Internet Systems Consortium Turns to Sun's Solaris(TM) 10 Operating System and Sun Fire(TM) x64 Servers to Power the Internet

1 January 1970

Today Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) and the Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. (ISC) the leading provider of public infrastructure for the global Domain Name System (DNS), announced that the ISC chose the free and open source Solaris(TM)10 Operating System (OS), the most advanced operating system on the planet, and Sun Fire(TM) x64 (x86, 64-bit) servers, powered by AMD Opteron(TM) processors, as an F-root server, one of the 13 root DNS servers that are the foundation of the Internet.

Typically responding to tens of thousands of DNS requests per second, a root DNS server solution must be highly scalable and fault-tolerant. Sun has tuned and optimized Solaris 10 OS to deliver exceptional performance and mainframe-class reliability on the x64 platform. The Solaris 10 OS includes over 600 new and innovative features for x86 and x64 systems, including many that are not available with any other operating system. Using Solaris Dynamic Tracing (DTrace), an award winning innovation in the Solaris 10 OS, customers have reported applications running 30 times faster on the Solaris 10 OS. With Solaris Predictive Self-Healing, applications and services hosted on the Solaris OS for x64 continue to run even in the presence of CPU, Memory and Disk failures.

"Virtually every Internet transaction -- from sending an email to finding a website -- begins with a DNS query. The performance bar is set extremely high for a root DNS server platform," said Joao Damas, F-root Programme Manager, ISC. "The Internet would essentially stop functioning if a majority of the 13 root servers were disrupted for any reason, consequently a root DNS server is an obvious target for hackers. Thus our security requirements are among the most stringent anywhere, which is one of the key reasons we selected the combination of Solaris 10 and a Sun Fire x64 server."

"Running the Solaris 10 OS is the single best way to optimize your investment in an x64 server," said Tom Goguen, vice president of Solaris Software for Sun Microsystems. "Being a root DNS server, at the heart of the Internet, is a superb example of the mission critical, high-throughput service for which Solaris 10 is designed."

Today, Sun Solaris OS servers claim more than half of worldwide UNIX server unit shipments. Solaris 10 is fully supported on more than 700 x64/x86- based systems from top manufacturers including Sun, Dell, HP and IBM.

To download Solaris OS at no cost go to http://sun.com/solaris .

About ISC

Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3), public benefit corporation with a long history of developing and maintaining the production quality BIND and DHCP Open Source software. ISC has increased its focus to include enhancing the stability of the global DNS directly through reliable F-root name server operations and ongoing operation of a DNS crisis coordination center, ISC's OARC for DNS. ISC is also engaged in further protocol development efforts, particularly in the areas of DNS evolution and facilitating the transition to IPv6. ISC is supported by the donations of generous sponsors, program membership fees and specific fees for services. For program or donation information, please visit our website at http://www.isc.org .

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

A singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer"(TM) -- guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com .

NOTE: Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, Solaris, and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Bob Wientzen

303-661-4993

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

bob.wientzen@sun.com

ISC Media Contact

Laura Hendriksen

650-423-1209

laura_hendriksen@isc.org

ISC Technical Contact

Joao Damas

joao_damas@isc.org