But that is not practical. And that is why Sun is trying to encourage server makers and systems integrators to help it validate other vendors’ servers to run its operating system. Sun is also making it easier to get platforms certified so they can be put on the official Solaris 8 and Solaris 9 hardware compatibility lists.

Companies who opt to put Solaris on Intel-based machines are just as likely to want to recycle existing servers, perhaps ones formerly running Windows, NetWare, or Linux, as they are to want to buy a whole new machine.

Moreover, Sun’s X86 machines are limited to single and dual processors, but the server product lines of rivals Dell Inc, IBM Corp, Hewlett-Packard Co and Unisys Corp can have four, eight, 16, or 32 processors in a single system image. Sun has not committed to getting support across these lines, but if it wants to play in the small and medium business market, it takes two-way and four-way servers.

While none of the server makers wants to help Sun, if customers start clamoring for Solaris on X86, they will bite the bullet and get their machines certified to support it. And in some cases, they won’t have to wait for this to happen.

According to Ann Wettersten, vice president of marketing for Sun’s Software Systems group, Sun has just inked a deal with systems integrator Electronic Business Solutions Inc (EBS) to certify and support Solaris X86 on HP’s ProLiant line of servers. EBS, a Sun hardware and software reseller, says that it has HP’s seal of approval to do this.

This is very interesting, and if Sun suddenly had the itch or urge or need to get Solaris running on other platforms made by its competitors, this is an intriguing way to accomplish the task without having to build a gigantic certification organization within Sun. Sun has also signed up Xoriant Corp, a technology services company, to help server and peripheral providers get their products certified for the hardware compatibility list for Solaris for X86. Broad support for hardware is going to be the key to getting Solaris for X86 adopted, just as it was for Linux and Windows.

Wettersten said there are about 1.5 million registered users of Solaris 8 and 9 on X86 platforms, although the download count is much higher because not everyone registers the copy they get for free from Sun.

In the last four months, which is when Sun has really been turning up the PR and marketing volume on its plans for the X86 market with Solaris and Linux, Sun has gained over 250,000 registered licenses for Solaris X86.

It is probably safe to assume the vast majority of those Solaris licenses were not installed on new machines, just like new Linux licenses and Windows upgrades don’t go on new machines, either.

Wettersten also said Sun now has 138 distinct systems – including machines from Dell, Micron and HP among others – certified for Solaris 8 for X86, and that 101 systems have been certified to run Solaris 9 for X86.

Perhaps, more importantly, more than 600 independent software vendors have ported 1,000 applications to Solaris for X86. That’s only a small percentage of the 12,000 applications that are supported on the Sparc/Solaris platform. Many of those 12,000 applications are high-end applications that are only suitable for big Unix boxes as they are currently written. So it is hard to say for sure how much of the total Sparc/Solaris application catalog can be ported to the entry server niche that Sun has carved out for Solaris X86.

But Wettersten ventures a guess that somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 applications might eventually be available for Solaris for X86. She says that Sun is focusing on the key ISVs in the web infrastructure, database, caching and identity management markets, as well as key application suppliers in the small and medium sized business space.

Source: Computerwire