PCs & Servers

Sun readying 64-bit Solaris

Sun Microsystems is getting ready to roll out a 64-bit edition of its Solaris operating system that could enable customers to run mainframe-calibre applications on high-end servers.

Sun plans to roll out the 64-bit Solaris 2.7 this fourth quarter for the company's SPARC-based servers, including the high-end Starfire Enterprise 10000. Sun also recently issued a beta edition of 64-bit Solaris to a host of server partners, including NCR, that plan to deliver servers powered by Intel's upcoming 64-bit Merced processor. Sun claimed the new edition of Solaris will be well suited for running data warehouse applications, handling large graphics files and executing complex scientific simulations. Customers who already own 32-bit Solaris machines will be comforted to know that the 64-bit Solaris architecture will be backward-compatible with existing 32-bit applications.

Alpha central to 64-bit plans

Compaq Computer's new "Enterprise 2000" enterprise strategy will get a serious boost from technology it will acquire from Digital Equipment, including operating systems based on Digital Unix and OpenVMS, clustering technology, and Digital StorageWorks storage products, Compaq officials said. And with nagging delays of Intel Corp.'s 64-bit Merced processor, the brains behind all of this brawn will definitely be Digital's vaunted Alpha processor.

Samsung claims 4Gb DRAM breakthrough

Hot on the heels of announcing production cutbacks due to plummeting memory chip, Samsung Electronics also said it has developed technology that will enable future production of 4Gb dynamic random access memories (DRAMs). The 4Gb memory chips are not expected to go into volume production until well into the next decade, however, although Samsung claims that the development breakthrough enables it to bring such devices to market three years earlier than anticipated. A 4Gb DRAM chip will equal 500MB bytes of memory and have the capacity to store the content of around 32,000 standard newspaper pages or 64 hours worth of audio, Samsung said.