The Monthly Bulletin For Users Of SPARC Based Products

Issue No. 74

I. SPARC News!

1. MEMBERS BANNER AD PROGRAM

2. BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP IN SPARC INTERNATIONAL, INC.

3. PREMIER MULTIPROCESSOR HITS ELITE MARKET

4. SOLARIS CENTRAL IS 1 YEAR OLD

5. U S SOFTWARE RELEASES CD-ROM DRIVER AND ISO9660 FILE SYSTEM FOR USFILES(R) FILE SYSTEM

6. RAVE COMPUTER ASSOCIATION, INC., AWARDS WINNER A RAVE SYSTEMS RACKMOUNT-2UAXI AT FALL ISPCON 99

7. SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. ANNOUNCED SOLARIS™ 7

II. SCD CERTIFIED TESTING ADDITIONS IN NOVEMBER

III. SPARCSHOP

I. SPARC News

I. A. - MEMBERS BANNER AD PROGRAM

SPARC International is pleased to announce a new marketing program for our members. This program -- Banner Advertising -- provides our members wishing to participate, a very cost effective way of augmenting their marketing efforts. By placing your banners on selected pages on our web site the number of impressions, or "adviews" as they are now called, will be logged daily with statistics provided on a monthly basis or as often as you request. The "click throughs" will be those who click on your banner and thereby go directly to your site.

Having expanded our web site readership with cooperative programs,other service oriented organizations and increasing the current news from the SPARC Community, we are able to offer this focused market service for the following prices;

It should be noted that the readership of our web site is growing each month with over triple the readership since the beginning of this year.

All you need to do is send us a purchase order via fax, mail or email along with your banner in either "gif" or "jpeg" format to; chery@sparc.org

That's all it takes to have you up and running! You may update your banners as often as you wish. If you have any questions or need additional information please contact us. We look forward to your participation in this program!

I. B. - BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP IN SPARC INTERNATIONAL, INC.

It's that time, once again, to remind our members of the benefits of membership in SPARC International. Following is a list set forth to remind you of what is included in your membership package;

1. Use of SI Member Logo.

The Member Logo represents a visible emblem of each member Company's "corporate identity". Our members are viewed with high standards of quality, technological leadership, management character, and even corporate personality that make members distinctive entities in the electronics industry and allied fields. This business credibil ity represents a powerful sales tool in the marketplace.

We furnish your marketing department with all of the information needed to properly attribute our world famous SPARC mark including recommendations to use our Member Logo for;

• Booth Signage at Trade Shows (Member signs are available for booth display)

• Corporate Press Releases Letterhead

• Newspaper or Magazine Articles/Advertisements

• Corporate Brochures, Business Cards, Advertisements

• Promotional Items such as Buttons & Sweatshirts, etc.

2. Company page in the SPARC Intl. Website, <www.sparc.org> linked to your Company Website.

Potential sales leads resulting from this added exposure speaks for itself. SI' web site activity has increased three times the amount since the beginning of 1999 alone. Web hit counts are provided upon request.

3. Use of the SPARC Driven(SM) Servicemark on your web site.

4. SPARC-FLASH Monthly Electronic Newsletter

Product announcements, and Press releases may be placed in SPARC-FLASH if received no later than the 28th of each and any month.

SPARC-FLASH's ever growing list of over 1500 is a focused mailing to those with particular interest in the SPARC market and is distributed worldwide.

Are you utilizing your benefits? Need help? Contact us: <nev@sparc.org> <cheryl@sparc.org>, <karen@sparc.org>

I. C. - PREMIER MULTIPROCESSOR HITS ELITE MARKET

Palo Alto, CA--November 2, 1999--Sun Microsystems, Inc. is aiming directly at the sweet spot of the high-end workstation market with its new premier multiprocessor capable workstation. The new Ultra[tm] 80 workstation, which can be configured with up to four processors and 4GB of memory, runs the most advanced graphics applications and today's larger datasets easily, and provides investment protection via support for Sun's next two generations of graphics. Technical computing users in the EDA, earth sciences, satellite imagery, MCAD and financial services industries can harness the raw power of this system to build, view and manipulate increasingly complex models, datasets and simulations. In addition, Sun continues to drive value by reducing prices on its popular Ultra 60 workstation by up to 18 percent and by building new features into the Solaris[tm] Operating Environment desktop software.

"Customers such as those in the EDA space are demanding as much memory and processor power as we can send their way," said Ken Okin, vice president and general manager of Workstation Products, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "From the Ultra 5 to the Ultra 80 workstation, Sun's workstation lineup enables users to select the best desktop for their needs. The new Ultra 80 model solidifies Sun's position in the elite high-performance graphics and compute-intensive markets."

I. D. - SOLARIS CENTRAL IS 1 YEAR OLD

Sun Microsystems started its first internet news service way back in 1988. It was called the Florida SunFlash and was distributed by email. In fact many of the news services which cover the Sun market also started pre-web including SPARC International's SPARC-FLASH. During the last few years many independent news services have appeared on the web covering various aspects of the computer systems market. Because I talk to manufacturers directly, often before they write their press releases, I was never very interested in these news sites. But a year ago, I was contacted by Duane Gran who was setting up Solaris Central - an independent site for Sun related software news. I never had enough time to look at the software side of this market. I liked what I saw in Solaris Central, and got hooked. Solaris Central recently passed its first 12 months anniversary. In that short time, it has eclipsed all other sites with the quality and presentation of Sun related software market news for busy readers. Duane is a modest guy and doesn't say too much about his background on the site so I asked him some questions to share with his readers. To read about this interview go to <www.sparcproductdirectory.com/solcent-1.html>.

I. E. - U S SOFTWARE RELEASES CD-ROM DRIVER AND ISO9660 FILE SYSTEM FOR USFILES(R) FILE SYSTEM

USFiles is a DOS/Win95 compatible file system that has been designed to target processor and RTOS independent. USFiles can operate in a stand-alone mode and because it is reentrant, it supports multitasking RTOSs such as our SuperTask! and uITRON compliant TronTask! products. USFiles also supports standard ANSI C file I/O function calls. Source code is included and there are no royalties.

USFiles for CD-ROM includes ATAPI CD-ROM driver and ISO9660 compliant file system. It enables embedded developers to add CD-ROM drive and ISO9660 CD-ROM file system very easily.

"The demand for embedded file systems is growing so rapidly. This will continue as PCs become more pervasive, requiring embedded applications to exchange data with PCs seamlessly." says Tomoyuki Uda, Product Marketing Manager with U S Software.

"Today's embedded applications require a variety ofvarious storage media such as CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CompactFlash and so on, but after all, data transparency between storage devicesthem and the PC is most important. We can sasisfysatisfyssily those needs by delivering USFiles for CD-ROM and other up-and-coming upcoming new drivers."

USFiles is unique in a way that it can be used with any CPU and RTOS. The embedded file system market has grown significantly over the last two years, making the file system one of the most critical software components in the embedded software. USFiles already supports hHard disk, floppy disks, RAM disk and CompactFlash driver, and U S Software will keep adding new storage devices to offer bring the complete file system solutions.

"At U S Software, we've earned a reputation for providing reliable products that are compact, extremely fast, and easy to implement. For over twenty years we have provided solutions for thousands of embedded applications. Our products, which support all major embedded microprocessors, include: SuperTask!(R) real-time operating system, TronTask!(R) multitasking kernel compatible with ITRON, SuperPeg portable embedded GUI, USNET(R) embedded TCP/IP protocol suite, Embedded Web Server small footprint HTTP web server, NetPeer embedded desktop interface and distributed operating environment, USFiles(R) processor and RTOS independent Win95/DOS compatible file system, GOFAST(R) floating point libraries, Soft-Scope(R) remote-target debugger, CSi-Mon" target-resident monitor, and USLink(R) embedded application linker/locator."

USNET, SuperTask!, TronTask!, USFiles, GOFAST, USLINK, and Soft-Scope are registered trademarks of United States Software Corporation. NetPeer and CSi-Mon are trademarks of United States Software Corporation. All other trademarks belong to their respective holders.

For more informatin contact U S Software; Phone: Phone: (800) 356-7097, (503) 844-6614, Fax: (503) 844-6480 Email: <info@ussw.com>.

I. F. - RAVE COMPUTER ASSOCIATION, INC., AWARDS WINNER A RAVE SYSTEMS RACKMOUNT-2UAXI AT FALL ISPCON 99

Sterling Heights, MI--November 23, 1999--The multitude of attendees who visited Rave Computer Association's booth during the Fall ISPCON 99 show held at the San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California during the week of October 26th through 28th, received an opportunity to register to win a Rave Systems RackMount-2UAXi.

At the show, Rave Computer Association, Inc., a Sun authorized Master value-added integrator, displayed a Rave Systems RackMount-2UAXi inside booth 2043. Rave Systems RackMount-2UAXi featured Sun UltraAXi motherboard integrated into Raves' sleek 19 inch 2U rackmount chassis. Suns UltraAXi motherboard has many robust features such as integrated dual-channel Ultra-wide SCSI, single ungradable UltraSPARC-IIi processors with processing speeds up to 440MHz, and two 33MHz/32-bit PCI Slots. Raves' system supports up to 1GB of memory and has two exposed drive bays, and can accommodate up to three internal low profile 7,200 RPM or 10,000 RPM disk drives or two half height drives. Internally the chassis has six cooling fans and a 300-Watt auto-sensing power supply.

Rave Systems RackMount-2UAXi is manufactured at Rave Computer's headquarters based in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

On the last day of the Fall ISPCON show, Rave Systems RackMount-2UAXi was awarded to Mr. Robert Haskins of Lowell, Massachuesetts. Mr. Haskins received a Rave Systems RackMount-2UAXi with the following configurations: original UltraAXi motherboard integrated into Raves customized 19 inch 2U rackmount with a 300MHz UltraSPARC-IIi processor, 256 MB of memory, one 9.0 GB hard drive, ATI 3D charger videocard, 1.44 floppy and pre-loaded with Solaris 2.7

More information about Rave Computer Association, Inc., and its Rave Systems can be found on their web site at: < www.rave.net> or by calling 1-800-966-7283.

I. G. - SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. ANNOUNCED SOLARIS™ 7

Palo Alto, CA--November 2, 1999--Sun Microsystems, Inc., today announced the availability of the Trusted Solaris™ 7 Operating Environment, an enhanced version of Sun's scalable Solaris 7 Operating Environment that incorporates heightened security features for commercial and government applications. Trusted Solaris 7, the follow-on to the Trusted Solaris 2.5.1 environment, delivers 64-bit capabilities and supports the full line of SPARC™ and Intel architectures, including the Sun Enterprise[tm] 10000 server, providing enhanced performance, capacity and scalability.

"Trusted Solaris 7 reinforces Sun's commitment to providing a secure operating environment across the enterprise," said Thomas Kreidler, president of Sun Microsystems Federal, Inc. "We are delivering what our customers have requested: an advanced 64-bit technology that maintains complete binary compatibility with 32-bit applications in a security-enhanced environment. The Trusted Solaris 7 Operating Environment provides the computer security our customers need to secure their firewalls, communications gateways, web and commerce servers, guards and databases."

The Trusted Solaris 7 Operating Environment Mandatory Access Control (MAC) feature allows organizations, including banks and financial institutions, to process information at multiple-sensitivity levels. MAC labels correspond to the sensitivity levels of information, allowing data to be maintained separately in a single system according to each user's need to know. Therefore, a bank internal system can be configured using Trusted Solaris 7 so a bank clerk may view a customer balance while a loan officer can access only the credit record.

"We are very pleased the commercial banking and finance community has embraced the Trusted Solaris 7 Operating Environment as the foundation of their e-commerce solutions. We have several customers who rely on this environment to protect their customers' most sensitive information during e-commerce transactions," said Chris Hurst, vice president of global sales operations for Sun Microsystems, Inc.

The Trusted Solaris 7 Operating Environment uses the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) and can be customized to satisfy various security policy requirements. It offers advanced multithreading and support for symmetric multiprocessing, giving organizations moving to Web-based computing the ability to handle an increased number of network transactions. This environment also supports the Sun line of hardware based on PCI architecture as well as new transmission mediums, including Sun ATM™, Sun FDDI™, Token Ring and Gigabit Ethernet.

Trusted Solaris offers users a trusted operating system with distributed client-server computing, along with the ease of use, power and system management available from Sun's scalable line of products. Information can be shared throughout the entire enterprise with strict security maintained. Customers can implement a consistent enterprise-wide security policy, relying on protection within the Trusted Solaris Operating Environment, including NIS+, Trusted NFS™ and secure networking. Selected features can be enabled or disabled to configure a system that meets any site's security and usability requirements. The Trusted Solaris 7 Operating Environment supports all UltraSPARC [tm] processor-based machines as well as a wide range of x86 based machines.

For more information vistit our web site at www.sun.com

II. SCD CERTIFIED TESTING ADDITIONS IN OCTOBER

The SPARC Compliant brand, awarded by SPARC International, assures end users that systems so branded will work with any other product branded to the same level of the "SPARC Compliant Definition (SCD)." This list, updated monthly, includes changes made to the master list of SPARC Compliant products.

SPARCSHOP

SPARC-related documents are available through SPARC International's bookstore, SPARCSHOP. Access to SPARCSHOP is available several ways,

1. email sparcshop@sparc.org
2. phone us at 1-408-748-9111 x240

Currently available

The SPARC Architecture Manual, Version 8 $50.00 SPARC-V8E Embedded Supplement to SPARC-V $25.00 The SPARC Architecture Manual, Version 9 $55.00 Implementation Characteristics of Current SPARC-V9 based products $25.00 Mbus Interface Specification (Version 1.2) $40.00 SPARC Compliance Definition (SCD 1.1) $20.00 SPARC Compliance Definition (SCD 2.1, 2.1A) $20.00 SPARC Compliance Definition (SCD 2.2) $20.00 SPARC Compliance Definition (SCD 2.3/2.3 IS) $20.00 SPARC Compliance Definition (SCD 2.4) $40.00 SPARC Technical Papers Manual $56.00 SPARC Strategy and Technology Catalog $39.00

SPARC International promotes the design, development and application of SPARC to computer and peripheral products; establishes hardware and software standards; enables compatibility across SPARC-branded products; and provides, promotes and protects SPARC and SPARC-related brand names.

SPARC International has verified to the best of its ability all of the product information contained in this newsletter. Information in this newsletter has been provided by the vendors. SPARC International has not reviewed claims made about product features or functions, and is not responsible for the accuracy of such claims. Users may want to obtain references, documentation, and/or demonstrations before purchasing any products or services. No vendor is authorized to act as an agent of SPARC International, or to make any representations or warranties on SPARC International's behalf.

The following are Registered^® Trademarks of SPARC International, Inc.:

SPARC® SPARCbook® SPARCenter® SPARC Compliant® SPARC Compliant SCD & Design® embedSPARC® SPARC International® SoundSPARC® SPARClite® SPARCprinter® SPARCserver® SPARCstation® UltraSPARC® UltraSPARC Driven® SPARC Storage® SPARCworks® MicroSPARC® microSPARC® SuperSPARC® SPARC (Stylized)® SPARCcompiler® SPARCphone® ftSPARC® hyperSPARC® SPARCluster® SPARCsummit® SPARC64® SPARC64/OS® SPARCengine® SPARC LT® SPARC O/S® SPARC PC® SPARCluster 1® SPARCplug® SPARCtop® SPARK® TurboSPARC® UltraSPARC Driven & Design® UltraSPARC Driven & Design (Logo)® UniSPARC®

Other Trademarks that are in use or Pending Registration include:

SPARCstation™ SPARC811 ™ SPARCbuilders ™ SPARCard ™ SPARC Compatible ™ SPARC Compliance ™ SPARC-FLASH ™ SPARC Technology ™ SPARClet™ SPARCtop™ SPARC V9™ SPARCbuilders™ SunSPARC™ SPARC Product Directory ™ SPARCshop ™ SPARC Technology Business ™ SPARC Verification ™ SPARCware ™ SPARKit ™ SPARC Power ™ SPARC64-GP ™ SPARC Driven ™ SPARC-Line™ SPARC-Line™ ConsumerSPARC™ SPARCV9 ™ SPARC_V9 ™ SPARC Verified ™ SPARC Verification ™ SPARCware ™ SPARKit ™ EuroSPARC™

Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company, Ltd. All other product names, trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001
• 2000
• 1998-1999