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Software vendors boost Solaris on Intel

Opinion
Apr 22, 20031 min
Networking

* With vendor support momentum for Solaris on x86-based computers is picking up

The momentum for Solaris on x86-based computers is picking up with Sun’s announcement that several software vendors have decided to support the operating system, which holds more than 50% of the market share for Unix operating systems.

Sun said Check Point, RSA Security, SunGard, MatrixOne and Brooks Automation have joined a group of other vendors already developing software for 32-bit Intel servers. Among the other vendors supporting Solaris on x86 are Sybase and Citrix.

Sun made Solaris 9 OS, x86 Platform Edition, available to users in January. The operating system is being used, observers say, as an alternative to Linux by organizations that have found deploying applications on Intel servers can be less expensive than deploying them on SPARC servers.

Sun has been reluctant in recent years to supply Solaris on x86-based computers. Users pushed hard for the capability until Sun relented.

Solaris 9 is available on Sun’s LX50 Intel-based servers, which run also can run Linux. And it is rumored that Red Hat is preparing a bunch of Linux tools for Solaris on x86.