Sun Microsystems will distribute the Solaris operating system for x86 platforms on Rackable Systems' thermally efficient servers.

SANTA CLARA, CA -- Sun Microsystems and Rackable Systems, a San Jose, Calif. manufacturer of rack-mount servers for large-scale data center deployments, signed an agreement under which Rackable Systems will distribute the Solaris operating system for x86 platforms on its thermally efficient servers. Low heat generation allows twice the density of standard rack-mount solutions. Rackable's customers will have use of Solaris on a variety of platforms, including AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon systems.

"We are seeing a surge of interest from system builders and integration partners worldwide to distribute the Solaris OS on their platforms," said Ann Wettersten, vice president, software systems marketing, Sun Microsystems.With the upcoming launch of Solaris 10, Rackable's customers will have access to features such as N1 grid containers and dynamic tracing capabilities, she said.

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According to observers, Sun is deepening its commitment to extend Solaris to an array of Sun and third-party x86-based systems. The agreement will help Solaris reach into vertical markets where Rackable has a customer base, including Internet and Web serving, life sciences, government labs, oil and gas exploration, and entertainment.

Sun recently expanded its Solaris Ready program to the x86 platform, enabling independent hardware vendors, such as Rackable, to certify their products for Solaris. As a result, the Solaris x86 hardware compatibility list doubled in size in the last six months, currently including more than 200 third-party systems.

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