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A better question is - is SPARC on it's deathbed? If yes, then Solaris (as we know it) probably is too. Answer is probably only "maybe" at this stage. The SPAR

A better question is - is SPARC on it's deathbed? If yes, then Solaris (as we know it) probably is too. Answer is probably only "maybe" at this stage. The SPARC/Solaris combination (usually w/ Oracle) is a mainstay in the financial industry, so the current climate might be a significant hit for Sun.

tptacek 18y ago
SPARC deployments are a fraction of Solaris deployments, which are in turn a small fraction of server deployments. That's for an entire computer architecture. SPARC has also been displaced by MIPS on the high-end and PPC on the low end of "pizza-box" and network infrastructure, and the embedded market seems to belong to ARM. Financials and WebSphere farms definitely do still run Solaris/SPARC, but plenty of huge financials have also transitioned to RHEL.
- jwilliams 18y ago
  Yeah I agree - I know they are not totally encumbered. Think it's more of a question of buoyancy. If SPARC deploys were to drop off it might be enough to drop below the waterline. I guess I should have said that Solaris is actually being eroded on two fronts - On the x86 architecture they are under growing threat from Linux (and Windows). On the SPARC front Solaris is still a mainstay, but the SPARC market is being eroded... That is to say, if SPARC goes into serious decline they are in trouble. SPARC has a good multicore strategy, but remains to be seen how this progresses. Again, a key market for this is financials (e.g. hedge funds like these architectures). Solaris/SPARC still deployed in a lot of scenarios where (1) midrange is required, (2) it's a vendor requirement and (3) where there is security paranoia (e.g. Internet Banking, particularly in the DMZ) - Not saying these can't be achieved with other architectures, just the correlated factors I've witnessed. Unfortunately, most of these are holding positions rather than growth areas. You're right about RHEL in the financial industry - particularly as Oracle is now more at home with Linux. It used to be Oracle and Solaris going hand in hand (anyone remember Oracles "Raw Iron" strategy?). Interesting times for Sun all round.

tptacek 18y ago

SPARC deployments are a fraction of Solaris deployments, which are in turn a small fraction of server deployments. That's for an entire computer architecture. SPARC has also been displaced by MIPS on the high-end and PPC on the low end of "pizza-box" and network infrastructure, and the embedded market seems to belong to ARM. Financials and WebSphere farms definitely do still run Solaris/SPARC, but plenty of huge financials have also transitioned to RHEL.

jwilliams 18y ago
Yeah I agree - I know they are not totally encumbered. Think it's more of a question of buoyancy. If SPARC deploys were to drop off it might be enough to drop below the waterline. I guess I should have said that Solaris is actually being eroded on two fronts - On the x86 architecture they are under growing threat from Linux (and Windows). On the SPARC front Solaris is still a mainstay, but the SPARC market is being eroded... That is to say, if SPARC goes into serious decline they are in trouble. SPARC has a good multicore strategy, but remains to be seen how this progresses. Again, a key market for this is financials (e.g. hedge funds like these architectures). Solaris/SPARC still deployed in a lot of scenarios where (1) midrange is required, (2) it's a vendor requirement and (3) where there is security paranoia (e.g. Internet Banking, particularly in the DMZ) - Not saying these can't be achieved with other architectures, just the correlated factors I've witnessed. Unfortunately, most of these are holding positions rather than growth areas. You're right about RHEL in the financial industry - particularly as Oracle is now more at home with Linux. It used to be Oracle and Solaris going hand in hand (anyone remember Oracles "Raw Iron" strategy?). Interesting times for Sun all round.