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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Lee who wrote (26907)	1/28/2000 12:46:00 PM
From: QwikSand	Respond to of 64865

Solaris on Intel has been essentially free for over a year. The short answer to your question is based on two facts: a) The server market is growing so fast, and has so many segments, that the demand for both Intel and Sun servers will continue to grow rapidly for the forseeable future. b) In servers, Sun and Intel target different segments and are likely to do so for at least the next two years. Intel machines are growing "ever more powerful", but are confined to low- and mid-range 32-bit servers until IA64 proves itself viable. In a recent exchange on this thread between myself, twister and Tony Viola, I said IA64, which is talked about as though it's already a done deal, is in fact a high-risk project that is just beginning to come on line and certainly can't threaten Sun's market share for at least two years. Tony replied "Doesn't backing from all these companies for IA64 guarantee it's success?" Twister replied "Sure!", since twister replies "Sure!" to all questions of the form "Doesn't X guarantee Wintel's success?". My answer is that because of Intel's recent inability to deliver even on the latest iteration of its existing 32-bit chip, its captives are now looking for alternatives and AMD is looking like a better investment. That long list of IA64 backers will do the same, in a hurry, if IA64 encounters too many bumps in the road, which it might well do (it is definitely too early to tell). Some, like Siemens and Fujitsu, have already done so, remarking that IA64 won't be enterprise-ready soon enough. Until both IA64 and a 64-bit version of Microsoft Windows have established themselves in the market, which, as I've said, is not less than 2 years off, your "short" SUNW position with puts establishes you as a trader playing blips in a graph, not an investor playing a long-term trend. Traders either get lucky or don't. If you had been short SUNW 2 weeks ago you would be doing quite well. Solaris on Intel? I doubt it will be much of an issue, but if it does take off, then what you do is buy more SUNW. It means Sun will be in more accounts, talking to more customer, selling them more "kit" and services and storage, and large machines whose power the 32-bit Intel boxes can't equal, regardless of whether Solaris confers some measure of stability on them. I don't claim Sun is without challenges; they are principally execution challenges under their own control. They must get their new generation of UltraSparc 3 based computers out (and as previous messages have discussed, it doesn't matter that SPARC does fewer whetstones than Alpha & co.), must finish crafting the software that will cement their position as the dominant enterprise supplier of 1-stop-shopping e-business solutions, must do more to build and otherwise assist the spread of Sun-branded appliances. IMHO the game is Sun's to lose. Their valuation is out of traditional bounds because they are one of a handful of companies that occupy a unique position as a leading new-economy infrastructure supplier (along with CSCO, EMC, & a few others). Neither M$FT nor INTC are in that position. Why EVERYBODY should have a long term position in Intel is a total mystery to me.<g> Regards, --QwikSand

To: Steve Lee who wrote (26907)	1/28/2000 1:07:00 PM
From: David Kelly	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 64865

INTC current list of problems: RMBS total failure (Jim Kelley bought .5G of RMBS on his new Dell machine and it took a weeks worth of world supply)<ROFL> Coppermine L2 catch and bugs Er..Ah errata! Inability to ship enough PIII processors for the next 6 weeks AMD cpus outperforming Angry customers: DELL and Gateway IA64 test samples still hot enough to do toast over and under performing current PIII line. SUNWS problems: Meeting demand and keeping as far ahead of the competition as they are currently. Hiring enough people to keep up the 30% growth rate. Finding all the dots for dot.coms. Maybe I should short INTC.<g> david

To: Steve Lee who wrote (26907)	1/28/2000 2:43:00 PM
From: JDN	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

Dear Steve: I am not a technician but I find this writeup SMOOOOTH. JDN Sun Microsystems' UltraSPARC III Microprocessor Pushes Solaris 8.0 Operating Environment Performance and Reliability to Unprecedented Levels SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 2000-- Sun's latest 64-bit SPARC(TM) chip ideally complements the newest release of its Solaris Operating Environment Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq:SUNW) today announced that the technology inherent in its new UltraSPARC(TM) III microprocessor will make a strong contribution to the performance of its new Solaris(TM) 8.0 Operating Environment. The 64-bit UltraSPARC III chip, which will be available in both 600 MHz and 750 MHz versions, contains numerous enhancements to the basic SPARC(TM) architecture that idealize its performance to meet the urgent demands of the Internet-driven e-business applications. At the same time, the UltraSPARC III processor preserves investments in application software by delivering full binary compatibility with previous versions of SPARC chips, both 32-bit and 64-bit. The UltraSPARC III processor offers significant design innovations in massive multiprocessing, non-uniform memory access (NUMA), high-bandwidth memory I/O and Scalable Shared Memory (SSM). The UltraSPARC III processor is built with reliability, availability, scalability and serviceability in mind, all of which are critical in networked e-commerce environments that demand the ability to handle massive numbers of data transactions on a continuous basis. The design features of the Solaris 8.0 Operating Environment allow the operating system to see and understand hundreds of processes running on multiple UltraSPARC III processors as a single system image. The CPU, which has full support for NUMA-based systems, is able to handle non-uniform memory accesses that allow the operating system to take advantage of the CPU's multi-processing and multi-threading features. The Solaris 8.0 Operating Environment features a many-to-many threading scheme, which inherently makes it more scalable. The Solaris 8.0 Operating Environment's 64-bit software environment enables superior execution of many types of applications, and the CPU capitalizes on this advantage through its built-in memory controller. This supports high-bandwidth memory access with peak memory and I/O bandwidths of 2.4 Gb/sec, which contributes substantially to optimizing system-level performance. The UltraSPARC III microprocessor features Scalable Shared Memory (SSM), which provides system coherency across all processors. With SSM, systems with the UltraSPARC III processor can quickly expand from just a few processors to hundreds without having to rewrite applications or use extensive additional circuitry. The Solaris Operating Environment has been designed since its inception for scalability. The Solaris Operating Environment is the ideal operating environment to take full advantage of SSM. About Sun's UltraSPARC III Processor The UltraSPARC III microprocessor represents Sun's next generation of processors with the application performance, bandwidth and scalability that make it the ideal engine for dot-com businesses. The UltraSPARC III processor is capable of up to 1,000-way scalability for performance-critical scalable enterprise computing applications. Sun's newest processor offering is backed by an 11-year Sun SPARC processor history with more than five years in 64-bit computing, and is enhanced by a roadmap carrying the processor architecture into 2002 at up to 1.0 GHz.