Sun broadens its open source shift

30.11.2005
Bowing to the open source mantra, Sun Microsystems officials on Wednesday said the company is packaging multiple software products from its catalog as the Solaris Enterprise System, anchored by the Solaris OS, and offering it all for free.

The intention is to increase volume through the free distribution of these products and then build revenue through selling related support, services, and Sun hardware. Sun sees its platform as an alternative to the ubiquitous Windows platform.

"I think we've seen consistently that volume wins in the marketplace," said Sun President and COO Jonathan Schwartz, during a teleconference on Wednesday. He previously has touted Sun's intentions to offer all of its software via open source.

"Free certainly is the lowest barrier to entry to acquiring [a] product," he said.

Under Sun's plan, the company's Java Enterprise System server middleware stack, Sun N1 management software and Sun developer tools will be available at no cost. Additionally, all of this software along with Solaris will be included in Solaris Enterprise System infrastructure platform.

Specifically, Solaris Enterprise System features Solaris 10 with the PostgreSQL database; Java Enterprise System, including identity management and integration software; N1 management software, featuring service provisioning and Sun's grid engine; tools for C, C++, and Java development such as Sun Studio 11 and Sun Java Studio Creator; SunRay thin client software and Sun Secure Global Desktop Service.