Sun Microsystems will announce version 9 of its Solaris operating system Wednesday along with a Microsoft-reminiscent strategy to integrate higher-level components.
Solaris 9 will come bundled with the Sun Open Network Environment (Sun ONE) directory server, used for keeping track of network information, said Anil Gadre, Solaris general manager. And by the end of 2003, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based server seller also will build in into Solaris its application server for e-business tasks and Web server software for hosting Web sites, he said.
The improvements increase the utility of Solaris, Sun's version of the Unix operating system, but Sun isn't adding the new features for free. Where the Solaris 8 was free for customers using the software on servers with eight or fewer processors, Solaris 9 will be free only on single-processor computers, Gadre said. But integrating more software into the operating system will save customers money that they won't have to spend on stand-along products, Gadre said.
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