up.time version 4 released

Posted by Bill Bradford on Feb 23, 2006

uptime software, inc. has released the latest version (v4) of its systems monitoring and management software.

Over 900 IT organizations in more than 30 countries around the globe use up.time
every day for obtaining fast web browser access to real-time and historical performance information for their servers, applications, databases and mission-critical IT services. up.time 4 installs in less than 30 minutes and immediately helps IT organizations
eliminate unnecessary outages, increase service uptime, plan for optimal enterprise server capacity, and reduce the cost of systems management on an annual basis.

A free 14-day evaluation of up.time 4 is available for download at http://www.uptimesoftware.com.

(disclaimer: SunHELP is a happy customer and user of up.time and uptime software)

Ask the Experts: Java Plug-In Technology

Posted by Bill Bradford on Feb 22, 2006

Got a question about Java Plug-In technology? Post your questions during the week of February 27 and get answers from Sun engineers Dennis Gu, Danielle Pham, and Mike Lei in this Ask the Experts session.

Sun expands on Niagara Try-N-Buy program

Posted by Bill Bradford on Feb 22, 2006

Jonathan Schwartz has more on the Niagara/T2K Try-N-Buy effort at Sun:

A while back, I announced we’d start making servers available for free trial – the objective wasn’t to terrify financial analysts, although I’m certain a few gripped their chest, but instead to drive awareness among customers that hadn’t been exposed to Sun. And free seemed like the right price to drive adoption among developers (honestly, we’re not too worried about folks who elect not to buy failing to return a $5,000 server (we cover postage both ways)).

The program started off slowly – partly due to internal disbelief (there’s a long story, there), but secondarily, our focus group feedback suggested no one believed we’d actually send them a free Niagara. So let me reiterate: go to sun.com, fill out the form, we’ll send you the fastest server on earth, absolutely free. If you don’t like it, we’ll send someone to pick it up.

We were also serious about the following: if you write a blog that fairly assesses the machine’s performance (positively or negatively), send us a pointer, we’re likely to let you keep the machine. (And before you ask, the marketing team makes the decision about what qualifies for the promotion, not I – although I know they love drama, charts, and compelling competitive analyses.)

Sun publishes UltraSPARC 2005 Specifications

Posted by Bill Bradford on Feb 14, 2006

Sun has released the UltraSPARC Architecture 2005 Specifications along with the UltraSPARC T1 Supplement and UltraSPARC T1 Hypervisor API Specification at OpenSPARC.net.

Xen on UltraSPARC T1

Posted by Bill Bradford on Feb 13, 2006

According to this Register article, Sun plans to release a version of the Xen hypervisor to allow multiple operating system instances (Solaris, Linux, etc) to run on Niagra-based systems simultaneously.

VMWare Server released as a free product

Posted by Bill Bradford on Feb 6, 2006

VMWare has released a beta version of its new VMWare Server product, available free of charge. The initial release of VMWare Server runs under Windows or Linux host operating systems.

Sun Fire X4200 “Galaxy” Server Review

Posted by Bill Bradford on Feb 3, 2006

SunHELP contributor Ben Rockwood has posted a great hands-on review of the Sun Fire X4200 server.

Ask the Experts: What’s New in Java Web Services Developer Pack 2.0 (Feb 6-10)

Posted by Bill Bradford on Feb 2, 2006

The Java Web Services Developer Pack (Java WSDP) is a free integrated toolkit for building XML applications, web services, and web applications. The recently
released Java WSDP 2.0 adds many new features including early access of the “integrated stack” of technologies for easier, more efficient and more reliable deployment of web services.

Got a question about Java WSDP 2.0? Submit your questions during the week of Feb. 6 and get answers from Java WSDP 2.0 lead engineer Ramesh Mandava, and Java WSDP developer Ana Lindstrom-Tamer.

Sun closing one Silicon Valley campus

Posted by Bill Bradford on Feb 1, 2006

According to this NEWS.COM post, Sun is closing most of its Sunnyvale, California campus. Most employees currently working at that location will be transferred to Sun headquarters in Santa Clara, California.

Sun “Type 7” USB keyboard and optical mouse now available

Posted by Bill Bradford on Feb 1, 2006

Sun now has the Type 7 USB keyboard (in UNIX or PC layouts) and optical USB mouse available. The keyboard features a built-in USB hub.

The country kits with PC-style keyboard (X3731A) and UNIX-style keyboard (X3738A) are $50 each at the online Sun Store. I’ve ordered one and will post a review once it arrives.

Sun “Type 7” USB keyboard and optical mouse now available

Posted by on Feb 1, 2006

Sun now has the Type 7 USB keyboard (in UNIX or PC layouts) and optical USB mouse available. The keyboard features a built-in USB hub.

I could not find a price listed for the Optical Scroll Mouse, but the PC-style keyboard (X3731A) and UNIX-style keyboard (X3738A) are $50 each at the online Sun Store.