Sun Wheels and Deals to Push Servers and Storage

Published: October 5, 2006

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Sun Microsystems might have one of the best server product lines it has put into the field in a long time, but server buyers--particularly those who do acquisitions for the Global 10000--like to get a deal on top of the price/performance improvements that come from a new product line. And, so do customers who are completely new to Sun. That's why Sun has a number of deals on the books to make its Sun Fire servers better bargains.

Sun has a vast installed base of UltraSparc-II iron out there, and it wants customers to trade in these boxes and get modern. And it is willing to give them a discount of up to 20 percent off the cost of the new iron to encourage them to move.

Customers using Enterprise E220R, 250, 450, 420R, E3000, E3500, E4000, E4500, E5000, E5500, E6000, E6500, and E10000 servers--basically, Sun's product line from the late 1990s, the one that made the company an industry juggernaut during the dot-com era--can switch to newer gear. Specifically, companies can buy Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers using the "Niagara" Sparc T1 processors, Sun Fire V215, V245, and V445 servers using the "Jalapeno" UltraSparc-IIIi processors, or Sun Fire V490, V890, E2900, E4900, E6900, E20K and E25K servers using the "Panther" dual-core UltraSparc-IV+ processors. Sun is also allowing companies to upgrade to earlier generation UltraSparc-IIIi servers--the V210, V240, and V440, but why anyone would do that given that there are better alternatives is unclear. (It probably has to do with server certifications inside big companies. Once a server platform is certified to be OK to run an application, some organizations do not mess with the server configuration, even if better iron comes along.) Sun is not offering discounts to companies that jump from UltraSparc-II machines to its Opteron-based Sun Fire "Galaxy" boxes.

The discounts vary depending on the machinery you buy, as follows:

• V210, 8 percent off
• V240 and V440, 12 percent off
• V215, 10 percent off
• V245, 15 percent off, V445, 20 percent off
• T1000, 10 percent off
• T2000, 15 percent off

Sun did not provide details on discounts available for the UltraSparc-IV+ machines, which means customers should argue for the 20 percent. Considering the cost of these machines, that is a fair starting point for discounts, even without a formal Sun deal.

This UltraSparc-II trade-up discount deal ends April 1, 2007. (No joke.)

Sun also has a deal called the Storage Smackdown that gives companies that buy Sun server and storage combos an additional 10 percent or 15 percent discount. The amount of the discount depends on the storage you buy. Those who buy a StorageTek NAS (network-attached storage) array get a 15 percent discount, while those who buy regular StorageTek disk arrays get a 10 percent discount. To take part in this deal, which runs through January 31, 2007, customers can buy the following servers along with their storage: Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 Niagara servers; Sun Fire X2100, X4100, X4200, X4600 Galaxy servers as well as the prior generation V440 Opteron box; V125, V210, V215, V240, V245, V440, and V445 UltraSparc-IIIi servers; and the Sun Blade 8000 blade servers that were announced this summer.