Sun and Exodus Intend to Team To Speed Web Site Deployment; Rapid Deployment Initiative Reduces Time to Deploy a Web Site, Accelerating Time-to-Market
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 23, 1999--Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Exodus Communications(TM), Inc. (NASDAQ:EXDS) today announced that they intend to join forces to enable enterprises, application service providers (ASPs), Internet service providers (ISPs) and start-up companies to dot-com their businesses through a single source.
The parties have signed a non-binding Letter of Intent that is subject to further negotiations and the closing of a definitive agreement. As part of the Exodus(TM) Rapid Deployment Initiative, Sun and Exodus plan to provide a bundled, ready-to-install, scalable Web hosting solution plus integration, implementation, maintenance, 24x7 consultation and support through Exodus Internet Data Centers (IDCs). The cost-effective service provider (SP) solution is targeted to small and medium-sized providers to enable the standard base requirements for business initiation and scaling including DNS, POP and NNTP.
"Exodus and Sun are joining forces to bring a very workable rapid deployment solution to ASPs, ISPs and start-up companies who want to dot-com their enterprises in 'Internet-time'," said John McFarlane, president of the Network Service Provider Division at Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Sun's scalable Enterprise Server Family and carrier-grade, rack-mountable Netra(TM) t1 servers make it feasible to provide a one-stop shop for outsourcing a total Internet network solution."
Sun is a leading platform provider to the SP market -- more than 80 percent of the Internet backbone traffic and 15 of the 20 top SPs run on Sun. Exodus, with more than 1300 customers, has the largest global network of IDCs and provides premier professional and managed services to ensure optimal performance for customers' Web sites and other functions. Designed for 24 x 7 operations, Exodus IDCs are a virtual extension of the corporate enterprise. The IDCs enable companies to reduce ongoing network operating costs and take control to ensure availability of mission-critical Internet systems management expertise, which is crucial for providing reliable Internet services and quickly expanding Internet capabilities.
Both companies will commit the technology, products, services and resources required for companies to successfully do business on the Internet. Exodus will provide the infrastructure for pre-configured equipment in multiple IDCs in the United States and Europe, along with bandwidth and managed services. Sun will provide strong infrastructure through superior Netra t1, Sun Enterprise(TM) 250 and Sun Enterprise(TM) 450 servers running the robust Solaris(TM) Operating Environment. In addition, Sun Professional Services will provide technical consulting and integration services to the initiative.
"Since building Internet infrastructure is an expensive investment, companies large and small can't afford not to outsource in order to scale up and meet future demand," said Ellen M. Hancock, president and CEO at Exodus. "Sustaining business on the Internet takes precious time and resources to secure new and repeat customers, and outsourcing Web site operations enables companies to focus on their core business and generating revenue. Sun and Exodus' core business is the Internet, so that companies can rely upon the Internet infrastructure and platforms."
Sun's World Class Servers
The Netra t1 carrier-grade server, an ultra-slim system that allows SPs to stack up to four times more servers in a rack than competitive systems, enables service providers to more easily and cost effectively dedicate separate systems to individual customer or different infrastructure applications. The Sun Enterprise 250 and Sun Enterprise 450 servers provide enterprise-class performance, scalability, reliability and remote systems management capabilities combined with world class enterprise solutions. The servers, all running the Solaris Operating Environment offer superior reliability, scalability and manageability over systems on PC technology running Windows NT environments.
Long-time Sun customer Latitude90, a global Internet advertising company based in Santa Monica, Calif., has already benefited from working with Sun and Exodus to meet its application hosting, architecture design and support needs.
"Sun and Exodus brought to the table top-notch professional services, support and networking expertise to ensure we had everything we needed to deploy our business-critical data centers. Working with both companies was a value-added experience in the truest sense of the term," said Frank Addante, chief technology officer for Latitude90, which has over 50 Sun Enterprise workgroup and midrange servers installed in three data centers on both U.S. coasts that deploy its adMonitor service. "They made sure our systems were completely available and configured to our specifications right from the start, thereby preserving the most precious commodity for getting our service to market: time. Sun's systems and support are by far the most reliable we've seen, and are clearly the right choice for providing the scalability and performance levels required to keep pace with our explosive rate of growth."
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network is The Computer(TM)," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of high quality hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $11 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the World Wide Web at sun.com.
About Exodus Communications
Exodus Communications is a leading provider of Internet system, network management solutions and technology professional services for enterprises with mission-critical Internet operations. The Company manages Internet Web sites and its network infrastructure from 13 Internet Data Centers (IDCs) located in the United States and Europe. Exodus currently has IDCs located in the Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle (2), Silicon Valley (4) and Washington, D.C. (2) metropolitan areas. The Company has announced the planned addition of six additional IDCs and three international server hosting sites by the end of 1999, bringing the total number of Exodus sites to 22 worldwide. More information on Exodus can be found at www.exodus.net.
Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Netra, Sun Enterprise, Solaris, and The Network is the Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
Exodus Communications and Exodus are trademarks for Exodus Communications, Inc., and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. |
