Sun blocks Compaq's cluster raise
By: Mike Magee
Posted: 09/01/2001 at 12:10 GMT
Sun has taken us up on our invitation for it to respond to a document
prepared by Compaq which apparently rubbishes its Sun Cluster
technology (see this story).
Jonathan Mills, software product manufacturing manager at Sun UK,
denied Compaq's claims that it was taking a proprietary stance on
clustering and file systems, and quoted recent IDC figures
suggesting Sun was continuing to maintain a grip on the worldwide
Unix server market.
Said Mills: "It's interesting they [Q] are after us from that point of
view. Sun Cluster, in its existing form, has done very well and we
have some larger corporate accounts using it.
"The way we've written Cluster is for it not to care about the file
systems it runs on."
He said that Compaq's claim that its own clustering technology is
deeply wedded to software firm Oracle ignored the fundamental fact
that that company will work closely "with any significant market
player" - whether it be Sun, HP, IBM or Compaq.
He said that Sun's corporate customers cared more about
scaleability, availability and manageability, and that data transition -
to them - was only a short term concern.
The IDC figures, released recently, showed that in the Unix server
space, Sun had 39 per cent market share, IBM 16 per cent and HP
23 per cent. Sun had gained 45 per cent market share year on year.
Nor were competitors' claims that UltraSparc III systems meant
throwing the baby out with the babywater true, said Mills. While there
were motherboard changes, customers' applications needed no
re-writing and the transition was not nearly as significant as
competitors were alleging.
It was all part of the rough and tumble of competition, a little like Her
Majesty's Opposition having a duty to attack the government.
PS. Intel does not like Sun Microsystems. ® |
