Sun Enterprise is a range of UNIXserver computers produced by Sun Microsystems from 1996 to 2001. The line was launched as the Sun Ultra Enterprise series; the Ultra prefix was dropped around 1998. These systems are based on the 64-bitUltraSPARCmicroprocessor architecture and related to the contemporary Ultra series of computer workstations. Like the Ultra series, they run Solaris. Various models, from single-processor entry-level servers to large high-end multiprocessor servers were produced. The Enterprise brand was phased out in favor of the Sun Fire model line from 2001 onwards.
The first UltraSPARC-I-based servers produced by Sun, launched in 1995, are the UltraServer 1 and UltraServer 2. These are server configurations of the Ultra 1 and Ultra 2 workstations respectively. These were later renamed Ultra Enterprise 1 and Ultra Enterprise 2 for consistency with other server models. Later these were joined by the Ultra Enterprise 150, which comprises an Ultra 1 motherboard in a tower-style enclosure with 12 internal disk bays.
In 1998, Sun launched server configurations of the UltraSPARC-IIi-based Ultra 5 and Ultra 10 workstations, called the Enterprise Ultra 5S and Enterprise Ultra 10S respectively.
Entry-level servers
Ultra Enterprise 450
The Sun Enterprise 450 is a rack-mountable entry-level multiprocessor server launched in 1997, capable of up to four UltraSPARC II processors. The Sun Enterprise 250 is a two-processor version launched in 1998. These were later joined by the Enterprise 220R and Enterprise 420R rack-mount servers in 1999. The 220R and 420R models are respectively based on the motherboards of the Ultra 60 and Ultra 80 workstations. The 250 was replaced by the Sun Fire V250, the 450 by the Sun Fire V880. The 220R was superseded by the Sun Fire 280R and the 420R by the Sun Fire V480.
Ultra Enterprise XX00 mid-range servers
Ultra Enterprise 4000, rear
In 1996, Sun replaced the SPARCserver 1000E and SPARCcenter 2000E models with the Ultra Enterprise 3000, 4000, 5000 and 6000 servers. These are multiprocessor servers based on a common hardware architecture incorporating the Gigaplane packet-switched processor/memory bus and UltraSPARC-I or II processors. High availability and fault-tolerance features are included in the X000 systems which are intended for mission-critical applications.
The 3000 model is a deskside server configurable with up to six processors and 10 internal disks, while the 4000 is a rack-mount system with up to 14 processors. The 5000 is essentially a 4000 in a rack cabinet and the 6000 is a cabinet-housed data center server with up to 30 processors.
In 1999, the Enterprise 3500, 4500, 5500 and 6500 models were announced. These are upgraded X000 systems, with a faster Gigaplane bus (up to 100MHz, depending on processor clock speed, compared to 83MHz). The 3500 also differs from the 3000 by having an additional Gigaplane slot resulting in an increased maximum of eight processors. The Enterprise X500 series were replaced by the Sun Fire 3800/4800/6800 line.
Enterprise 10000
Sun Starfire 10000
The Enterprise 10000, E10k or Starfire (a development code name also used for marketing purposes) is a high-end multiprocessor data center server capable of being configured with up to 64 UltraSPARC II processors. This was largely designed by Cray Research's Business Systems Division as a successor to the Cray Superserver 6400, itself related to Sun's earlier Sun-4d architecture servers. After Cray was acquired by Silicon Graphics in 1996, this division was sold on to Sun, who then launched the Starfire as the Ultra Enterprise 10000 in 1997.
The Starfire is based around the fault-tolerant Gigaplane-XB processor/memory interconnect. Like the X000 and X500 series servers, the Starfire incorporates many high-availability features, including the ability to be partitioned into multiple "domains", each of which can be booted individually to run its own instance of Solaris. It is also possible to remove resources from a running domain with short notice and reassign freed resources to other domains. Domain granularity is one CPU board (single system may have 1-16 of them). A single CPU board can carry up to 4 processors, 4GB of RAM and 4 SBUS IO boards. A rare option is to replace 4 SBUS boards with dual PCI boards. The Starfire is the first server from any vendor to exceed 2000 on the TPC-D 300 GB benchmark. Starfire systems were used by a number of high-profile customers during the "dot-com" boom, notably eBay, and typically sold for well over $1 million for a fully configured system.
The Starfire contains one or two controller modules which are connected via Ethernet to an external computer, the System Service Processor (SSP). The controller modules interface with the system "centerplane" via JTAG and control the partitioning of available CPUs, memory and I/O devices into one or more domains, each of which is in effect a distinct computer. The system cannot be partitioned or booted without its original SSP which contains encrypted keys issued by the manufacturer. An E10K has been preserved at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.
The Starfire was superseded by the Sun Fire 12K/15K models.
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the Network File System (NFS), and SPARC microprocessors. Sun contributed significantly to the evolution of several key computing technologies, among them Unix, RISC processors, thin client computing, and virtualized computing. Notable Sun acquisitions include Cray Business Systems Division, Storagetek, and Innotek GmbH, creators of VirtualBox. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982. At its height, the Sun headquarters were in Santa Clara, California, on the former west campus of the Agnews Developmental Center.
Silicon Graphics, Inc. was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and software. Founded in Mountain View, California in November 1981 by James Clark, its initial market was 3D graphics computer workstations, but its products, strategies and market positions developed significantly over time.
SBus is a computer bus system that was used in most SPARC-based computers from Sun Microsystems and others during the 1990s. It was introduced by Sun in 1989 to be a high-speed bus counterpart to their high-speed SPARC processors, replacing the earlier VMEbus used in their Motorola 68020- and 68030-based systems and early SPARC boxes. When Sun moved to open the SPARC definition in the early 1990s, SBus was likewise standardized and became IEEE-1496. In 1997 Sun started to migrate away from SBus to the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, and today SBus is no longer used.
Floating Point Systems, Inc. (FPS), was a Beaverton, Oregon vendor of attached array processors and minisupercomputers. The company was founded in 1970 by former Tektronix engineer Norm Winningstad, with partners Tom Prince, Frank Bouton and Robert Carter. Carter was a salesman for Data General Corp. who persuaded Bouton and Prince to leave Tektronix to start the new company. Winningstad was the fourth partner.
Fireplane is a computer internal interconnect created by Sun Microsystems.
The SPARCstation, SPARCserver and SPARCcenter product lines are a series of SPARC-based computer workstations and servers in desktop, desk side (pedestal) and rack-based form factor configurations, that were developed and sold by Sun Microsystems.
The Sun Ultra series is a discontinued line of workstation and server computers developed and sold by Sun Microsystems, comprising two distinct generations. The original line was introduced in 1995 and discontinued in 2001. This generation was partially replaced by the Sun Blade in 2000 and that line was in itself replaced by the Sun Java Workstation—an AMD Opteron system—in 2004. In sync with the transition to x86-64-architecture processors, in 2005 the Ultra brand was later revived with the launch of the Ultra 20 and Ultra 40, albeit to some confusion, since they were no longer based on UltraSPARC processors.
MBus is a computer bus designed and implemented by Sun Microsystems for communication between high speed computer system components, such as the central processing unit, motherboard and main memory. SBus is used in the same machines to connect add-on cards to the motherboard.
The SPARCstation 20 or SS20 is a discontinued Sun Microsystems workstation introduced in March 1994 based on the SuperSPARC or hyperSPARC CPU. It is one of the last models in the SPARCstation family of Sun "pizza box" computers, which was superseded by the UltraSPARC design in 1995.
Sun-4 is a series of Unix workstations and servers produced by Sun Microsystems, launched in 1987. The original Sun-4 series were VMEbus-based systems similar to the earlier Sun-3 series, but employing microprocessors based on Sun's own SPARC V7 RISC architecture in place of the 68k family processors of previous Sun models.
The Cray Superserver 6400, or CS6400, is a discontinued multiprocessor server computer system produced by Cray Research Superservers, Inc., a subsidiary of Cray Research, and launched in 1993. The CS6400 was also sold as the Amdahl SPARCsummit 6400E.
Sun Microsystems' UltraSPARC T2 microprocessor is a multithreading, multi-core CPU. It is a member of the SPARC family, and the successor to the UltraSPARC T1. The chip is sometimes referred to by its codename, Niagara 2. Sun started selling servers with the T2 processor in October 2007.
The Ultra 1 is a family of Sun Microsystems workstations based on the 64-bit UltraSPARC microprocessor. It was the first model in the Ultra series of Sun computers, which succeeded the SPARCstation series. It launched in November 1995 alongside the MP-capable Ultra 2 and shipped with Solaris 2.5. It is capable of running other operating systems such as Linux and BSD.
Solbourne Computer, Inc. was originally a vendor of computer systems based in Longmont, Colorado, United States, at first 52% owned by Matsushita. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the company produced a range of computer workstations and servers based on the SPARC microprocessor architecture, largely compatible with Sun Microsystems' Sun-4 systems. Some of these are notable for supporting symmetric multiprocessing some time before Sun themselves produced multiprocessor systems. Even when Sun produced multiprocessor systems, SunOS uses an asymmetric multiprocessing model rather than OS/MP's symmetric multiprocessing model; Sun would not adopt symmetric multiprocessing until the release of Solaris 2.0 in 1992. Due to the cost of engineering and producing new systems to compete with Sun's increasingly competitive hardware offerings and the loss of symmetric multiprocessing as a distinguishing feature, in 1994, Solbourne left the computer hardware business, with Grumman Systems Support Corporation taking over support for Solbourne customers until 2000.
The Sun Microsystems Ultra 80 is a computer workstation that shipped from November 1999 to 2002.
Logical Domains is the server virtualization and partitioning technology for SPARC V9 processors. It was first released by Sun Microsystems in April 2007. After the Oracle acquisition of Sun in January 2010, the product has been re-branded as Oracle VM Server for SPARC from version 2.0 onwards.
The SPARC Enterprise series is a range of UNIX server computers based on the SPARC V9 architecture. It was co-developed by Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu, announced on June 1, 2004, and introduced in 2007. They were marketed and sold by Sun Microsystems, Fujitsu, and Fujitsu Siemens Computers under the common brand of "SPARC Enterprise", superseding Sun's Sun Fire and Fujitsu's PRIMEPOWER server product lines. Codename is APL.
Sun4d is a computer architecture introduced by Sun Microsystems in 1992. It is a development of the earlier Sun-4 architecture, using the XDBus system bus, SuperSPARC processors, and SBus I/O cards. The XDBus was the result of a collaboration between Sun and Xerox; its name comes from an earlier Xerox project, the Xerox Dragon. These were Sun's largest machines to date, and their first attempt at making a mainframe-class server.
The Ultra 60 is a fairly large and heavy computer workstation in a tower enclosure from Sun Microsystems. The Ultra 60 was launched in November 1997 and shipped with Solaris 7. It was available in several specifications.
The SPARC T-series family of RISC processors and server computers, based on the SPARC V9 architecture, was originally developed by Sun Microsystems, and later by Oracle Corporation after its acquisition of Sun. Its distinguishing feature from earlier SPARC iterations is the introduction of chip multithreading (CMT) technology, a multithreading, multicore design intended to drive greater processor utilization at lower power consumption.
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