ACADEMIA

Sun Microsystems today announced updates to the Sun Java Availability Suite with the addition of the new Sun Cluster Advanced Edition for Oracle Real Application Clusters, providing enterprises with additional high availability and performance capabilities for customers using Oracle Real Application Clusters on the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) for $50 per year per employee. This product leverages the industry-leading Sun Cluster software to deliver performance for Oracle Real Application Clusters customers in enterprise and database grid markets. This end-to-end Sun software offering comprised of Sun StorEdge QFS software, Sun Cluster RAC agent and Solaris Volume Manager software provides a complete solution to run a clustered Oracle Database 10g, the first database designed for grid computing, running on the Solaris 10 OS. "Oracle's tight integration with Sun ensures customers a secure and dependable Oracle environment on the Solaris 10 Operating System," said Prem Kumar, vice president, Server Technologies at Oracle. "We have worked to certify the Sun Cluster for Oracle Database 10g and Oracle Real Application Clusters, so that our joint customers can feel assured of the integrity and high availability delivered by Oracle Real Application Clusters on Solaris 10." Financial, government, telecommunication and healthcare organizations are among the industries already benefiting from Sun's grid technologies. Sun provides availability, system and services management for the grid environment, with the Sun N1 management software portfolio, which includes Sun Cluster software and Sun Cluster Advanced Edition for Oracle Real Application Clusters. Datacenters running Oracle Real Application Clusters on Solaris 10 deployments around the world can now gain additional high availability and better resource utilization with the Sun Cluster Advanced Edition for Oracle Real Application Clusters. A key feature is the shared file system with Sun StorEdge QFS software, helping to eliminate administrative overhead and providing customers with maximum data management and throughput for the most data-intensive applications. Solaris Volume Manager software is another critical feature, offering partitioning and automatic device relocation for data mirroring and high availability. Customers also benefit from the rigor of a Sun tested, certified and supported configuration letting customers know that the combination of Sun Cluster software and Oracle Real Application Clusters is of the highest quality. "Today's announcement builds on more than a decade of joint technology development between Sun and Oracle on clustered server environments," said Tom Goguen, Vice President of System Software at Sun Microsystems. "With the Sun Java Availability Suite, Sun is delivering a comprehensive cluster platform for Oracle grid implementations at a great price, reaffirming our position that Solaris 10 is the best operating system on the planet for database applications." The Sun Cluster Advanced Edition for Oracle Real Application Clusters provides new features including: * Shared file system with Sun StorEdge QFS software for enhanced performance and scalability * I/O fencing to guarantee data integrity; and * Tighter integration with the Solaris 10 OS to minimize downtime for customers' applications. Sun Cluster software and Sun Cluster Advanced Edition for Oracle Real Application Clusters are part of the Java Availability Suite as well as part of the broader Sun Java Enterprise System. The Sun Java Availability Suite can be downloaded for free through the Solaris Enterprise System -- a risk-free method to evaluate, develop, and deploy Sun software. For more information and free product downloads, please visit: its Web site.