SYSTEMS

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-- Sun Microsystems, Inc. the leader in systems and solutions that make the Net work, reported results for its fiscal third quarter which ended March 30, 2003. Revenues for the third quarter were $2.790 billion, a decline of 10.2 percent as compared with $3.107 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2002. Total gross margin as a percent of revenues was 44.6 percent, an increase of 2.5 percentage points as compared with the third quarter of fiscal 2002. Net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2003 was $4 million or zero cents per share compared with a net loss of $37 million or a net loss of $.01 per share for the third quarter of fiscal 2002. Cash generated from operating activities was $379 million for the quarter, and cash and marketable securities increased to over $5.5 billion as compared with approximately $5.3 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2003. Sun's Chairman, President, and CEO Scott McNealy said, "Sun's Network Computing strategy is resonating well as customers look to Sun to reduce complexity and cost through a singular focus on the Network Computer. CIOs are increasingly managing their diverse IT portfolio as a single enterprise architecture rather than a haphazard collection of distributed technologies. Sun is well positioned to address this growing need." McNealy added, "We made a number of strategic efforts in the areas of entry-level systems, SPARC(R) processor development and Utility and Managed services that strengthen our position. We expanded the reach of the leading 64-bit operating system, launching Trusted Solaris(TM) for x86 and SPARC platforms, and announcing Project Orion. These moves equip our customers to build and manage heterogeneous Network Computers so they can secure, simplify and reduce the costs of the infrastructure on which the business must run." Steve McGowan, Sun's Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Corporate Resources said, "The company responded well to the continued economic challenges and earned a slight profit this quarter. Although revenue was down, we're pleased with the increase in both our products and services gross margin percentages, the reduction in SG&A expenses of almost $200 million year over year, the continued investments in R&D, and the generation of $379 million in cash flow from operations. This is the 34th quarter in a row we generated positive cash flow from operations." McGowan added, "This quarter's results indicate we continued to take the appropriate actions in areas such as cost improvements, productivity enhancements, discretionary expense management, and cash generation. These actions further strengthened our leverage capability for turning revenue into operating income. Our significant cash and marketable securities balance of over $5.5 billion and demonstrated ability to continue generating cash are solid evidence of Sun's financial strength."