Sun to Enter x86 Server Market With Opteron

Sun Microsystems, famous for their high-efficiency processors, used to be one of the really big players in the server market. Low-cost high-performance x86 based servers took a huge chunk out of them and many others. Sun now wants to reclaim their piece of the pie. Code-named Galaxy, Sun will be releasing new AMD Opteron based servers, for 1U, 2U and 4U configurations, from 1 to 8 sockets per box. The design details haven't been finalized, but these puppies are supposedly going to be serious contenders in the x86 server market. They will be designed for very easy maintenance, with disk drives, fans and power supplies all able to be removed and replaced without powering down the systems and without removing them from their racks. Straight from the article:

Sun hopes the systems will displace Xeon-based boxes from the likes of Dell, HP and IBM
Very lofty goals, indeed. The new servers, along with a companion Sun release, code named “Niagara”, are expected to see the market in 2006.