The deal also is aimed squarely at IBM, McNealy acknowledged. But while the APL line will have a particular focus on combatting IBM's mainframe systems, it also will include low-end servers, he said.
Sun and Fujitsu plan to jointly develop the new APL server line on next-generation Fujitsu chips based on Sun SPARC IX processors, McNealy said. Sun will contribute its Solaris OS and Java Enterprise Systems to the effort, as well as its expertise in providing networking technology, Ingram said. Fujitsu will design and manufacture the chips as well as contribute technology from its its mainframe microprocessor designs and motherboard work, he said.
In the past year and a half, Sun has expanded considerably beyond hardware based on its own UltraSPARC chips to offering a host of new servers based on processors from AMD and Intel. "Eighteen months ago Sun's entire product line was 900 mHz UltraSPARC III servers," McNealy said.
Even as Sun's own microprocessor plans continue to move forward with the Niagra and Rock processors projects, the vendor also is betting big on plans to sell hardware running Opteron chips from AMD.
In February, one of Sun's founders and its employee No. 1, Andy Bechtolsheim, returned to the company when Sun bought his startup Kealia. Bechtolsheim currently is working on next-generation Opteron-based servers that McNealy promised would give Sun the most comprehensive portfolio of Opteron-based hardware around.
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