SYSTEMS

Revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2006 were $3.177 billion, an increase of 21 percent as compared with $2.627 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2005. The year over year revenue increase was driven by recent acquisitions and by growth in traditional products. Total gross margin as a percent of revenues was 43.0 percent, an increase of 1.6 percentage points, as compared with the third quarter of fiscal 2005. Net loss for the third quarter of fiscal 2006 on a GAAP basis was $217 million or a net loss of ($0.06) per share, as compared with a net loss of $28 million, or a net loss per share of ($0.01), for the third quarter of fiscal 2005. GAAP net loss for the third quarter of fiscal 2006 includes: $87 million principally related to intangible asset amortization associated with our recent acquisitions, $57 million of stock-based compensation charges relating to the implementation of SFAS 123R, $36 million of restructuring charges, a $4 million gain on equity investments, and a $4 million benefit for related tax effects. The net impact of these five items is approximately ($0.05) per share. Cash generated from operations for the third quarter was $197 million and cash and marketable debt securities balance at the end of the quarter was $4.429 billion. "We're growing again. Products are winning awards. The Solaris 10 Operating System is a runaway success. The next step is consistent profitability," said Scott McNealy, chairman and CEO, Sun Microsystems. "Each quarter we drive for measurable improvement in our products, customer acceptance, competitive position and operational execution. During Q3, we grew our traditional business year over year in the United States, most of Asia, parts of Europe and almost all parts of the International Americas. We're pleased with customer acceptance of our products in key markets such as telco, government, energy and retail, to name a few. We're well positioned in the marketplace, and expect to reach new and traditional customers with our open source, industry-leading Solaris 10 software stack and our recently improved systems products," said Jonathan Schwartz, president and COO, Sun Microsystems. "Our investments in R&D during the past couple of years have resulted in a terrific product line. Combined with our recent acquisitions of StorageTek and SeeBeyond, as well as other technologies, we now offer a broader and more compelling portfolio of choices to our customers. We're pleased with the improvement in demand across numerous geographies; in particular, our growth in the U.S. market was broadly-based across both traditional and nascent industries. We delivered the results we were anticipating, including our operating expense guidance for the quarter," said Michael Lehman, chief financial officer and executive vice president, Corporate Resources, Sun Microsystems.