Measure for Measure

Sun ups the stakes for web services with new OS and free application server

A company integrates higher-level components into its new operating system and undercuts rivals by offering a free application server on multiple platforms. No, it's not Microsoft, but long-term adversary Sun Microsystems, which hopes to make Sun Open Net Environment (ONE), not Microsoft .Net, the preferred approach to integrating strategic business applications using Web services protocols.

In May 2002, Sun began shipping the Solaris 9 Operating Environment (Solaris OE), the foundation for Sun ONE, Sun's portfolio of software products.

Solaris 9 OE will integrate the new Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) 1.3-compliant Sun ONE Application Server 7, Platform Edition with a single server development and deployment license for use on Sun systems by the end of 2002. Solaris 9 OE already integrates the Sun ONE Directory Server, the foundation for identity management, which will eventually support Liberty Alliance standards, Sun's answer to Microsoft Passport.

Sun's strategy behind integrating these Sun ONE middleware elements into Solaris 9 OE is to make building and deploying application and Web services based on Java, XML, and SOAP technologies more attractive for developers and customers through savings on acquisition, integration, testing, support, and management costs.

The new version offers security and management features and a 64-bit Java "virtual machine" for Java programs. Solaris containers will also let server resources be divided so specific tasks can use specific resources.

But while Microsoft may be the ultimate target, Sun can't afford to ignore IBM, which has encroached on Sun's Unix server market share and, along with BEA, leads in application server sales. On the same day that Solaris 9 OE launched, IBM announced several performance enhancements for its operating system AIX5L 5.1.

A couple of weeks later, Sun launched the new Sun ONE application Server 7 product line and a new business model that will make the core version of its Java technology-based application server free to enterprises and independent software vendors on all leading platforms, including Solaris, Linux, Windows, HP-UX, and AIX. Sun also announced a Java Web services-enabled Sun ONE Studio 4 and the Sun ONE Developer Platform that aims to deliver a 360-degree view of the developer environment.

Sun plans to make money by charging for two higher-end versions: the Standard Edition, which offers features for easier manageability and the Enterprise Edition, which supplies increased reliability and clustering capabilities through technology from Sun's acquisition of Clustra Systems Inc.

Many analysts say that although the move is smart, they don't expect the strategy to have much effect on IBM's and BEA's application market share.

However, one of Sun's goals is not to win popularity for tools and operating systems but for its Web services strategy Sun ONE (not to mention selling more hardware). Sun COO Ed Zander said, "I don't think we'll talk about operating systems five to 10 years from now. [Solaris 9 is] a Web services delivery platform." And just perhaps, Sun can beat Microsoft at its own game.

— Michelle M. Young

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