After two delays, Sun Microsystems intends to debut a beta of its much-hyped Project Orion later this month, with a formal introduction of the product bundle at September's Sun Network show at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CRN has learned.

While the beta will not be available until August, Sun is scheduled to formally unveil it in late July, said solution providers familiar with Sun's plans. Sun, based in Santa Clara, Calif., will not move into general availability with Project Orion, which will have a new name, until November. However, the sources said the company will outline what products are to be included in the first launch at the Sun Network conference, which runs Sept. 15 to 18.

Sun declined to comment on its Project Orion rollout plans, but a source close to the company confirmed that the company is targeting late July or early August for the first Orion beta. There will be 11 individual Sun ONE software products included in the first launch of Orion. The project, first unveiled in February, is aimed at integrating the Sun ONE Java software products with the Solaris and Linux operating systems.

Solution provider sources said products included in the September launch will be Sun Cluster Server; Message Queue Enterprise Edition; Instant Messaging; Calendar Server; Messaging Server; Portal Server; Portal Remote Access Server; Identity Server; Web Server; two versions of the Sun ONE Application Server, Standard Edition and Platform Edition; and Directory Server.