Solaris 2.0 press releases

Tue Jun 23 19:28:41 PDT 1992

Since there has been so much misinformation circulating about Solaris on 
the net, here is some timely information... to the extent that "information"
can be gleaned from press releases.

A careless reading might mislead one into thinking that Solaris
2.0 has some magic that disguises the difference between the SPARC
versions, with 128-bit long double in software, and the x86 versions, with
80-bit long double in hardware (hardware floating point is required).
This is overly optimistic, although the fine print covering that point
was not included in the following press releases.   The respective ABI's
mandate different long double formats.

If in 1988 I had known the way things were going to go in 1992, 
I would not have changed the SPARC V7 extended type with 64 significant bits to
the SPARC V8 quad type with 113 significant bits!   SPARC V8 quad has now been
sealed into the SVR4 ABI,
an IEEE 1754 draft standard, and in a draft 64-bit SPARC V9 which
has been announced but not released.

Some people got the impression that x86 Solaris might require much
less system hardware than a typical RISC Unix workstation.   This is also
incorrect, although the press release goes into that in detail.

In general the minimum system required to support "new-age" x86|RISC 
operating systems will be fairly muscular by PC standards.
A major issue for these operating systems will be
how well they can run existing MSDOS and Macintosh applications in
some kind of compatibility mode.

Finally note that x86 Solaris will not be sold by SunSoft or SMCC to end users,
but by third parties such as x86 system vendors, who will have to adapt it
to their platforms.

Blazing a new frontier of "intellectual" property rights, Sun subsidiaries now
proudly copyright their marketing press releases.

_____________________________________________________________________________

 		MAJOR MANUFACTURERS BACK SOLARIS 2.0 ON 80X86 
		NCR, Zenith, Olivetti, Everex Announce Support
			ICL To Port Solaris To 80X86 Line

	PC EXPO, New York, June 23, 1992 -- Today, major system
manufacturers announced plans to support SunSoft's Solaris 2.0
distributed computing solution on the 80X86 platform. They are NCR,
Zenith Data Systems, Olivetti and Everex.  In addition, ICL, the
leading UK-based computer systems company, will port Solaris 2.0 to its
80X86 product line.
	These companies join a growing list of vendors that have
announced support for the Solaris 2.0 software. They include some of
the world's most powerful PC and server suppliers such as Dell
Computer, Toshiba, AST Research, CompuAdd and NetFRAME. Solaris 2.0 is
now backed by six of the top ten suppliers of PC compatible systems in
the United States, and by three of the top five PC compatible suppliers
in Europe.
	"Momentum for Solaris in the X86 market continues to
accelerate," said Bill Larson, SunSoft vice president of
marketing and sales. "The overwhelming support for Solaris 2.0
demonstrates user demand for powerful 32-bit computing solutions --
with built-in networking, multiprocessing and multithreading -- in the
X86 market."
	 "Solaris from SunSoft provides a robust feature set, 32-bit
application base and shrink-wrapped packaging. The certification of
Solaris on selected NCR client workstations extends our potential
market coverage in the UNIX client environment,"said Alok Mohan, vice
president, NCR's workstation products division.
	"The Solaris distributed computing solution will fit well into
our high-end UNIX product strategy for 1993," commented Enrico
Pesatori, president and chief executive officer for Zenith Data
Systems.
	"Olivetti will include Solaris in its ISV program, which
forsees certification and joint marketing of leading
off-the-shelf software platforms, because of its technical strengths,
particularly in the areas of multiprocessing and multithreading.
Solaris will strengthen our position in the high-end desktop
marketplace," said Luigi Bocchino, vice president of corporate
marketing at Olivetti.
	"Solaris is an ideal platform for us to apply our strengths in
fault-tolerant and multiprocessor design," added Steve Hui, chairman
and cofounder of Everex.
	SunSoft's Solaris 2.0 unites the world's highest-volume RISC
and CISC platforms -- SPARC and 80X86 -- with a single computing
environment.  Solaris 2.0 on the X86 was demonstrated for the first
time here today running on systems from Dell, Zenith Data Systems and
CompuAdd. It features a robust operating system, full-featured
development environment and end user desktop.  An early access version
of Solaris 2.0 on the X86 will be available for softwaredevelopers in
Q3 of calendar year 1992.

SunSoft, headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is the system
software subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc. The company has
offices in North America, Europe and Asia and is the leading supplier
for 32-bit software solutions.  SunSoft's products are targeted at end
users, software developers and system administrators. The products are
licensed by SunSoft and distributed through major computer
manufacturers and resellers worldwide.

				###

1992 Copyright Sun Microsystems, Inc. SunSoft, Solaris are trademarks or 
registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All other products or service 
names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

 ______________________________________________________________________

		SOLARIS FOR X86 DEMONSTRATED FOR FIRST TIME
	Featured on CompuAdd, Dell, and Zenith Data Systems 486 Systems
		Hardware Reference Configuration Announced

	PC EXPO, New York, June 23, 1992-- SunSoft today unveiled its
Solaris 2.0 distributed computing solution operating on 80X86-based
computers, demonstrating for the first time the world's most popular
32-bit system software on the most widely used microprocessor
architecture. The full Solaris 2.0 environment (SunOS 5.0, ONC+,
OpenWindows and DeskSet) was shown on systems from leading personal
computer manufacturers including Dell Computer, Zenith Data Systems and
CompuAdd.
	 In related announcements, five new computer manufacturers announced
their intention to support Solaris on their 80X86 systems. NCR Corp.,
Everex, Zenith, Olivetti, and ICL join a number of other hardware
vendors planning to support Solaris for X86 including Dell, AST
Research, CompuAdd, NetFRAME and Toshiba.
	"The momentum for Solaris on the X86 continues with our technology
demonstration and with the addition of our new partners," said
Janpieter Scheerder, vice president of engineering for Intel products
at SunSoft. "It is clear that Solaris will be the first environment to
unleash the full power of 386 and 486-based systems."
	Demonstrated on Solaris were three personal productivity applications
from Island Graphics Corp.: Island Write, Island Paint and Island Draw.
SunPro also showed software compilers. Numerous other products will be
available soon as applications written for Solaris on SPARC need only
to be recompiled to run on 80X86 platform. In fact, the port of the
Island products to Solaris on X86 took only a few days.

	Solaris for X86 will be made available to key partners
throughout the summer. An early access version for software
developers is slated for Q3.  SunSoft also announced the hardware that
will be supported by Solaris for X86.  See attachment for details.

SOLARIS CLOSES THE GAP BETWEEN PC HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
	Historically, the personal computer market has been based on 
the 80X86 family of processors running 8 or 16-bit system software, the 
"traffic cop" which directs a computer's basic functions. With the advent of 
32-bit 386 and 486-based computers, traditional 16-bit system software has 
not delivered the benefits of these architectures to users.
	SunSoft announced Solaris for 80X86 computers in Sept., 1991 to
close the "gap" between hardware and system software. Solaris
2.0 is a powerful 32-bit distracted computing solution originally
developed for use on SPARC workstations. It combines high-performance
computing features -- such as multitasking, multiprocessing,
multithreading and network security -- with the ease of use of a
personal computer bringing traditionally expensive computing processes
to mainstream computers. With the introduction of Solaris for X86,
SunSoft unites the world's most widely used RISC and CISC computers
with a single environment, thereby greatly reducing system
administration and user training costs while increasing individual and
workgroup productivity.
	SunSoft, headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is the system
software subsidiary of Sun Microsystems Inc. The company has
office in North America, Europe, and Asia and is the leading
supplier for 32-bit software solutions.  SunSoft's products are
targeted at end-users, software developers and system administrators.
The products are licensed by SunSoft and distributed by major omputer
manufacturers and resellers.

				###
1992 Copyright Sun Microsystems, Inc. SunSoft, Solaris, SunOS, ONC+,
OpenWindows and DeskSet are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun
Microsystems, Inc. All other product or service names mentioned herein
are trademarks of their respective owners.

ATTACHMENT

			SUPPORTED HARDWARE FOR SOLARIS ON X86

CPU TYPES
* 33 MHz 386 with 387 coprocessor
* 25, 33 or 50 MHz 486 DX, 486DX2 or 486SX with 487SX coprocessor

BUS ARCHITECTURES: ISA, EISA and MCA

MEMORY: 8 MB minimum

DISTRIBUTION MEDIA: CD-ROM

DISK CONTROLLER: 200 MB hard disk required

SCSI CARDS
* Adpatec AHA-1540/42B, ISA 16-bit, and Adaptec AHA-1740/42B, EISA 32-bit
* DPT PM2011/9X (90,95) ISA 16-bit, DPT PM20112A/9X (90,95) EISA, 32-bit and
DPT PM 20112B/9X (90) EISA, 32-bit

VIDEO DISPLAY ADAPTERS
* Super VGA or 8514A-based
* VESA SVPMI compliant
* ATI Graphics Ultra and Orchid Prodesigner II (both 1024x768, 256 colors)

SUPER VGA CHIPSETS
*Tseng Labs ET 4000 and Western Digital WD90C30 (both 1024x768, 256 colors)

GRAPHICAL INPUT DEVICES
* Logitech C7/9 Serial/Bus 3 button and Logitech Mouseman Serial/Bus 3 button
* Microsoft Serial/Bus 2/3 button and Microsoft IBM PS/2 mouse compatibles

NETWORK ADAPTERS
* WD80x3, Ethernet or 10BaseT, ISA, 8/16-bit
* Installed base: 8003E/EB/W, 8013EP/W/EW/EBT
* Currently shipping: 8003EP/WC, 8013EPC/WC/EWC

TAPE
* SCSI tape (1/24 inch, 4 mm or 8 mm) and CD-ROM

SOUND
* Soundblaster Pro

OTHER
* High and low density floppy drive (3.5", 5.25")
* Up to four parallel ports and up to four serial ports

--------------------------------------------------------------------

	SUNPRO DEMONSTRATES SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TECHNOLOGY FOR 
		SOLARIS-BASED 80X86 COMPUTERS

Personal Computer Users Will Gain Access to the Same Powerful
Development Environment Previously Available Only to SPARC 
Workstation Users

		NEW YORK, NY -- June 23, 1992 -- SunPro(TM), a Sun 
Microsystems, Inc. business, today underscored its commitment to
provide the industry's first software development tools that take
advantage of the powerful Solaris(R) 2.0 software environment for the
80X86 architecture. The company is porting its industry-leading
SPARCompiler(TM) and SPARCworks(TM) development products to the Solaris
2.0 environment for the X86 platform, and is previewing the new
80X86-based development environment today at PC Expo, booth 2402.

	SunPro is the world's leading volume supplier of software 
development products for SPARC(R) systems and Solaris system software.
Its products were used in the development of Solaris 2.0 for SPARC
systems and are being used in the development of the Solaris for X86
software environment. SunPro's SPARCworks Professional products are the
industry's first software development products for the Solaris 2.0
software environment. The SPARCworks Professional development
environments consist of SPARCworks, a comprehensive set of programming
tools for creating, debugging, analyzing and tuning application
software, and a SPARCompiler language system. SunPro provides language
systems for ANSI C, C++, Pascal, Ada and FORTRAN. These same powerful
and robust products, previously available only on SPARC workstations,
are now being made available for the 80X86 platform and compatible
PCs.
	"We think it's time that PC developers had access to a powerful
development environment that lets them take full advantage of the 80X86
architecture," said Jon Kannegaard, vice president and general manager
of SunPro. "And as the leading supplier of high-performance UNIX(R)
system development tools, SunPro is positioned to deliver that
environment."

Easy Portability
	PC users and SPARC workstation users both benefit from today's
announcement. With SunPro's development tools ported to the 80X86
platform, PC users running the Solaris 2.0 environment for X86
architectures can create large, sophisticated distributed computing
applications quickly and easily, using the same development environment
available to SPARC workstation users. Developers can port PC
applications to the SPARC platform, and can scale applications to run
across a wide range of computers. For workstation users, the
availability of a powerful, familiar development environment on 80X86
computers means that SPARC applications can now be easily ported to the
high-volume PC platform. In addition, under-utilized PCs can be
integrated into the development environment, expanding options for
application writers and making the development process more efficient.

Availability 
	Availability and pricing for the new development tools and 
compilers will be announced in the second half of 1992. 

_________________________________________________________________________

		SUNSOFT DELIVERS SOLARIS 2.0 FOR SPARC 
Shrink-Wraps Multiprocessing, Multithreading, Networking For High Volume Markets
	Bill Joy Golden Edition Delivered To Customers On Schedule

	MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 23, 1992 -- SunSoft today announced
the on-schedule shipment of the Solaris 2.0 software
environment, the culmination of one of the computer industry's most
ambitious software undertakings. Requiring more than 1,000 man years of
development time, Solaris is the first system software product to
combine the features of high-performance computing -- such as
multitasking, multiprocessing, multithreading and network security --
with the ease of use of a personal computer bringing traditionally
expensive commercial and technical computing processes to mainstream
desktop computers. In addition, it is the only software solution
available today that provides a compatible path to next-generation
object-based computing.
	Solaris 2.0 will ship to customers worldwide in a special
limited edition Compact Disc (CD) package -- the Bill Joy Golden
Edition.  Signed by UNIX pioneer and Sun cofounder, Bill Joy, the gold
CD encapsulates 32-bit power, industry-standard networking, a robust
developer environment and a 3-D multimedia desktop. The Bill Joy Golden
Edition will be shipped to customers, including Toshiba, CompuAdd,
Solbourne, Tatung and Sun Microsystems Computer Corp. (SMCC) beginning
next week. These companies design computers based on the world's most
widely used RISC microprocessor, SPARC.
	"By combining the features of high-end computing --
multiprocessing, multithreading, security -- with the ease-of-use of
personal computers, Solaris delivers the platform of choice for
corporate rightsizing," said Edward J. Zander, president of SunSoft.
"Our ongoing efforts to incorporate future breakthrough technologies,
such as objects and nomadic capabilities, into Solaris will empower the
interactive enterprise of the 1990s and beyond."
	SunSoft also announced the shipment of the Solaris 2.0 OEM
Multiprocessing Kit, a CD that allows system manufacturers to take
advantage of the symmetri multiprocessing features offered in the
Solaris kernel. The kit allows manufacturers to tune and verify the
symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) features of Solaris for their specific
hardware implementations. In addition, the Solaris 2.0 Multiprocessing
Kit brings the power of symmetric multiprocessing to the volume
commercial market, giving users the benefits of parallel processing at
the desktop.
	SPARC system manufacturers are aggressively moving to offer
Solaris 2.0 on their computers. Sun Microsystems Computer Corp.
today said that Solaris 2.0 is available for all Sun workstations being
shipped. Solaris 2.0 support for the symmetric multiprocessor desktops
and servers, including the SPARCstation 10, SPARCserver 10 and
SPARCserver 600 MP series, is scheduled for later this year. All future
SMCC workstation and server products will be based on Solaris 2.0 and
future Solaris releases.
	Solaris is the volume leader in the 32-bit computing market in
terms of volume and applications. It runs on the world's
highest volume RISC and CISC microprocessors. According to
International Data Corp.(IDC), a market research firm based in
Framingham, Mass., SPARC owned 63.1% of the total RISC market in 1991.
Intel X86-based systems accounted for 79.3 percent of total PCs shipped
in 1991 according to IDC. Solaris has a run rate of more than 300,000
units per year.
	In addition, Solaris 2.0 inherits more than 4,000 SPARC
applications, including popular packages from Lotus Development
Corp, WordPerfect, Borland, Autodesk, Informix, Frame Technology and
Oracle. Currently more than 700 software applications are in the
Solaris 2.0 migration program.

SOLARIS 2.0: THE KILLER ENVIRONMENT
	Designed to address the needs of end users, software developers
	and system administrators, Solaris 2.0 is comprised of three
components: the foundation technology the developer environment and the
user environment.

SOLARIS FOUNDATION: Turbo-Charged UNIX With Heterogeneous Connectivity
* SunOS 5.0
	SunOS 5.0, the foundation of Solaris 2.0, includes System V
Release 4 (SVR4), the industry-standard UNIX operating system
jointly developed by SunSoft and UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. Solaris
is the culmination of the leading versions of UNIX -- Xenix, BSD, SunOS
and System V-- that unites more than 80 percent of the over 10 million
UNIX users. Solaris extends the base SVR4 kernel to feature numerous
new technologies, designed to increase workgroup productivity. These
include:

* Built-In Networking
	With an installed base of more than 3 million nodes, Solaris
ONC is the industry standard for enterprise-wide multivendor
networks. More than 300 companies have licensed ONC, including IBM,
Apple, DEC, HP and Novell. ONC implementations provide interoperability
across all major types of computers from PCs to mainframes and across
all major operating systems including MS-DOS, MacOS, UNIX, MVS and
VMS.
	Solaris 2.0 includes a suite of enhancements for ONC. Called
ONC+, these services enable system administrators, end users
and developers to more effectively access, share and control
information across heterogeneous networks.Enhancements include:

* Powerful Naming Service
	NIS+ is a flexible and powerful naming service particularly
suited for streamlined system and network administration that
fully supports the global enterprise. It allows system administrators
to easily access and manage information across multiple heterogeneous
networks, increasing user productivityand lowering the cost of everyday
system administration.  

* Industry-Standard File Sharing
	Solaris 2.0 takes the industry-standard NFS file system and
ONC-based distributed computing mechanisms to the next level of
computing with the incorporation of a number of technologies. It
features a fully multithreaded NFS file system and support for new
authentication and encryption technologies.

* Network-Independent Protocols
	Solaris 2.0 features the transport-independent remote
procedure, called (TI-RPC), which enables developers to create
applications that run unmodified across different networking
environments.

* Solaris Federated Services
	The Solaris Federated Services allows third-party network
services to plug into Solaris. These include Novell's NetWare,
the Open Software Foundations's Distributed Computing Environment (DCE)
and the International Standards Organization's Open Systems
Interconnect (OSI). A technology demonstration of the naming, filing
and security features of the federated services is offered in the
Solaris 2.0 solution.

* Multithreading (MT)
	This feature greatly speeds up I/O processing and concurrency,
increasing the performance of mission-critical applications, such as
commercial databases and simulation software packages. It serves as the
base for system manufacturers to take advantage of symmetric
multiprocessing. In addition, multithreading serves as an underpinning
for SunSoft's future distributed object technologies.

* Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP)
	Symmetric Multiprocessing significantly boosts overall system
performance. The multithreaded kernel in Solaris 2.0 allows hardware
manufacturers to fine tune SMP support for their specific hardware
implementations.

* Real-Time Support
	Real-time capabilities make Solaris ideal for applications that
require dependable and split-second response such as on-line
transaction processing, telecommunications switching and military
command and control. In addition, real-time provides an underpinning
for SunSoft's multimedia desktop features.

* Security
	Solaris 2.0 offers Kerberos and secure ONC RPC support for
network authentication. It also supports SunSoft's ARM and ASET
products for increased network security.

* Commercial Enhancements
	Solaris features a suite of commercial enhancements, critical
for managing large heterogenous networks in the commercial
market. These products include disk mirroring, in which the system
makes a "mirror" copy of a user's file on another disk and
automatically uses it in case of a system failure; disk striping that
increases application performance by spreading the I/O load across
several disks; and disk concatenation that enables system
administrators to easily move large files around the network without
interrupting users; and a terabyte file system for rapid recovery from
system folders.

* Internationalization
	Solaris 2.0 offers international support, enabling software
developers to localize their applications in different
languages and giving users a familiar desktop environment. Solaris
SunOS 5.0 provides 8-bit clean characters,international keyboards and
local language formatting and messaging. It supports localization of
Asian languages, including Japanese, Korean and two Chinese languages,
and a host of European languages such as French, German, Dutch and
Swedish.

* Standards
	Solaris complies with all major industry standards and
specifications including IEEE POSIX 1003.1, X/OPEN Portability
Guide (XPG) 3, ISO 9660, AT&T System V Interface Definition (SVID) 3
and the SPARC Compliance Definition (SCD) 2.0. Support of SCD 2.0 means
that software developers are able to create shrink-wrapped applications
that will run on all SPARC-based UNIX systems without modification.

SOLARIS DEVELOPER ENVIRONMENT: Tomorrow's Applications Today 
*OpenWindows Version 3
	Solaris 2.0 also offers a new developer environment, called
	OpenWindows Version 3 (OWV3). It features technologies and
products to accelerate user interface development and create
distributed applications that are easier to use and adapted for the
international market. These include:

* ToolTalk
	ToolTalk is SunSoft's popular object-oriented software that
enables multiple applications to share data across networks
regardless of hardware platform. Since its introduction last year,
ToolTalk has become the de-facto standard for network-based
interoperability between software applications.  ToolTalk has been
endorsed by more than 50 vendors including Lotus Development Corp.,
Cadence Design Systems, Frame Technology, Interleaf Corp., Centerline
Software and Clarity. In addition, Silicon Graphics Inc. will bundle
ToolTalk with its IRIS 4D systems by the end of 1992.

* OpenWindows Developers' Guide Version 3
	DevGuide is a revolutionary user interface builder which
significantly reduces development time and cost. The software
allows developers to build and test interfaces using icons without
writing a single line of programming code.  Instead, DevGuide takes the
writer's input and automatically generates code for the multiple
toolkits supported in Solaris. These are the OPEN LOOK Intrinsics
Toolkit (OLIT), which offers a programming interface based on the MIT X
intrinsics definition and the XView Toolkit, which allows applications
to move from the SunView interface to the OPEN LOOK interface.

SOLARIS 2.0 USER ENVIRONMENT: So Easy, It Can't Be UNIX * DeskSet
Version 3
	The Solaris 2.0 user experience is defined by DeskSet Version
3, a full range of 15 productivity applications and utilities
based on the OPEN LOOK graphical user interface. The Solaris 2.0
Deskset also allows users in international countries to tailor their
desktops with date and time formats and local language messages. These
international applications include:

* Multimedia Mail
	The application offers users the ability to attach text,
graphics, sound and video to mail messages and send them across
networks.

* Audio Tool
	The new product enables users to record and play back audio, as
well as make, edit and listen to voice messages sent through
Multimedia Mail.

*Workgroup Calendar Manager
	 This features allows users to update and schedule their own
appointments on-line as well as access colleague's calendars across the
world to schedule times with them.

* Magnify Help 
	The application provides users with immediate help on the screen. 
Users need only click on a specific icon to get a brief help message. Users 
can also access the help handbooks that provide on-line detailed help on the 
use of specific icon or application. 

PROJECT DOE (DISTRIBUTED OBJECTS EVERYWHERE)
	Solaris provides the path toward Project DOE, SunSoft's vision
for a new computing paradigm where modular applications are
created out of distributed objects that can interpreted across multiple
platforms. ToolTalk is the first component of Project DOE. SunSoft was
also instrumental in defining the OMG standard for distributed objects,
which has been endorsed by 200 major computer vendors and consortia in
the United States and Europe. SunSoft is investing significant research
and development efforts on Project DOE. The company will begin
unveiling additional components of Project DOE in early 1993.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
	Solaris 2.0 for SPARC systems ships next week to OEMs in a
shrink-wrapped package which includes a CD and documentation. Solaris
2.0 is offered at a manufacturers suggested retail price of $795 for
desktop systems in single quantity. This price includes the full
Solaris environment with networking, multiprocessing,multithreading,
OpenWindows and DeskSet. SunSoft has also established an aggressive
upgrade program for current OEMs of Solaris 1.0 to migrate to Solaris
2.0.
	SunSoft, headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is the system
software subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc. The company has offices
in North America, Europe and Asia and is the leading supplier for
32-bit software solutions. SunSoft's products are targeted at ens
users, software developers and system administrators. The products are
licensed by SunSoft and distributed through major computer
manufacturers and resellers worldwide.

					##
1992 Copyright Sun Microsystems, Inc. SunSoft, Solaris, SunOS, ONC,
OpenWindows, ToolTalk, NFS, OpenWindows Developers Guide, XView,
DeskSet, SPARCstation and SPARCserver are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc.  UNIX and OPEN LOOK are registered
trademarks of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc.  SPARC is a registered
trademark of SPARC International, Inc. All other products or service
names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.