"Sun is back on Wall Street with a clear path to the future," said Jonathan Schwartz, president and chief operating officer at Sun Microsystems. "We're back with Solaris, and we're ready to prove that Sun offers better service and more enterprise features at lower costs than our competitors. We are also the only vendor with a clear roadmap to protect and extend Wall Street's investment with no vendor lock-in."

Sun's latest initiative includes a Xeon trade-in program that enables Wall Street institutions to receive significant cash credits when they switch out their existing Xeon servers and purchase new Sun Fire Opteron processor-based systems. Credits range up to $560 on a low-end Sun Fire V20z server, up to $1250 on a midrange Sun Fire V40z server and up to $860 on the Sun Java Workstation.

In addition, Sun announced the Solaris-Opteron Challenge. Confident that customers will see performance and value superior to our competitors, Sun is offering a free trial of a Sun Fire V20z server and Solaris 10, to a limited number of qualified customers. The challenge also includes free support through the Software Express program and a free performance tuning engagement. Participants in the program get to keep the servers and are also eligible to purchase additional Sun x86 hardware and Solaris 10 software at a discounted price.

Customers can find even more value in a new Linux to Solaris upgrade program, which includes a 50 percent discount on a right-to-use (RTU) license of Solaris when you upgrade from Linux.

Finally, Sun is introducing customized offers and programs for Wall Street's financial services developers in capital market brokerages, banks and exchanges - part of an estimated 300,000+ financial industry developer base in North America[1]. Sun continues to gain momentum on Wall Street with more than 1,100 solutions currently available for Sun Solaris x86 systems from more than 700 of Sun's business application software partners.

Choice of Solutions for Financial Services Developers

Responding directly to feedback from Wall Street financial services developers, Sun is augmenting its various developer programs to support their specific needs. These new community programs for Wall Street include inaugural Sun Tech Days and Developer Advisory Council events, as well as tailored developer promotions across Sun's key software, service and hardware offerings:

Sun Tech Days: The most technical developer learning conference put on by Sun, Sun Tech Days delivers two days of prescriptive technical sessions, hands-on labs, code camps and keynotes by technical luminaries, all aimed at enhancing developer learning of key industry technologies from Java to Solaris to the Sun Java System software components. The Wall Street-specific Tech Days will be held in early November.
Sun Developer Advisory Council: The Sun Developer Advisory Council provides a forum for senior technologists to engage in a continuous conversation with Sun executives on the company's technologies, products and programs with the end goal of influencing Sun's direction in these efforts. The Wall Street Sun Developer Advisory Council will be held in late October.
Product Promotions: Sun continues to offer a compelling developer solution across both Java and Solaris technology platforms through an enterprise promotion including the Sun Java Workstation. Offered at a discounted price of $1,499 a year for three years, the promotion is only valid through the end of December 2004 and includes a free Sun Java Workstation W1100z along with a three-year subscription to the Solaris 9 OS, support services, as well as membership in the Sun(SM) Developer Network program. The Sun Developer Network program subscriptions provide exceptional value with comprehensive developer resources including code samples, tutorials, reference applications, updates/upgrades and unlimited online technical support.