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Sun Microsystems' computer systems business had undergone a major
transformation in the past few years, beginning with the dramatic shift
to offer systems based on x86-based processors from Advanced Micro
Devices to the introduction less than a year ago of the first
Sparc-based servers based on the UltraSparc T1 processor, code named Niagara,
which has eight cores each operating with four independent threads. In
2007, Niagara 2 will enable eight threads on each processing core, for
a total of 64 processing elements in a single chip.
Sun Microsystems' computer systems business had undergone a major
transformation in the past few years, beginning with the dramatic shift
to offer systems based on x86-based processors from Advanced Micro
Devices to the introduction less than a year ago of the first
Sparc-based servers based on the UltraSparc T1 processor, code named Niagara,
which has eight cores each operating with four independent threads. In
2007, Niagara 2 will enable eight threads on each processing core, for
a total of 64 processing elements in a single chip.
As executive VP of Sun's systems Group, John Fowler has also
seen the company's server revenue increase 7.7% in the first quarter of
2006, and 15.5% in the second quarter. On Tuesday Fowler and Sun are
announcing a new suite of virtualization products they believe will
enhance its newest server systems. Fowler talked to InformationWeek
about Sun's recent performance and the role of virtualization in the
enterprise.
INFORMATIONWEEK: What are the most critical IT issues facing
businesses and how far can virtualization go in providing an answer?
Fowler: The traditional issues of system administration and
efficient use of hardware still remain. The most recent one that has
become top of mind is power efficiency. Escalating power bills and
requirements to minimize consumption in peak periods are all of the
sudden getting a lot of companies interested in figuring out how
virtualization can help them reduce their power usage.
IW: Virtualization can add another level of complexity to IT
management. Are IT departments trading server sprawl for virtual
sprawl? How big a step forward are we taking here?
Fowler: You are absolutely right. In fact one of the challenges
is to make sure you're not just ending up in another area of where
you've reduced hardware but increased other complexity.
That is one of the things we've been trying to do specifically
around our own operating system. Solaris containers allow you to have
multiple applications on a single operating system. If you virtualize
with something like VMware you haven't helped that problem because
you're adding multiple operating systems.
People need to pay attention to the fact of whether they are actually solving the problem they need to solve.
IW: You talk about the ability to run up to 32 separate
applications on an UltraSparc T1 processor, and 64 in the next
generation offering. Are there any businesses even approaching an
installation with 32 applications running on a single processor?
Fowler: Whether people will actually run 32 or not, I don't
know. But people will run say, ten or less. And in the case of the
Solaris containers, people can run thousands of containers, and they
will run 10 to 100 containers on a single machine.
IW: Hardware-assisted virtualization is emerging. Is it going to make a significant impact on how systems operate?
Fowler: Hardware-based virtualization adds some technology to
the processor to make virtualization more efficient and reduce some of
the computational overhead to doing virtualization. It's an enabling
technology and we've had some virtualization support in Sparc for many
years, and now Intel and AMD are adding it to x64. I think what
customers will see with hardware-assisted virtualization is an ease of
implementing virtualization without performance penalties.
IW: How far has Niagara gone in reviving Sparc as a volume
alternative for enterprises, and what impact can virtualization have on
accelerating further adoption?
Fowler: One of the things powering the growth is Solaris 10. It
not just about the hardware, but also because Solaris 10 is a pretty
exciting system. And Niagara 2 will be a substantially more powerful
processor. Virtualization is extremely important with Niagara 2 because
people will be able to take advantage of the huge available thread
count and partition it between applications.
IW: Sun surpassed Dell
in server revenue in the second quarter. What will it take to challenge
the revenue levels that IBM and Hewlett-Packard have in the server
market, or is that a realistic goal?
Fowler: We address somewhat different markets. In particular
Sun has not spent a lot of energy addressing the small business market,
and IBM, HP, and Dell all have fairly strong small business offerings.
We are very focused on the enterprise, including small and
medium enterprises, and have channel partners that reach down into
companies with 100s or 1,000s of employees.
A lot of that relates to unit volumes. The small business
market is going to purchase a lot of tower servers running Windows, and
that's not really a market we are going after.
IW: The Sun systems business today is substantially different
from a few years ago. What are the real keys to continued growth and
change?
Fowler: We are part the way through a very big transition that
started a few years ago, and it comes in three parts. The first part is
we opened up Solaris. Solaris used to be just about Sparc and was a
closed operating system, and now we've taken it more aggressively to
x64 and then we open-sourced it. We now have over 6 million Sparc
licenses issued.
The second piece of change strategy was becoming much more aggressive
about multi-cores and multi-threads. The engineering efforts we started
years ago did not become visible until we released Niagara last year.
A third piece of the puzzle is the aggressive adoption of x64,
which opens us up to Windows and Linux in the marketplace, and that
business has grown between 50% and 80% per quarter.
Is Sun's systems business different? The entire portfolio, from
top to bottom, is fresh in the last 12 months or so, and we have a
vastly broader appeal than we had two years ago when we were strictly
about Sparc and Solaris.
IW: What is the message you want customer get this week?
Fowler: The primary message is that not only can we offer and
service third-party virtualization solutions like VMware and others, we
have done deep innovation extending back many years to enable
virtualization. Sun has brought technical expertise in not just
integrating third party products, which others have done as well, but
we have also invented core technologies to enhance virtualization.
IW: Is virtualization the answer to power and cooling issues?
Fowler: Fundamentally if you can take two or more operating
systems and run them on a single piece of hardware, the chances are you
will save power. Virtualization is one in a whole range of things you
can look at to save power. It should be part of a comprehensive
strategy that includes hardware infrastructure and how it's managed.
Virtualization is not a panacea and it can bring in management
problems. But it is an excellent part of an overall IT strategy to
attack several problems from server sprawl, to power and cooling, to
software licensing, to system administration.
IW: How do rate virtualization in importance to most
enterprises, and what will be the state of virtualization in the
enterprise will look like 2010?
Fowler: A virtualization strategy must address their key
problem. It might be rapid service deployment in the telecommunications
industry. Another industry might be focused on reducing power
utilization because they are in a real estate or power crunch.
Each CIO has to have a list of top issues, and look at virtualization
as a technology that could in fact solve that pain point. So you don't
want a virtualization strategy. You want an application and
infrastructure management strategy into which virtualization as a
technology can help you.
In terms of what will happen in 2010, clearly hardware-assisted
virtualization will reach all processors, and technologies like the Xen
[hypervisor] will be integrated into operating systems. In 2010,
businesses will be using virtualization across the enterprise as a
matter of course.
Read the original article: http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=193303065
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