Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS for a two-CPU system over a period of three years, when operating system and standard support costs are taken into consideration.¹ Additionally, the Sun Java Enterprise System gives organizations the enterprise software they need directly integrated with the Solaris OS, providing an innovative business model that reduces the cost of acquisition, integration, and support.

Reduce Risk

The Solaris OS builds on a long history of providing high security levels. It delivers unparalleled security features, including authentication, data integrity, data privacy, and single sign-on capabilities, so tampering, snooping, and eavesdropping do not compromise data or associated transactions. Additionally, many organizations are concerned about operating system licensing rights. With Sun, companies can rest assured that their investments are safe. Sun has full licensing rights to UNIX software, and indemnifies customers using the Solaris OS, making it a safe, risk-free choice.

Sun’s software release process ensures that all new features are integrated and rigorously tested for performance and compatibility, enabling Sun to preserve compatibility and add new functionality quickly while continuing to increase software quality at every turn. Sun partners and customers benefit from a predictable product lifecycle, with a new release occurring every 24 to 30 months and quarterly updates between releases. In addition, Sun is the only vendor that guarantees developers and application ISVs compatibility with future OS releases.

Sun’s AMD Opteron processor-based product line and the Solaris OS enable a risk-free growth path to 64-bit computing, helping companies leverage the power and performance of 64-bit computing while protecting investments in 32-bit applications. 32-bit applications will continue to run seamlessly at the same, or higher, levels of performance.

Ensure Investment Protection

Sun understands that protecting existing investments is a critical factor to reducing TCO in today’s dynamic environments. With the industry’s only Application Compatibility Guarantee, massive scalability, integrated open applications, and hundreds of Sun and third-party applications, the Solaris OS lets businesses standardize on a single operating system — from entry-level x86-based systems to mainframe-class servers.

With an unwavering commitment to open standards, Sun has made Linux interoperability a high priority. Sun has built-in Solaris and Linux software interoperability at every level, from binary and source code compatibility to common applications and portability features in Java technology. Sun is now taking Linux interoperability to the next level with the new Solaris Linux Application Environment feature in the Solaris 10 OS for x86 platforms. The Solaris Linux Application Environment allows Linux binary applications to run unchanged on the Solaris platform, enabling businesses to take advantage of Solaris 10 OS innovations without sacrificing investments in existing Linux applications.

Improved Service and Application Performance

Sun continues to invest in technologies that improve the performance for applications and network services. With support for SSE/SSE2 on Intel Xeon and AMD Opteron systems, compiler optimizations, and Solaris 10 innovations like Dynamic Tracing (DTrace) and a new high performance TCP/IP stack, Sun provides solutions that help businesses run at top speed.

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