Sun OpenSPARC(TM) Initiative Publishes UltraSPARC(R) Architecture 2005 and HyperVisor API Specifications, Enabling Greater Customer Choice and Innovation in Highly-Threaded Environments

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) announced today at the Open Source Business Conference (OSBC) that its OpenSPARC initiative has released the UltraSPARC(R) Architecture 2005 and HyperVisor API specifications to help jumpstart the porting of Linux, BSD and other operating systems, middleware and applications to the UltraSPARC T1 processor with CoolThreads(TM) technology. The publication of these specifications will broaden the base of users who can take advantage of the performance, power and space benefits of the UltraSPARC T1 processor's massive throughput. The documentation is available for free download at: opensparc.net.

"Sun is making the documentation available to help nurture the creation of a new chip multi-threading community, and to assist companies interested in porting operating systems and other applications to the UltraSPARC T1 processor's threaded environment. The development community now has the information needed to port Linux to the CoolThreads architecture and to take full advantage of the chip's multi-threading capabilities. Sharing UltraSPARC T1-based processor source code reflects Sun's continuing commitment to the open source development model and to offering customers greater choice.

"Today we open the door to expanding SPARC onto new platforms and into new markets, breaking down barriers to innovation and giving our customers more choice," said Jonathan Schwartz, President and Chief Operating Officer, Sun Microsystems. "Having Linux or BSD ports for the UltraSPARC T1 processor will greatly expand the SPARC market, giving customers more opportunities to reap the benefits of our CoolThreads technology. The OpenSPARC effort is fostering a community for SPARC-based, 32 thread innovation that will play a crucial role in redefining industry standards in the data center."

Community Support for OpenSPARC

Industry guru David Miller is actively working on expanding the UltraSPARC T1 onto new operating platforms and applications.

Kip Macy, the author of the FreeBSD port to the Xen x86 hypervisor, is excited about the opportunity to port FreeBSD to a new hypervisor on a new architecture.

"The UltraSPARC T1 processor's approach to throughput computing is a refreshing change from other architectures and FreeBSD will one day be able to fully exploit the parallelism exposed by the cutting edge processor. The T1 is particularly interesting to me because I feel that its price-performance should, for the first time, make the UltraSPARC an important participant in commodity computing environments."

Opensparc.net is a free, active, open source community resource that encourages users to join and participate.

For more information on OpenSPARC, please go to http://www.opensparc.net/

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

A singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer"(TM) -- guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at sun.com.

NOTE: Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Solaris, Sun Fire, The Network is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and in other countries. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the US and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.

CONTACT: Alex Plant of Sun Global Communications, +1-415-786-3451, or
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