In efforts to promote an "OS-neutral" blade server for IBM and for Sun to broaden their horizons, Solaris 10 x86 will be a standard and supported option on IBM's new BladeCenter servers. Though IBM will not directly support or sell Solaris, the majority of vendors will though, and support will be purchased through Sun, making the BladeCenter be one the most versatile platforms on the market. Windows, Linux, AIX and now Solaris are all supported.
"We've signed up our first tier 1 systems vendor as a Solaris supporter: It's IBM, and their decision to provide comprehensive support for Solaris on BladeCenter definitely puts them ahead of the other blade vendors in offering a truly OS-neutral product,"
Sun is not partnering with IBM for hardware, opting to continue to produce their own hardware and set to release their own design of blades next year. IBM is top tier in blade currently, so Sun has played their hand well in doing software partnerships, perhaps a way to get more Sun servers in the field once the next upgrades are due.