Sun-Spots-Request@RICE.EDU (Vicky Riffle) (08/14/87)
SUN-SPOTS DIGEST Thursday, 13 August 1987 Volume 5 : Issue 32
Today's Topics:
Press releases
Sun Microsystems year-end results
PR1ME bases new CAD offerings on Sun workstations
Sun and NAS enter into joint technology relationship
Sun and 3M sign OEM agreement
Sun introduces three new graphics systems at SIGGRAPH
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Date: Mon, 10 Aug 87 16:21:50 CDT
From: phil@Rice.edu (William LeFebvre)
Subject: Press releases
Welcome to the press release edition of Sun-Spots!
Over the past week or two, we have received quite a few press releases
from Sun Microsystems. Rather than sprinkle them throughout other
digests, I just collected them all up into a single issue. If you don't
care much for press releases, then you can stop reading right here. This
issue is exclusively press releases. These messages are all being sent
out unedited (except for obvious mail header munging).
William LeFebvre
Department of Computer Science
Rice University
<phil@Rice.edu>
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Date: Tue, 28 Jul 87 09:12:55 PDT
From: marleen@sun.com (Marleen Martin McDaniel)
Subject: Sun Microsystems year-end results
For Immediate Release Sun Microsystems, Inc.
2550 Garcia Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94043
For More Information Austin Wing Mayer
Director - Investor Relations
(415) 691-6295
SUN MICROSYSTEMS YEAR-END RESULTS
Net Income Triples on 156 Percent Revenue Gain
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - July 27, 1987 - Sun Microsystems, Inc.
(SUNW), a leading supplier of technical workstations,
servers and software, today reported sharp increases in
fourth quarter and fiscal year results for the periods which
ended June 30, 1987.
Revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1987 grew to
$537.5 million, a 156% increase over the $210.1 million
reported in fiscal 1986. Net income for fiscal 1987 more
than tripled to $36.3 million, or $1.11 per share, from
$11.2 million, or $0.42 per share, in fiscal 1986. Per-
share amounts in fiscal 1987 reflect a greater number of
shares outstanding as a result of two financings in fiscal
1987.
Fourth quarter revenue was up 142% to $185.9 million,
from revenue of $76.7 million in the same period a year ago.
Net income for the quarter increased 98% to $10.9 million,
or $0.31 per share, versus $5.5 million, or $0.19 per share,
reported in the same period a year ago.
Scott McNealy, president and CEO of Sun, said "Revenue
in the fourth quarter surpassed our expectations. In early
April, we announced a significant price reduction on the
Sun-3/50 entry-level workstation to $4,995, effectively
repositioning this product to offer workstation performance
and functionality at a personal computer price. As a result
of the new opportunities generated by the repricing, sales
of this product to end-users and original equipment manufac-
turers increased sharply."
McNealy also said, "Reflecting the opportunities we
see in the workstation market, Sun has been investing
aggressively. We have entered a period of new product
introductions unprecedented in Sun's history; we recently
began manufacturing in a new 156,000 square foot facility;
and we are in the midst of a major expansion of our world-
wide sales and support organizations."
"Concurrent with these investments," McNealy said, "is
Sun's major commitment to research and development. In fis-
cal 1988, Sun is planning to spend 13-14 percent of revenue
in support of new products and product enhancements, com-
pared to the computer industry average of about 8 percent."
McNealy indicated that particular emphasis will be placed on
products with advanced graphics capabilities. Later this
week at SIGGRAPH, one of the nation's foremost computer
graphics trade shows, Sun will introduce a variety of such
products.
"Financially, Sun is in excellent shape," McNealy con-
tinued. "We finished the year with $216 million in cash and
manufacturing inventory turnover reached an all-time high.
In addition, the number of days sales outstanding in
accounts receivable stood at a record low -- 34 days in the
U.S. and 42 days overall."
"Since its introduction on July 8th, 1987," McNealy
continued, "the Sun-4TM 10-MIPS supercomputing workstation,
priced as low as $4,000 per MIPS, has generated considerable
enthusiasm in the industry. We expect the Sun-4 and other
new products to become significant contributors to our reve-
nue in the second half of fiscal 1988."
Sun has shipped more than 44,000 workstations and
board-level products worldwide and is the leading full-
service distributed-computing supplier to the technical com-
puting marketplace. It sells workstations, servers, net-
works, software, consulting, training and technology to ori-
ginal equipment manufacturers and end-users in a broad range
of markets including computer-aided design, electronic pub-
lishing, factory automation, artificial intelligence and
financial services. Sun common stock is traded in the
National Market System under the symbol SUNW.
Sun-4 is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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Date: Wed, 29 Jul 87 09:19:11 PDT
From: marleen@sun.com (Marleen Martin McDaniel)
Subject: PR1ME bases new CAD offerings on Sun workstations
PRIME BASES NEW CAD OFFERINGS ON SUN WORKSTATIONS
Natick, Mass., July 28, 1987 -- Prime Computer Inc. today announced
that it has signed a contract to purchase workstations from Sun
Microsystems, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., as platforms for Prime's
expanding family of computer-aided-design and -engineering solutions.
The contract, valued at $75 million over a three-year period, gives
Prime rights to purchase any Sun Microsystems product.
Under the agreement, Prime has ported its popular PRIME MEDUSA two-
and three-dimensional mechanical design and drafting software to the
new Sun-3/60 workstation, and will sell the software/hardware
combination as a single package called the WS3600.
"The WS3600 provides an ideal mid-range solution to users seeking
a powerful, versatile 2D and 3D design drafting system that easily
networks to other platforms through industry standard interfaces,"
said Robert A. Fischer, president and CEO of the Prime CAD/CAM
and Workstation Group.
"Prime chose the Sun-3/60 workstation as a mid-range platform
for PRIME MEDUSA because of its superior price/performance within
the workstation marketplace, for its ability to expand to 24 megabytes
of main memory, for its industry-standard UNIX operating system and for
its sophisticated networking capabilities, including Ethernet and
NFS," he added.
"Sun's extensive library of more than 900 third-party software
offerings provide users with a wide range of applications, from
artificial intelligence to genetic engineering, in addition to
the superior mechanical design/drafting power of PRIME MEDUSA."
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Date: Wed, 5 Aug 87 13:54:45 PDT
From: marleen@sun.com (Marleen Martin McDaniel)
Subject: Sun and NAS enter into joint technology relationship
SUN AND NAS ENTER INTO JOINT TECHNOLOGY RELATIONSHIP
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA July 29, 1987 Sun Microsystems, Inc., and National
Advanced Systems (NAS), a wholly owned subsidiary of National
Semiconductor Corporation, today announced they have signed an agreement
to develop, support and promote a common operating system and
communications environment. The agreement includes the joint development
of a version of the SunOS operating system (based on a converged version
of the Berkeley 4.2BSD and AT&T System V UNIX), Network File System (NFS)
and other communications software to operate on mainframe systems marketed
by NAS.
The agreement forms the basis for developing applications compatibility
between NAS mainframes and Sun workstations using Sun's Open Systems
Network (OSN) and a common operating system based on SunOS. NAS and Sun
will promote the use of this environment as a standard software platform
within the technical computing industry.
"This is a precedent setting agreement not only for both companies but for
the entire computer industry," said Tom Frana, vice president and general
manager for NAS. "It marks the first time two major data processing
suppliers have agreed to jointly develop and support a single open
operating system and communications effort. It is the aim of both NAS and
Sun to make the jointly developed products widely available throughout the
technical computing market."
Bernard Lacroute, executive vice president of Sun, said, "We are pleased
to embark upon a joint marketing and technology development effort with
NAS, a company which uniquely complements Sun's marketing efforts. While
both companies have a significant installed base of scientific and
engineering customers, Sun will be able to more deeply penetrate into
those marketplaces already developed by NAS in the large systems market.
The agreement also will allow further exposure of SunOS to marketplaces
other than our own."
The agreement is in keeping with the open-systems computing strategy
supported by the Corporation for Open Systems of which both Sun and NAS
are members.
National Advanced Systems is part of National Semiconductor's Information
Systems Group. The company markets a broad range of mainframe systems,
peripherals and services. It has worldwide sales, marketing and support
offices with products installed in more than 30 countries.
Press contacts: Nancy Groves, Sun Microsystems.
Chuck Mulloy, National Advanced Systems
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From marleen@sun.com Wed Aug 5 10:55:33 1987
Date: Wed, 5 Aug 87 08:54:20 PDT
From: marleen@sun.com (Marleen Martin McDaniel)
Subject: Sun and 3M sign OEM agreement
SUN AND 3M SIGN OEM AGREEMENT
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA August 4, 1987 Sun Microsystems, Inc., and 3M
announced today that the Engineering Systems Division of 3M has signed a
multi-million dollar original-equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement with
Sun.
Under the agreement, 3M will combine its family of electronic document
management systems with Sun-3 and the newly introduced 10 MIPS Sun-4
workstations in an integrated system used to scan, retrieve, and update
engineering documents.
"This agreement with Sun is another step in our continuing effort to use
top quality components in our electronic document management systems
program," said Robert E. Bright, vice president of 3M Engineering Systems
Division. "Our division's program is designed to bring the kinds of
components together that will provide our customers with electronic
document systems that meet their needs in a cost-effective way," he
added.
Joe Roebuck, vice president of sales for Sun, added, "3M has a leading
reputation in this market. Their expertise combined with Sun's
leading-edge technology is an ideal match. We look forward to a growing
relationship with 3M."
Sun will provide the high-performance workstations as platform systems,
with Sun's UNIX system software and Open Network Computing (ONC),
including the industry-standard Network File System (NFS), and NeWS, Sun's
Network extensible Window System. Sun's networking capabilities allow the
3M electronic document management systems to be used in a corporate-wide
network consisting of systems from a variety of vendors.
The contract also includes a volume end-user agreement, under which 3M
will use Sun workstations for in-house development of internal technical
applications.
3M's Engineering Systems Division product line includes optical disk based
engineering document management systems and other systems that utilize
35mm aperture cards, such as a CAD film plotter, processor cameras,
enlarger printers, reader printers and card duplication equipment.
Sun Microsystems, Inc., a public company, supplies distributed computing
systems based on standards, including technical workstations, servers,
UNIX system software, data communications products and networking
software. Sun offers a range of performance from 1.5 to 10 MIPS in a
broad family of UNIX-based workstations. Founded in 1982, the company has
shipped more than 45,000 workstations and board-level products worldwide.
Sun is traded in the National Market System under the symbol SUNW.
Press Contacts:
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Kim Miller (415) 691-7583
3M Engineering Systems Division, Lewis Lachter (612) 733-9534
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 87 09:19:11 PDT
From: marleen@sun.com (Marleen Martin McDaniel)
Subject: Sun introduces three new graphics systems at SIGGRAPH
SUN ESTABLISHES GRAPHICS TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP AT SIGGRAPH
WITH INTRODUCTION OF THREE NEW GRAPHICS SYSTEMS
Sun Sets New Standards in Desktop Computing, Application and
Graphics Acceleration
ANAHEIM, CA -- JULY 27, 1987 -- Sun Microsystems, Inc.., today introduced
a range of new products to the computer graphics marketplace that reach
new heights in desktop compute performance and graphics/application
acceleration and functionality.
The new systems include a very aggressively-priced 3 MIPS desktop
workstation series with color display, a line of accelerated graphics
systems and a high-performance applications and graphics accelerator.
These offerings give Sun a significant competitive advantage
product-for-product over all graphics workstation manufacturers and
represent major technology advances in several areas.
The Sun-3/60 Family of Expandable Desktop Workstations
Sun's new Sun-3/60 Series sets a new price/performance standard for
expandable desktop workstations, giving users access to high-end
workstation features such as 3-million instructions per second (MIPS)
performance, memory expansion options, and 8-bit color display
capabilities, at the desk, for less than $10,000.
Using the industry recognized standard Dhrystone Benchmark, the Sun-3/60
performs at approximately three times the performance of the DEC VAX
11/780. The system can be expanded to 24 MBytes of main memory, a
requirement for memory-intensive applications such as artificial
intelligence.
Featuring high-resolution color, grayscale, and monochrome monitor
options, the Sun-3/60 Series is an ideal platform to meet the needs of the
CASE (Computer-Aided Software Engineering), ECAD/MCAD
(Electronic/Mechanical Computer-Aided Design), CAP (Computer-Aided
Publishing) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) markets.
"With its high performance, color display option, large memory expansion
capability and low price tag, the Sun-3/60 Series sets a new
price/performance standard at the low end of the workstation spectrum,
just as the Sun-4 has at the high end," stated Bernie Lacroute, Sun's
executive vice president. "The workstation expandability also allows
users to move along an upgrade path at their own pace and retain their
original investment."
The base Sun-3/60 monochrome workstation includes a 19-inch monitor, 4
MBytes of memory, a keyboard, an optical mouse, and the UNIX operating
system that includes the above software, and is priced at $7,900. The
same system, configured with a 71-Mbyte disk and a 60-Mbyte cartridge
tape, is available at $12,900. The entry-level color system includes a
16-inch, 8-bit color monitor, four Mbytes of memory, a keyboard, an
optical mouse, and is listed for $9,900.
The Sun CXP Family of Graphics Accelerator Systems
Sun's new CXP line of graphics workstations with graphics acceleration
adds unparalleled 2-D and 3-D graphics capability to Sun's broad line of
workstations, which now feature industry-leading 2 to 10 MIPS computing
performance.
The high-end CXP models provide four times the shading performance and
substantially greater 3D vector performance than competing systems and
establish Sun as a leader in the high-end graphics workstation arena.
Composed of three models based on Sun's family of software compatible
Sun-3 TM and Sun-4 TM workstations, the new line includes the
Sun-4/260CXP, the Sun-3/260CXP and the Sun-3/160CXP, each with new
graphics acceleration hardware and software.
"The CXP line and our other new graphics products are clear evidence that
Sun is moving with increasing momentum into a position of graphics
workstation leadership," said Bernard Lacroute, executive vice president.
"The CXP line is Sun's answer to the industry's demand for the right mix
of computation and graphics performance in a full family of compatible
workstations."
"We focused on delivering a quantum leap in shading performance to meet
escalating demand for the ability to perform interactive surface
manipulation in solids modeling and visualization," said Anil Gadre,
Sun's product marketing manager, graphics.
"The CXP line also demonstrates Sun's ability to address a wide range
of requirements in a variety of markets," added Gadre. "The breadth of
the line gives users the flexibility to match the proper amount of CPU
performance with the graphics performance required by the application."
A Sun-3/160CXP workstation, with 4-MBytes of main memory, a 19-inch
1152 x 900 pixel color monitor, and accelerator hardware, is priced at
$32,900. The Sun-3/260CXP workstation with 8-MBytes of main memory, is
priced at $46,900. A Sun-4/260CXP workstation with 8-MByte configuration
is priced at $57,900. A Sun-4/260CXP workstation with 32 Mbytes of
memory, 560 MBytes of disk storage, and a 1/4-inch cartridge tape is
priced at $95,500.
Upgrades are available for all existing models. The package to upgrade
from a Sun-3/160C to a Sun-3/160CXP workstation is priced at $5,900.
Upgrade packages for converting the Sun-3/260C and Sun-4/260C models to
CXP versions are priced at $10,900. All workstation configurations and
upgrade options are available within 90 days of receipt of order.
The TAAC-1 Application and Graphics Accelerator
Complementing the CXP line are the new TAAC-1 application and graphics
accelerator systems. The TAAC-1 allows Sun workstations to be used in new
application areas including imaging, high-end visualization and
simulation.
A new combination of resources is available to the workstation environment
with the TAAC-1. It combines the best attributes of array processors,
image processors and graphics accelerators in one programmable and
flexible product. The TAAC-1 was developed by Sun's High End
Graphics/Accelerator Projects team, formerly Trancept Systems, Inc. of
Raleigh, North Carolina. Sun acquired Trancept Systems in late May, 1987.
"Sun is making a major commitment to the high performance graphics
marketplace," said Bernie Lacroute, Sun's executive vice president.
"Today's TAAC-1 announcement and the introduction of Sun's new CXP
graphics workstations are clear indications of that commitment."
"The TAAC-1 brings an entirely new level of application flexibility and
power to the workstation," added Nick England, director of high-end
graphics/acceleration projects. "Until now, to get all of the
functionality contained in the TAAC-1, a customer had to buy specialized
processors for specialized tasks such as array, graphics and image
processing. Today's most demanding applications in imaging, analysis and
simulation often require two or more of these capabilities.
The TAAC-1 is priced at $25,000 when ordered as an option for Sun-3 and
Sun-4 workstations and includes software.
A Sun-3/260C 4 MIPS, 8 MBytes of main memory, 19" 1152 x 900 pixel color
monitor, 280 Mbytes of disk storage, 1/4" tape drive, and the TAAC-1
accelerator is priced at $75,500.
The Sun-4/260 with 10 MIPS, 32 MBytes of main memory, color monitor,
280 MByte disk, 1/4" tape drive, and TAAC-1 is priced at $96,500.
Priced at $59,500, the Sun-3/160C configuration includes 2 MIPS, 8 MBytes
main memory, color monitor, 141 MBytes of disk storage, 1/4" tape drive,
and TAAC-1. Availability is approximately 90 days after receipt of order
for the option and 120 days after receipt of order for bundled systems.
Sun Microsystems, Inc., a public company, supplies distributed computing
systems based on standards, including technical workstations, servers,
UNIX system software, data communications products and networking
software.
Sun offers a range of performance from 1.5 to 10 MIPS in a broad family of
UNIX-based networked workstations. Founded in 1982, the company has
shipped more than 45,000 workstations and board-level products worldwide.
Sun sells its products to technical end users and OEMs in the
computer-aided design, manufacturing, artificial intelligence, software
engineering, electronic publishing, automated test, and financial services
markets. Sun is traded in the National Market System under the symbol
SUNW.
Press contact: Carol Broadbent, Press Relations (415) 691-7737
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End of SUN-Spots Digest
***************ark,enter