Sun claims Solaris is 'more strategic' than Linux

By Robert Jaques on Jan 17, 2007 8:58 AM
Filed under Software

Firm revamps Solaris support services.

Sun Microsystems today began touting its Solaris 10 operating system as "a more strategic alternative to commercial Linux distributions".

The claims follow a revamp of the Solaris 10 support plans, remote systems management capabilities and migration assistance, along with new training and professional services.

Revised Solaris 10 Support Subscriptions are now priced at about half that of equivalent offerings from Red Hat, according to Sun.

Subscriptions include indemnification and binary and source code compatibility, and provide access to free updates and upgrades to the latest Solaris technologies.

Options range from the developer-focused $49 per-incident support, to a customised site-wide Solaris Everywhere plan.

"Today's announcements are Sun's answer to those who feel under-served by other operating systems," said Peder Ulander, vice president of software marketing at Sun.

"With more applications, more x86 platform support, a larger installed base and cutting edge-technology, Solaris 10 is an ideal platform for delivering web-based applications and services.

"In addition, because Solaris 10 is designed to scale for ramping up new services quickly, it is ideal for start-ups experiencing accelerated growth and requiring reliable support options and a robust catalogue of open source software."

The company also unveiled its Sun Connection service, a life-cycle management platform that aims to simplify the deployment of Solaris in the web tier.

The service does this by enabling customers to provision Solaris, Red Hat, and SUSE systems, manage updates and configuration changes, and eventually redeploy systems.