Sun Blade X8420 Server Module and Sun Refresh Service Harness the Power of the Solaris 10 OS so Customers Can Build an "Always Fresh" Datacenter: Sun Microsystems today announced the fastest blade server on the planet, in addition to the first subscription service that enables blade customers to keep their datacenters at peak performance and efficiency at half the cost of traditional acquisition methods. Posting three new performance world records, the Sun Blade X8420 server module and the Sun Refresh Service set a new standard for 4-socket servers, especially when combined with the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS), the most advanced operating system on the planet. The new Sun Blade X8420 server module and the Sun Refresh Service provide customers with the fastest, most up-to-date and flexible datacenters for years to come. As the only blade systems designed specifically to run resource-intensive enterprise business and technical applications, the Sun Blade 8000 modular systems are the first blade servers available to support the highest-performing AMD Opteron processors with industry-leading x86 performance-per-watt. "Today's datacenters are looking for ways to save operating expenses, but they also need to stay up to speed with the latest and greatest technology to deliver the highest performance levels. Sun changed the blade landscape when we introduced the Sun Blade 8000 modular system in July, so we decided to create a powerful service to help customers with this dilemma," said Lisa Sieker, vice president of marketing for Sun's Systems Group. "The Sun Refresh Service gives customers the ability to refresh their x64 architecture as soon as new technology becomes available, saving on power and cooling costs in addition to millions of dollars in software licenses." Sun Refresh Service Offers Continuous Refresh Capability The Sun Refresh Service is an industry first. No other vendor offers a subscription service that allows customers to reap maximum performance and efficiency from their datacenters on an ongoing basis at half the cost of traditional acquisition methods. The subscription service program includes installation of the Sun Blade 8000 modular system with server modules, plus three refreshes of server modules over a 42-month period. Customers receive automatic upgrades to the latest blade architecture as soon as it becomes available. With each refresh, Sun will deliver and install new server modules and pick up the old server modules. For more information on the Sun Refresh Service, please visit: its Web site. For information on additional Sun services and solutions that help datacenters and Sun Blade servers optimize their performance and efficiency, please visit: its Web site. Sun Blade X8420: Fastest Blade Server on the Planet The Sun Blade X8420 server module, powered by Next-Generation AMD Opteron 8000 series processors, is the only blade server to offer 4-socket dual-core 2.8GHz processors and extremely versatile I/O that delivers up to 16 times the throughput of competing 4-socket blade and rackmount servers. These features allowed the Sun Blade X8420 server module to shine on a variety of industry-standard benchmarks and set an 8-thread world record on SPEC OMPM2001 suite, making it the fastest blade server on the planet. The new record result easily surpasses the competing IBM System p5 550 and HP ProLiant DL585 scores by 16% and 29%, respectively. Furthermore, the Sun Blade X8420 server module posted two x86 world records on both floating point and integer-intensive suites of SPEC CPU2006 benchmark. For more details, please visit: its Web site. Additionally, the Sun Blade X8420 server module offers maximum I/O flexibility with unique, externally accessible, hot-pluggable I/O adapters. Industry standard PCIe ExpressModules, which support Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel and InfiniBand technologies, allow customers to mix applications that require different I/O configurations within the same chassis and further expand the configuration flexibility of Sun Blade 8000 and 8000P modular systems. For more information on the Sun Blade 8000 modular systems, please visit: its Web site. Availability and Pricing The Sun Blade X8420 server module is available now, with entry-level pricing starting at $13,095 per server module. The Sun Refresh Service is available now for customers in the United States. Monthly, quarterly and annual rates vary. For more information, please visit its Web site or contact your local Sun sales representative.