In-Depth

Free SunOne version due on Linux, AIX and other OSes

[JUNE 19, 2002] - Sun Microsystems has followed up last month’s announcement that its SunOne Platform Edition application server would be bundled into the Solaris 9 operating system with news that it is making the application server available for free on HP-UX, Windows, AIX and Linux.

Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice president in charge of Sun’s software business, contended in a press conference that the move brings visibility to the SunOne offerings in the firm’s battle with the middleware leaders. “Middleware infrastructure software doesn’t only come from IBM and BEA, but also from Sun,” he said.

Schwartz said the free software can help customers and ISVs to lower their total cost of ownership in the development of Web services using the J2EE platform on many devices, including desktop systems, mobile devices, handsets, medical systems and vending machines.

The SunOne Platform is an enhanced and reconstituted version of Sun’s former iPlanet applications server, which struggled to maintain share in the application server market over the last two years.

The Sun ONE Application Server 7, Platform and Standard Editions will be available on the Solaris and Windows platforms in September. The platform edition is offered for free, with maintenance and support available at an additional cost. Additional versions of the platform edition for the Linux, HP-UX and AIX platforms will be available by the end of 2002.

The standard edition of the server will be priced at $2,000 per CPU. Sun said the enterprise edition will be available in early 2003 at a price of $10,000 per CPU.