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Sun Attacks Windows NT Base with Cobalt Appliances
by Sinéad Carew
Sun
Microsystems last week began a campaign to lure
Microsoft's
customers into its camp by dangling discounts on
Cobalt appliances at stranded Windows NT 4.0 users.
The Microsoft archrival hopes that NT security and
reliability problems have upset enough customers into
looking for an alternative. Sun is offering NT 4.0
customers discounts to its Cobalt RaQ and Cobalt Qube
Linux appliances until the end of June. The move
follows Microsoft's announcement last December that
it is winding down Windows NT Server 4.0.
Sun is talking up the simplicity of installing a
preconfigured appliance server as well as the
reliability and security of the Linux operating
system in comparison to NT. "I hate to
Microsoft-bash, but it is an interesting opportunity
for us," Paul Read, a Cobalt marketing manager for
Sun said. "NT is infamous for being difficult to
maintain, its lack of reliability, and its gaping
security holes."
This is why Sun is convinced that there will be a
substantial number of disgruntled Microsoft customers
looking for appliance servers. The company is
currently targeting an estimated 80,000 network
administrators in the United States managing NT
servers. The number of NT server licenses comes to
about 11 million, Read estimates. Sun says it sold
more than 100,000 Cobalt servers last year.
Because of history and inertia--two of strongest
forces impelling IT trends--it seems likely that many
businesses, which already use a substantial amount of
Windows software, will consider the Microsoft upgrade
path to Windows 2000 or Windows.NET for many of their
infrastructure workloads. But Sun says that the
Cobalt servers allow users to continue using the same
Windows clients and Web development tools, so the
transition from NT to Cobalt will require no new
skills. The plug-in appliances have built-in software
applications including FTP, Sendmail email, Apache
Web server, and file sharing.
Cobalt Qube, the Internet and intranet appliance,
supports applications including email and Web hosting
and has a built-in firewall. The Cobalt RaQ was
designed specifically for Web hosting. Both servers
use 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer for security
authentication and remote administration. The servers
also include software tools and monitoring agents
that minimize the need for ongoing system management
and support efforts, according to Sun.
Microsoft refused to comment on the Cobalt effort and
did not take the opportunity to remind NT customers
of their Windows upgrade options.
Pricing for Sun's Cobalt Qube 3 server appliances
eligible for the deal sell for between $1,499 and
$2,099. Prices for the Cobalt RaQ server appliances
eligible under the NT replacement deal range from
$1,749 to $3,299. Sun, which is offering a 20 percent
discount on these and other configurations, is
banking on the fact that this is cheaper and easier
than buying separate hardware and software from its
rivals including Dell and Compaq.
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