SUNSOFT DEBUTS NEWEST VERSION OF SOLARIS 2

Feature-for-Feature Compatible Across SPARC and Intel Now Most Powerful
Software Environment for x86 and Pentium Platforms

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--April 5, 1994--SunSoft, Inc. today unveiled its
upcoming release of Solaris 2 for SPARC, x86 and Pentium processors. The
new release, called Solaris 2.4, is a feature-for-feature compatible
product for both SPARC and Intel platforms and is derived from a single
source base -- a first in the UNIX industry. SunSoft has created the most
powerful Intel-based system software environment available to the
marketplace, by providing all of the power, scalability and features
historically available only to high-end RISC systems to the x86 platform.
This new release was demonstrated and delivered to 2,000 developers, OEMs
and customers at the company's third annual Solaris Developer Conference
being held in San Francisco this week.

In addition to all of the features of Solaris 2.3 for SPARC and Solaris 2.1
for x86, the new release delivers several key new capabilities to broaden
the appeal of Solaris to commercial and technical markets, drives the
creation of the developing telephony market and provides tools to simplify
system installation and management. With Solaris 2.4 developers and users
can enjoy the benefits of a common application environment and system
administrators can deploy and manage a single network across heterogeneous
platforms.

"Today's announcement is a significant win for software developers who have
previously found the process of creating enterprise applications for
different computer processors difficult, time-consuming and expensive,"
said JanPieter Scheerder, SunSoft's vice president of software
engineering. "Now software applications can be developed on one hardware
platform and deployed across SPARC, x86 and Pentium systems. As a result,
Solaris gives developers access to bigger markets without increasing
development costs."

New Capabilities for Solaris x86

With the new Solaris 2 for x86 release users now have access to all the
features that are included in Solaris 2.3 for SPARC. These include:

Scalable symmetric multiprocessing: Now supports up to 20-way
multiprocessor systems, allowing customers to take advantage of the newly
emerging market of multiprocessing Intel-based systems.

Enhanced windows system: Now supplies industry-standard X11 R5 that
supports standard APIs for application portability and hardware
integration.

Leading graphics applications development platform: Includes
high-performance, industry-standard libraries for advanced 2-D and 3-D
graphics applications, such as computer-aided design, GIS mapping and
business data visualization.

Adobe Postscript: Incorporates powerful, industry-standard Display
PostScript (DPS) language for computer displays and gives customers the
ability to integrate graphics, type and imaging in their applications. DPS
is compliant with MIT X11 R5, enabling software developers to take
advantage of this technology without modifying their applications.

Cache file system: Uses local disk to cache remote-data locally,
eliminating traffic over the network, dramatically speeding up application
response time and allowing use of smaller local disks.

This complements Solaris diskless operations, allowing desktops to run
entirely without hard drives.

Asynchronous point-to-point: Allows the connection of workstations to
networks from remote locations using inexpensive modems and telephone
lines. With PPP, users with PCs at home or in remote offices can connect
to on-site networks and access all corporate computing resources.

Multimedia: Delivers the complete suite of multimedia technologies based on
Live!, the multimedia platform built into Solaris. Solaris x86 now will
enable standard desktops to be multimedia-ready. Solaris Live! provides
the industry's only standard imaging library, XIL, featuring
high-performance graphics software compression and decompression. This
allows a user to run full-motion video across networks without additional
hardware. XIL supports a wide range of compression and decompression
algorithms such as Group 3 and Group 4 fax. full-motion video, MPEG and
h.261 formats.

C2 security: Provides mainframe-class security auditing, event locating and
access controls critical for banking, financial and government
applications. C2 meets the U.S. Federal Government's NIST specification
for operating systems.

Networked system administration: Includes system administration tools that
automate several tasks and increase the number of systems a system
administrator can support. The tools, which lower a company's overhead
costs as well as enhance overall network and system management, include
user managers to set up and modify user accounts; a printer tool to
configure print clients and servers; and a serial port manager to allow
simple modem and terminal management.

Enhanced hardware compatibility: Users of this new release of Solaris 2 for
x86 can enjoy increasing numbers of hardware compatibility options,
enabling them to leverage existing x86 investments as well as take
advantage of the ongoing innovation and price-performance advances taking
place in the Intel marketplace today. Currently, more than 300 Intel-based
systems have been certified to run the Solaris operating environment. With
the new release of Solaris, that number is expected to more than double.
Support for the most popular add-in cards is also expected to increase.
The new release of Solaris will include support for more than 50 of the
most popular high-performance graphics adapter cards; more than 45
Ethernet and Token Ring adapter cards; and more than 40 SCSI host adapter
cards. This will make Solaris for x86 one of the most "hardware-friendly"
system software environments available today.

New Capabilities for Solaris SPARC & X86: In addition to all of the new
features for users of Solaris x86, all users of Solaris 2.4 can benefit
from the following new features:

XTL Teleservices -- A component of Solaris Live!, this enhancement enables
software developers to create applications that integrate computer and
telephony technologies. These new applications will allow users to take
advantage of technologies such as voice mail, fax, electronic mail,
videoconferences and video on demand.

Journalled File System -- File updates are logged to enhance system
availability and server performance. This new log-based file system
enables Solaris servers to provide higher levels of data and overall
system availability.

Transparent Overlays -- Key to high-end design automation and data
visualization applications, transparent overlays provide developers the
ability to easily manage the various graphics components located within an
application independently, providing end users with a more responsive user
interface.

GUI-based System Installation --Equipped with a new Motif-based GUI system
installation environment, this new release greatly simplifies the task of
installing new systems. The new tools allow system administrators to more
easily manage global enterprise networks in a cost-effective manner.

Availability

SunSoft is kicking off its early access program for Solaris 2.4 at the
Solaris Developer Conference with the availability of the Solaris
Developer Conference Edition shipping today to conference attendees free
of charge. Early access releases will become more broadly available this
quarter with volume distribution to all channels and customers in the
third quarter of 1994.

SunSoft, Inc., headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a subsidiary of
Sun Microsystems, Inc., the exclusive computer supplier to World Cup USA
1994. The company has offices in North America, Europe and Asia. SunSoft
is a leading supplier of 32-bit system software solutions for SPARC and
Intel 386/486- and Pentium-based computers. The products are licensed by
SunSoft and distributed through major computer manufacturers and resellers
worldwide.

SunSoft Inc
2550 Garcia Ave
Mountain View, CA 94043
415-960-3200

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