Mountain View, CA - January 22, 1997 - Sun Microsystems Inc. today announced that its UltraSPARC^TM-II processor provides the power and multiprocessing sophistication powering its new Starfire^TM server. Using an innovative interconnect design, the Starfire system can support up to 64 UltraSPARC-II processors (more than twice the number of CPUs found in any other UNIX^® server on the market), and deliver ground-breaking performance.

The Starfire system represents the first time all the features of the UltraSPARC-II processor have been fully utilized. These features include, larger maximum external cache size (16 Mbytes), multiple external cache configuration and system clocking options, multiple outstanding requests to the memory system, and support for software controlled prefetch. The Starfire system is a new class of SMP servers combining mainframe performance/functionability with all the benefits of network computing.

"The UltraSPARC-II pushes SPARC to a new high, delivering 250 MHz of performance," said Chet Silvestri, president of Sun Microelectronics. " The Ultra^TM Enterprise^TM Serve> family is the first of many announcements by companies that will introduce products based on the UltraSPARC-II processor."

"The UltraSPARC-II processor allows the Starfire system to offer up to four times the performance of competing systems," said John Shoemaker, vice president and general manager of Enterprise Systems and Storage Group, Sun Microsystems Computer Company. "We've raised the competitive bar, allowing customers to run the most demanding applications, such as on-line transaction processing and data analysis, on a single scalable server."

The UltraSPARC-II processor with 4 MB of external cache running at 250 MHz delivers an estimated SPECint95 of 10.1 and a SPECfp of 14.0. Sun Microelectronics' UltraSPARC-II processor leads the industry in highest data bandwidth at 1300 Mbytes/sec. It also supports software prefetch and multiple outstanding requests. When these two features are combined effectively, they address the processor to memory bottleneck, a critical problem in very high-performance processor and system design. As CPU clock frequencies continue to increase at a higher rate than the speed of the cache and memory subsystems, the difference between the processor and memory speed continues to grow. The UltraSPARC-II processor provides these advanced features to prevent the fast processor-slower memory combination from choking down the system.

Since its inception in 1992, a singular vision, "The Network IS The Computer^TM," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ "SUNW"), to its position as a leading provider of hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $7 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com.

Sun, the Sun Logo, Sun Microsystems, Starfire, Ultra, Ultra Enterprise, and The Network IS The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company Ltd.