Sun Microsystems Unveils Next-Generation Mail and Messaging Products

Strategic Insights -

Sun Microsystems, Inc. recently announced the release of two major new products designed to help Internet service providers (ISPs) and enterprise service providers (ESPs) deliver next-generation mail and messaging services to large end-user communities. The new products, Sun Internet Mail Server 3.5 and Sun Internet Calendar Server 1.0, aim to provide a new level of scalability and ease-of-use through an approach called "user consolidation," which maximizes the number of users supported per server, drastically lowering administration time, reducing hardware and software investments, and improving system reliability.

Key Takeaways:

  • Sun Internet Mail Server 3.5 supports up to one million mailboxes per server and offers ease of administration, 7x24 reliability, ease of integration, enhanced security, and anti-spam capabilities.
  • The product's high-availability option enables quick system failover to ensure continuous service, critical for ISPs and ESPs that require 7x24 uptime.
  • Leading industry partners supporting Sun Internet Mail Server 3.5 through their value-added products, technologies, and services include Activerse Inc, Data Connections Ltd, Entrust Technologies, Intellivoice Communications, Inc, Neoteric Inc, and Tata Infotech Ltd.
  • Sun Internet Calendar Server 1.0 features group calendaring and scheduling, personal and group calendar options, easy access, superior performance, and interoperability with the emerging iCalendar standards.
  • Solaris NetBusiness Services is Sun's vision for a comprehensive array of services from Sun and its partners, designed to meet the needs of ISPs and ESPs to rapidly develop and deploy profitable services to their subscribers and users.
  • Telapex Internet, a subsidiary of Telapex Inc., has successfully implemented Sun Internet Mail Server, resulting in improved customer service by orders of magnitude and a lower hardware investment compared to competitive products.
  • The Solaris NetBusiness solution enables ISPs and ESPs to offer new features like calendaring and additional services they develop on-the-fly.

Statistics:

  • Sun Internet Mail Server 3.5 supports up to one million mailboxes per server.
  • 300,000 users have been consolidated onto eight servers using Sun Internet Mail Server, resulting in a 30% reduction in overall costs for SBC Internet.
  • Telapex Internet has improved its customer service by orders of magnitude using Sun Internet Mail Server.
  • Sun Internet Mail Server 3.5 is available at $1,496 (Departmental) and $3,495 (Enterprise).
  • Sun Internet Calendar Server 1.0 will be available in the fall of 1998.

Sources:

  • Sun Microsystems, Inc.
  • Activerse Inc
  • Data Connections Ltd
  • Entrust Technologies
  • Intellivoice Communications, Inc
  • Neoteric Inc
  • Tata Infotech Ltd
  • SBC Internet
  • Cyberoptics
  • Telapex Internet
  • Telapex Inc
  • Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
  • World Wide Web (http://www.sun.com/sims/)
  • SunService (http://www.sun.com/service/)