Tonight was a significant evening for Sun & Oracle. The opening keynote of Oracle OpenWorld 2009 was provided by Scott McNealy with an appearance by Larry Ellison. There is a lot to unpack here, so I’m going to break it down into sections.
The Acquisition
This is the first event I’ve attended as “press”. As such I got all the press perks, namely access to announcement details in the press room and early access to the keynote for prime seats, in my case, right behind all the Sun Microsystems reserved seating. Talking with others there to cover the event was interesting in and of itself. Clearly everyone was looking for new information regarding the merger. None was expected but it was hoped for and we all listened attentively.
Here you can see (from left to right) Dr. James Gosling (creator of Java), Scott McNealy (Sun Chairman), and John Fowler (Sun EVP Systems). These were the speakers from the Sun side of the house, only Larry came up to represent Oracle.
Scott obviously thought the acquisition was a good thing and spent a lot of time about the history of Sun as an innovation driver (building his legacy). James came up to say that he thought it was a good thing for Java and the only hiccups along the way were with regard to Oracle learning now to interact with a community as large as that around Java. John showed off some of the new goodness from Sun and pointed to Oracle continued interest in Solaris, SPARC, and X86.
Larry wanted to hammer home the commitment they are making to Sun. He talked about the recent ads that Oracle’s been putting out and how they are fighting against IBM who’s trying to capitalize on the confusion. He re-iterated that Oracle will increase the money going into SPARC, Solaris, Java, and added to the list MySQL. He’s very clear that nothing is getting chopped, he needs to whole company. With regard to MySQL he pointed out to Sleepycat (BerkelyDB) and InnoDB as things that Oracle owns and has invested in and been able to make some money with and intends to do the same with MySQL. He maintains that MySQL in no way competes with Oracle.
The more Larry talks the more comfortable it seems everyone is getting with this deal. Early estimates were that almost 50% of the company would be let go and there would be major changes in the companies product lineup. More and more those estimates are dropping below 30% and suggest that nothing will be cut, but rather pruned neatly into a more structured form. Best line of the nite was from larry, “We’re in it to win.”
The Benchmarks
Larry drove the point about synergies between Oracle and Sun home in 2 ways. The first was talking about the previously released Sun/Oracle ExaData v2 product (pictured above). The second was to show that with Sun’s technology today, pre-acquisition, is the best platform available for Oracle even against IBM’s monster POWER 595 system which consumes 76 standard racks. Sun’s solution that beat it consumes only 9 racks, is fault tolerant, based on SPARC (Niagara), got 25% more throughput, gets 16 times better response times, and obviously uses a hell of a lot less power to boot.
I had a conversation with the PAE guys there and got a lot of great details on the configuration and how they made it work. Here are some highlights…
So the Sun system that beat out the 595 was based on T5440 (UltraSPARC T2) systems connected to the new F5100 Flash Array. In order to make all this work in a fault tolerant way COMSTAR was used and throughout the process required absolutely no modification! Apparently the biggest “problem” they ran into some some minor tweeking in the mpt and sd drivers because they weren’t designed to hand the extreme number of IOPS coming from the flash arrays. More shockingly, when they got the TPC-C number that beat IBM the CPU’s were 50% idle! And, if you can believe it, during the whole time Sun was working on this benchmark of all the flash modules involved, only a single one failed! Just one!
The Product
So the product announcement we’d been waiting for happened here: the Sun Storage F5100 Flash Array and its little brother the Sun Flash Accelerator F20 PCIe Card.
The F5100 was illuded to a couple months ago by Andy Bechtolsheim; a 1U storage array filled to the brim with Sun SO-DIMM form factor Flash Modules. It can be ordered with as little as 20 modules for 480GB raw or as large as 80 modules for almost 2TB raw capacity. Sequential Write performance on the 80 module unit is rated at 9.7 GB/sec. It physically connects via SAS.
The F20 PCIe Flash Card is just a smaller version. Up to 98GB of Flash rated at 501 MB/s Seq Write. All the goodness of high performance flash storage but you just drop it into a PCIe slot and go. A fantastic solution for databases in need of fast logging capabilities, just plug it into a PCIe slot and define it as your new log device.
Jonathan
Guess who wasn’t present. Jonathan is nowhere to be found. In fact, I haven’t seen him since JavaOne. Since this deal has occured Jonathan has been pushed to the back seat while Scott has insisted on driving. The question is why?
I’m very curious how history will record things with all the details filled in. Did Jonathan sell us down the river? Or, perhaps, Scott’s been driving things far longer than we realize and Jonathan has been something of a pawn in the latter days of the company. Its clear that it was Jonathan’s management of the company that delivered us to the point acquisition was required, but we can’t forget that he did do a number of good things, even if they didn’t actually benefit the company in return.
I’m not going to make a judgment call just yet… but I’m starting to almost feel like Jonathan got screwed here more than we realize. Never the less, he’ll have his millions of dollars to console him while the rest of us are left holding a fist full of memories and broken dreams.
Watch the Keynote!
Make some time, OnDemand Replays available… you’ll enjoy it.
Would love to look at the OnDemand Replays but it keeps crashing my Firefox 3.5.3
Well it does on Windows not OpenSolaris
That just says Error Occurred
Paul
@Paul Johnston
Just search for Ellison on youtube and sort by date, you can find larrys talk there
What good things has Jonathan done?
Jonathan *and* Scott both failed to deliver; along with most of the middle management at Sun. Sun has/had the best products the past several years but it failed to reap the benefits.
I think before long, people will start to get “attached” to (aka “fans” of) Oracle, just as we’ve all gotten attached to Sun. But hopefully Oracle doesn’t take along all this extra baggage with it.
@Anil: The good that Jonathan has done was moving to embrace Open Source is a big way, adopting X86, and all the good things that went into Solaris 10. Some of these he was more involved with than others.
This doesn’t change the fact, that as you point out, Sun failed to capitalize on the technology. Sun marketing, sales, and services never were pulled together and properly engaged behind the technology.
When I’ve talked with customers over the last several years, the most consistent comment about Sun offerings was “Its great! But they won’t sell it to me!” Sales sucked. Manufacturing sucked. Bad management at the top.
But this weekend I defiantly like the vibe from Oracle. They want to fight! I like that feeling again.
From the way I read it Scott called Larry only after Jonathon was already shopping the company. So…
If you want to blame someone for Sun going down spend your own idle time doing that. In the meantime I’ll be finding new bugs in OpenSolaris and submitting complaints since it appears that this OS is still going to have legs after all.
In my pow Jonathan tried to move Sun from being a group of innovative engineers to a sales oriented company. A task he had to do in order to make Sun profitable after many years of spending to much money on inventing stuff they did not sell (enough to cover the expenses). But Jonathan did not succeed because the legacy within Sun was to rigid, so with Orcale taking over I expect to see a more sales oriented focus which can only be good news for the amazing technology Sun in fact have invented over the years. In my mind there’s no doubt that the world would be a better place if IT was depending on a platform from Sun compared to the a platform from Microsoft and Intel.
So go for it Oracle sales people – you will have some uniqueness to sell in the future !
This is a great piece. Very thought provoking. I like the sort of ending that leaves it opn to personal input. Makes it work for just about everyone I think. Nicely done! I’ll subscribe.
I don’t think Scott is insisting on driving anything. It was widely rumored that Scott was in favor of the Oracle deal and Jonathan strongly against, so I suspect Jonathan has just gone off on gardening leave while the whole thing pans out.
Hey Ben, I have a question: Starting with build 124 there is a project called rbridges that went into the distribution, looks lime a combined routing/switching solution (Will we see the Sun Network 7000 soon?). Unfortunatly there are no demos or examples. Can you provide some of them? Thank you!
I’m in the bay area for Open World.
Man let me tell you that this is first time I’ve even gotten to interact directly with the Sun Backline engineers and they simply rock!
The Oracle sessions were great too but the opportunity of interacting with some of the guys who build the stuff we run in our Datacenters is simply fabulous.
Unfortunately, Sun got smaller rooms, primarily at the Marriott and with the rain and all that, didn’t get too good a turnout (as far as attendees numbers goes).
As you rightly pointed out, the Sunday evening and Wednesday evening Keynotes were very powerful messages that Larry and Scott/Sun sent out. I can see both Oracle and Sun stock improved a little.
Also, Oracle seems well poised to start really selling this stuff (hopefully they will not cut the throats of their customers though) well…
Cheers!
As the winter season is approaching, you must start making preparations for it collecting all the necessary things you would require from warm clothes to boots as all these are must
http://www.saleveling.com
http://www.power-leveling-game.com
Your article is very interesting, I have introduced a lot of friends look at this article, the content of the articles there will be a lot of attractive people to appreciate, I have to thank you such an article.
http://www.uggbootshare.co.uk
As the winter season is approaching, you must start making preparations for it collecting all the necessary things you would require from warm clothes to boots as all these are must
adfa
[url=http://www.adasd.com]adf[/url]
sadf
cheap ugg boots on sale now http://www.uggbootscheap2sale.com
air jordan shoes – supra shoes -air yeezy shoes discount on sale
http://www.airyeezykicks.com
ugg classic short boots
ugg classic short sale
http://www.goodluckbags.com http://www.lirenwholesale.com
Ugg classic tall chocolate
Ugg classic tall grey
Ugg classic tall bomber
Ugg classic tall boots sale
Ugg classic tall romantic flower
http://www.buykamagra.com buy kamagra
http://www.viagracialis.com viagra cialis
Different people in every country get the loans in different creditors, just because that is simple and comfortable.
links of london jewellery
I agree with you
We launched the 2010 latest and most fashionable True Religion jeans on our shop, welcome you to patronize.Here are many discounts for you.
Our aim is to provide high-quality products and excellent after-sales service.
Welcome to Moncler Down Jackets online shop.The 2010 latest and most fashionable Jackets,save up to 60% off. 7 days delivery to worldwide with free shipping.
Our aim is to provide customers high-quality products and excellent after-sales service.
Here have a variety of advanced technology to produce electronic products,
http://www.trademic.com
Most wholesale electronics today use semiconductor apparatus to accomplish electron control. The abstraction of
semiconductor wholesale electronics and accompanying technology is advised a annex of physics, admitting the architecture and
architecture of cyberbanking circuits to break applied problems appear beneath go to wholesale electronics,engineering. This
commodity focuses on engineering aspects of electronics.wholesale electronics is a able manufacturer, specializes in
development, manufacture. We accept broad Cheap Consumer Electronics, China wholesale Electronics go!: Like Cheap Unlocked
Cell Phones, Hiphone, MP3 Players, MP4 Players, MP5 Players, Computer Accessories, Car Electronics, Bluetooth Products, USB
Flash Drive, Memory Cards, Health & Beauty, iPod & iPhone Accessories, Digital Photo Frames,Car Audios, Car DVD Players,
Digital Cameras, Digital Camcorders, Video Game Accessories, Spy Cameras, Security Products and Electronic Gadgets from
China.
We accept over 2500 accomplished and accomplished advisers and our accessories of 7,300 aboveboard meters are able with
avant-garde productions and testing machines. We accept the absolute superior ascendancy arrangement and strive to
accommodated and beat our customer’s expectations,wholesale electronics.
Do you find mbt lami shoes for a long time. Here is the richest in the world and you can find your needs bring you harvest.
yes,
http://www.mbtsonsale.com/mbt-lami.html?mode=list mbt lami shoes Purple Shoes is the first physiological
footwear that has a positive effect on the whole body. buy mbt lami shoes ‘s sole is curved, not flat. Anti
-shoe is unstable, not stable. Swissmasai activates your muscles instead of undermining them. The mbt lami
shoes Birch Shoes Chapa feature feature rich nubuck leather with single-layer mesh upper bodies for strong but
breathable wear,mbt lami.
Just one question: how to add your blog into my rrs reader, thanks so much.
Wow，great content and your blog template is so beautiful. Is this template free or not. If so, would you please share this template? if not, how much does it cost? Thanks a lot!
A good idea! http://www.offerreplicawatches.com.They sell Chanel Watches, Replica BRM Watches,offer Cartier Watches, Copy Ebel Watches, Replica Hublot Watches, Fake Tag Heuer Watches, wholesale Richard Mille Watches.
They also sell some very fashion watches, such as Montblanc Watches for sale,Chopard Watches, Dior Watches and Gucci Watches. Rolex watches are hot sell. If u are Armani Watches and Breitling Watches fan. You can still look at Omega Watches and Longines Watches, many new arrivals watches just come here.You can have a try on 58338312391273913. :[url=http://www.offerreplicawatches.com]www.offerreplicawatches.com[/url].
I love http://www.shoppingmbtshoes.com
Buy Nike Air Max 90 Shoes just $45-55 USD in http://www.iofferitems.com, 40-70% Off. Cheap Air Max 90 Shoes, Free Shipping! Buy Air Max 90 Now!
1 Muslim Items
2 Muslim Items
3 [url=http://www.onlinemuslimitems.com/]Muslim Items[/url]
4 Muslim Items
5 Muslim Items
6 [link=http://www.onlinemuslimitems.com/]Muslim Items[/link]
Here elaborates the matter not only extensively but also detailly .I support the write’s unique point.It is useful and benefit to your daily life.You can go those sits to know more relate exceptfor.net things.They are strongly recommended by friends.Personally I feel quite well.
It’s very nice! I love what you wrote.
I think we can make friends.
Nike air max 95 shoes can do the best to get the maximum out of running, athletics and sports games.running with a airmaxreally makes you feel comfortable.
[url=http://www.cheapjerseyschina.com]discount nfl jerseys from china[/url]
[url=http://www.cheapjerseyschina.com]discount nfl jerseys wholesale[/url]
http://suprashoes365.com
NFL jerseys wholesale
http://www.jerseycaptain.com/index.asp?showpage=productlist&cid=237
Cheap jerseys sale
http://www.jerseycaptain.com/index.asp?showpage=productlist&cid=268 with best quality
http://www.uggonlinebootssale.com/
Days are getting colder.Are you looking for a pair of great boots to keep your feet warm?The answer for you is ugg boots.
Ugg Australia story began in 1978, when Brian Smith, a young surfer from Australia, took a
trip to the United Sates with a bag full of sheepskin boots
http://www.uggsalebootsuk.com/
ugg boots -a symbol of fashion that almost everyone want to own a pair of it! all over world and also be popular in uk. http://www.saleuggbootsonline.co.uk/
Jackson Moncler was Moncler Jackets on Moncler Coats the Moncler Mens Jackets sidelines Moncler Womens Jackets for Moncler Mens Coats the Moncler Womens Coats Tigers Moncler Kids Jackets victory Moncler Vests over Moncler Sweaters Georgia Moncler Boots Saturday Moncler Bags and Fine View Boots even Faded Glory Boots celebrated Skechers Boots with Mickey Kids Boots Newton Timberland Women Tall Boots after vibram fivefingers a Adidas forum mid touchdown vibram five fingers. Authorities Adidas Superstar were fivefingers hoping cheap adidas shoes they Adidas court star would adidas shoes find Adidas Superstar all Vibram Five Fingers Bikila four Vibram Five Fingers Speed people Vibram Five Fingers KSO, but Adidas Originals knew vibram they Vibram Five Fingers Sprint might Vibram Five Fingers Classic only Vibram Five Fingers KSO Trek find Adidas Nizza Sarah Timberland Women Tall Boots Maynard, Adidas campus he Adidas Porsche Design said. Barber Adidas Running said a Adidas Stan Smith combination Supra TK Society of Adidas ZX intelligence Adidas Women information Nike Air Max Men received Nike Air Force Men and Nike Jordan Men investigative Nike Shox Men work Nike Air Max Women led authorities Nike Shox Women to the Nike Air Force Women home. both Ugg Classic Tall Herzogenaurach, UGG Night Fall footwear Ugg Classic Short firm in 1948 to UGG Classic Mini “We are UGG Ultra Tall as a UGG Ultra Short commitment UGG sandance II to Peace UGG Classic Crochet Chairman Jochen at raising UGG Classic Cardy initiatives UGG Clasic Argyle Knit after a feud UGG Bailey Button.
Chirstmas is coming.Maybe you are be troubled by how to choose gift. Ugg boots can be a good choice . http://www.uggbootssale-cheap.com/ http://www.uggbootssale-cheap.com/products