SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL), the world's largest enterprise software company and Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today announced the availability of Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Certified Configuration on the Sun Fire(TM) 280R server system with Sun StorEdge(TM) T3 Arrays fully integrated with Sun(TM) Cluster 3.0 through Value Added Resellers (VARs). Customers can purchase an Oracle certified, pre-installed, pre-tested and optimized Oracle9i Real Application Clusters hardware and software offering, via a single reseller source, thus reducing acquisition and deployment time. The Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Certified Configuration powered by the Sun platform can reduce the complexities of implementing software and hardware in an e-business infrastructure. Customers are no longer required to contact separate organizations for integration, support and maintenance, enabling a reduced total cost of ownership. This Oracle Certified Configuration is a "one stop shop" solution designed to reduce costs associated with having to integrate operating systems, applications and tools by providing pre-integrated systems that are ready for operational deployment. Other key benefits of the Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Certified Configuration powered by Sun systems include: Sun Solaris(TM) 8 Operating Environment (OE) -- the established OS leader for availability, scalability, and security in the Internet age. 100 percent binary compatible with all software that runs on previous generation server products. Sun Cluster 3.0 -- an easy-to-use, highly available, and scalable clustering solution that is tightly integrated with the Solaris OE. Sun StorEdge T3 Array -- Represents a new and advanced generation of flexible, reliable storage systems that allow businesses to scale storage capacity, performance, and availability seamlessly as business needs grow High Availability -- Solaris OE provides built-in features such as live upgrade, automatic dynamic reconfiguration, hot relief, hot diagnostics, dynamic system domains, IP network fail-over and balancing, UNIX file system logging, and remote console Flexibility -- Adjustable memory size, storage capacity and storage management software to meet specific customer need Security -- Backed by Oracle and Sun's high-level security assurance on data across the network, hardware and within the database. Systems Management -- Ships with Oracle Enterprise Manager for easy ongoing database management, and Sun(TM) Management Center 3.0 which enhances application availability, optimizes performance and scalability, and simplifies management of Sun server hardware, Solaris(TM) Operating Environment and applications. "The combination of the Sun Fire server and Oracle9i Real Application Clusters offers our customers one of the fastest ways to deploy reliable, scalable solutions for industry-leading clustered database technology," said Michael Rocha, senior vice president, Platform Technologies Division at Oracle Corporation. "Together Sun and Oracle continue to provide our customers with proven certified solutions, allowing them to focus on their mission-critical applications and their business." The Sun Fire 280R server uses one or two of Sun's UltraSPARC(TM) III CPU modules, each implementing the SPARC(TM) extensions that accelerate multimedia, networking, encryption, and Java(TM) technology processing. Fully integrated with Network File System (NFS) Sun Cluster 3.0 software, Sun StorEdge T3 Arrays, and pre-installed Oracle9i Database with the Sun Fire 280R server enables faster time-to-deployment and less risk during clustering implementation. "Oracle and Sun continue to work together to deliver an integrated, high performance solutions that can reduce our customers total cost of operations," said Doug Kaewert, senior vice president, Sun Developer Network Group, at Sun Microsystems. "With this offering now available through the channel, customers can quickly purchase an Oracle certified, pre-installed, pre-tested solution, which can dramatically reduce their deployment time. This clearly aligns with our broader story with Oracle in data warehousing, content management and transaction processing."