x64 Applications Computer Benchmark Test: By Bill Vass. I've been talking to a few CIOs at other companies and there seems to be some confusion about the server strategy here at Sun. I'm not quite sure why, but for some reason there seems to be the mistaken belief that Sun's three different lines of servers - based on three different processor architectures - compete with each other. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Learn more about selecting the right Sun server based on your server needs such as high computer benchmark test performance, technology standards support, server performance monitoring and x64 applications software support.

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By Bill Vass

I've been talking to a few CIOs at other companies and there seems to be some confusion about the server strategy here at Sun. I'm not quite sure why, but for some reason there seems to be the mistaken belief that Sun's three different lines of servers — based on three different processor architectures — compete with each other. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

Given the confusion, I figured I would devote this letter to that question. Namely, how does an IT manager pick a server that is best for a given environment? What type of load functions best on each of the Sun servers? I hope to provide a Sun IT perspective on how to choose the right server for an environment.

To be sure, architecting an IT infrastructure and data center also depends on application, budget, and manageability issues, but this letter is intended to outline some basic considerations around server selection.

Before we get into the differences among the servers, I'll note some of the similarities. First, the open source Solaris Operating System runs on all three types of Sun servers — the AMD Opteron processor-based Sun Fire x64 servers, the chip multithreading-based Sun Fire CoolThreads servers, and the UltraSPARC IV+-based Enterprise servers.

Each of the three server families can theoretically run the same applications, even if customer needs like scalability and compatibility should really drive server selection. What's more, the UltraSPARC and CMT chips are binary compatible, so applications don't need to be tweaked to move from one server to another. And the open source Solaris OS runs across all three chip architectures, easing application development, support skills, and migration among the servers.

The question becomes: Which applications are best suited for which servers? When one begins to examine the differences among the three types of servers, it becomes apparent that the industry's traditional "one size fits all" approach is severely lacking. But before we get down to the nitty-gritty, perhaps you'll forgive a brief analogy as a way to illustrate my point.