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                                                        The Florida SunFlash

                   HOT OFF THE PRESS, December, 1992

SunFLASH Vol 48 #5					       December 1992 
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                            SUN'S MOMENTUM
                             SMI Highlights
                         SunConnect Highlights
                         SunExpress Highlights
                           SunPics Highlights
                           SunPro Highlights
                          SunSelect Highlights
                           SunSoft Highlights
                        SunSolutions Highlights
                         STATE OF THE BUSINESS
                              SPARC Facts
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                 Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation
                      ---------------------------
                           HOT OFF THE PRESS
                      ---------------------------
                              Recent News
                             December, 1992
                   Published by SMCC Public Relations
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SUN'S MOMENTUM 

SMI Highlights -----------------------------------------------------------

* Sun reported record first-quarter revenues of $855.9 million, up more
than 13 percent from the $754.9 million reported for the corresponding
period of fiscal 1992. Net income for the first quarter was $4.8
million, or $0.05 per share, compared to $26.8 million, or $0.27 per
share, for the same period a year ago. (For more detail, see "State of
the Business" section).


SMCC Highlights ----------------------------------------------------------

* SMCC introduced the SPARCclassic, SPARCstation LX and the SPARCcenter 2000:

      SPARCcenter 2000
	* Industry's most powerful, expandable and affordable high-end 
	  UNIX server - a mainframe-caliber system for data center 
	  applications
	* Up to 20-way multiprocessing through an advanced new bus 
	  technology
	* At least two to four times less expensive than comparable 
	  systems from other vendors

     SPARCclassic
	* The world's least expensive color RISC system - up to 50% 
	  less expensive than a similarly configured PC
	* Based on revolutionary new 50-MHz microSPARC processor from 
	  SMCC and Texas Instruments - the most highly integrated, 
	  low-cost RISC processor
	* The SPARCclassic Server, based on the same technology, is 
	  available as a low-cost workgroup server
	
     SPARCstation LX
	* The lowest-cost accelerated graphics workstation available
	* GXplus accelerator, CD-quality audio, 424-megabyte internal 
	  disk and built-in ISDN

* SMCC remained the top workstation vendor in Japan, with Sun having
led in that market since 1987, according to Dataquest. Sun was the
market leader in Japan during 1991, with 29,800 units shipped and $483
million (U.S.) in revenues, up 26 percent and 22 percent, respectively,
from 1990. Sun accounted for approximately 25 percent of the Japanese
market in terms of both units and value of shipments for 1991.

* Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation (E&S) and SMCC introduced a
breakthrough 3-D graphics accelerator family for the SPARC/Solaris
platform. The Freedom Series delivers the industry's fastest graphics,
offering over twice the 3-D graphics speed of any other workstation.
E&S and SMCC will market the new Freedom Series jointly; Evans &
Sutherland will sell the products.

* SMCC created SunIntegration Services, a new group focused on helping
its worldwide customers implement open client-server solutions that
include the SPARC/Solaris platform. SunIntegration Services will assist
customers in planning and executing major technology transformations,
select the best integrators and technology partners for customers'
needs, and sometimes act as a project manager or prime contractor.
SunIntegration Services will partner with world-class systems
integrators and technology vendors -- such as GE Information Systems,
Andersen Consulting, SAIC, SynOptics, Cabletron, Cambridge Technology
Partners, AT&T and Cap Gemini Sogeti -- on a per-project basis.

* SMCC and Cambridge Technology Partners (CTP INC.) entered into a
joint marketing agreement to offer customized client-server solutions
to manufacturing clients and to assist them in their move from
primarily proprietary environments to ones based on open systems. SMCC
and CTP will identify manufacturing accounts that desire to rightsize,
then specify a cohesive plan for open system application migration and
development. In addition, SMCC and CTP will host a seminar series on
rightsizing for manufacturing companies.

* SMCC and LEGENT Corporation signed a cooperative marketing and joint
development agreement to port Legent's system management tools to the
Sun SPARC/Solaris platform. This agreement will give mainframe users
who rightsize to a UNIX client-server environment the system management
capabilities they are accustomed to in a traditional mainframe data
center. Legent is a leading supplier of system software and services
for the management and operations of Information Systems (IS)
enterprises with more than 64,000 products in use at more than 10,000
customer sites.

* SMCC unveiled the highest-capacity, lowest-cost SPARCserver 690MP
data center package ever available from the company and has reduced
prices from 7 to 17 percent on its popular SPARCserver 600MP Series of
multiprocessor servers. In addition, SMCC unveiled new high-performance
disk storage solutions for its servers that are less than half the
price of comparable products from major UNIX server manufacturers.

* SMCC also reduced prices on its SPARCstation IPX color workstation by
as much as 13 percent.

* SMCC expanded its SPARCengine family of single-board computers with
the new low-cost, high-performance SPARCclassic engine and the
SPARCengine LX. The SPARCclassic engine offers twice the performance at
less than half the price of SMCC's lowest-cost SPARCengine board to
date. These SPARCengine boards are compact, highly integrated units
designed for reliability, low power usage and flexibility. Both boards
take full advantage of the real-time, multitasking capabilities of
Solaris 2.1.

* ACCESS Graphics, Inc., has added SMCC's entire line of SPARCengine
board products, including the new SPARCclassic engine, to the list of
products it now distributes through Sun authorized resellers in the
United States. ACCESS already carries SMCC's complete line of
workstations and servers.

* Computer Associates and SMCC entered a strategic alliance to provide
CA's industry-leading CA-UNICENTER systems management solution for Sun
SPARCserver and SPARCstation families, based on the Solaris 2.0 system
software environment.

* Universal Software is porting its Open/36 product to SMCC's
SPARC/Solaris platform. Open/36 enables IBM System/36 users to move
their applications, without recompilation, from the proprietary
System/36 environment to Sun SPARCservers and SPARCstations. The
Open/36 product gives System/36 users a complete System/36 environment
on a Sun system that includes all their familiar tools.

* Texas Instruments entered into a joint development and marketing
relationship with SMCC to port TI's integrated computer-aided software
engineering (I-CASE) solution, the Information Engineering Facility
(IEF) onto the SPARC/Solaris platform. Customers who use IEF on
mainframes can regenerate their applications on Sun systems, allowing
them to run their applications immediately in a client-server computing
environment at a lower cost.

* Andersen Consulting's Foundation software organization announced its
intent to port its client/server computer-aided software engineering
(CASE) product, Foundation for Cooperative Processing (FCP), to Sun's
SPARCservers and SPARCstations running the Solaris operating system.

* Lotus Notes, the leading workgroup computing application for PCs,
will be added to the suite of Lotus business productivity applications
available for Sun systems, including Lotus 1-2-3, Lotus Realtime and
Lotus cc:Mail. Notes for the SMCC platform will be among the first UNIX
versions of the product to be available. It is expected to be shipped
in the first half of next year.

* SMCC has opened a new product delivery center in Montfoort,
Netherlands. The center will improve system delivery to customers
throughout Europe and also demonstrates SMCC's commitment to growth in
the European market. SMCC also plans to expand its manufacturing
facility in Linlithgow, Scotland.

* SMCC established its 20th worldwide subsidiary, located in Hungary.
The new office will allow the company to provide local sales, service
and marketing support directly to SMCC's distributors, value-added
resellers and customers throughout Middle Europe, which includes
Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Baltic states. With this
addition, SMCC now has a total of 11 subsidiaries in Europe.

* SynOptics, 3Com, LAN Media, SMCC and other leading networking
suppliers endorsed a list of goals for implementing Ethernet networks
at 100 megabits per second (Mbps) using unshielded twisted pair (UTP)
10BASE-T wiring. The vendors also pledged support to expedite a
workable standard for the industry.

* SMCC formed an educational technology alliance with the General
Electric (GE) Advanced Concepts Center for the delivery of customer
training courses in object-oriented software design methodologies.

* SMCC teamed with Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Commercial Services
Group, a leader in providing information technology services to large
commercial customers, to offer retailers high-performance, low-cost
Solaris-based UNIX client-server solutions. EDS has developed automated
software tools based on Sun SPARC workstations and servers, that can be
used to quickly and easily create a portfolio of customized retail
applications.

* Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), a leading developer of executive
information systems (EIS) and decision support systems (DSS), ported
its first full client-sever UNIX system software to the Sun platform.
Under a joint marketing and sales agreement, IRI will sell its
EXPRESS-brand software on Sun SPARCstations and SPARCservers running
Solaris. The company will offer EIS and DSS systems for finance, sales,
marketing, human resources and quality assurance applications to
Fortune 1000 companies and government agencies.

* Sun Microsystems Federal, Inc., will ship its distributed, secure UNIX
operating system, Solaris CMW 1.0 (Compartmented Mode Workstation),
through SMCC channels this December. Solaris CMW is the culmination of
over four years' effort by Sun Federal to develop the only secure UNIX
operating system with a distributed, trusted computing base to be under
evaluation by the National Computer Security Center.

* SMCC and the Office of Information Technology at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill unveiled a new interactive information
repository for the education and research communities that lets users
of Sun systems easily access public domain software, shareware and
other material such as research articles and images. The repository,
called SunSITE (Sun Software, Information, and Technology Exchange),
resides on a dedicated SPARCserver. Users access SunSITE from the
Internet, a global wide-area network that includes a myriad of regional
and local college and university networks.

* Oracle Corporation selected the Sun platform as its primary
development platform for its next-generation RDBMS software products.
Under this agreement, Oracle will purchase several hundred SPARCstation
and SPARCserver systems over the next two years.

* The Chicago Board of Trade, the oldest and largest futures exchange
in the world, has selected Sun SPARCstations as the official
workstation for the Board of Trade.

* Dunkin' Donuts has selected Sun workstations as the computing platform
for its Shop Information System (SIS), an integrated information system
for the retailing, distribution, and production of donuts and bakery
products. Dunkin' Donuts, the world's largest retailer of donuts, said
the company will install a network of SPARCstation IPC computers
running the Solaris distributed computing environment in more than half
of its 1,600 U.S. franchise operations over the next four years.

* Six leading pre-press software and systems vendors will market new
applications for SMCC's SPARC/Solaris platform. The developers offering
new applications on Sun systems include Crosfield Electronics Ltd.,
Digital Technology International, DuPont/Camex, ECRM, Linotype-Hell
Company and System Integrators, Inc. Their products will be used for
output and production flow management, display ad make-up, spot and
process color imaging, raster image processing and database
management.

* National Instruments Corporation has ported its industry-leading
LabVIEW graphical programming software to the Sun SPARC platform. The
availability of LabVIEW software for Sun systems gives users a
powerful, easy-to-use tool for creating programs in automated testing
and laboratory research applications. This is the first UNIX port for
LabVIEW.

* SMCC, Tektronix, Inc., and National Instruments Corp. have formed an
alliance to develop, market and sell a new line of integrated test and
measurement systems called Open Measurement Solutions. These solutions
will comprise SPARCstation and SPARCserver systems from SMCC; VXI and
GPIB test instrumentation from Tektronix; and LabVIEW graphical
application software and instrument controller hardware from National
Instruments. Open Measurement Solutions will be targeted at industries
such as aerospace, automotive, telecommunications and electronic design
automation.


SunConnect Highlights --------------------------------------------------

* SunConnect unveiled three new high-speed connectivity products that
allow users to easily take advantage of applications and network
resources. The new products, SunLink ISDN, SunLink Frame Relay and
SunLink PPP, enable applications that traditionally are limited to use
in local area network environments to run faster and more economically
over global networks.

* SunConnect has expanded its SunConnect Partners program, which
provides customers with global network integration, connectivity and
network management solutions. More than 30 new partners have recently
joined the program, bringing the overall total to more than 100 leading
software developers, resellers and distributors, network and system
integrators, and international network carriers.


SunExpress Highlights ---------------------------------------------------

* SunExpress is now operating in Europe, providing a new distribution
channel for easy ordering and fast delivery of Sun products. Choosing
items from the SunExpress catalog, customers can place orders by
telephone, fax or post and receive products within five business days.
SunExpress Europe will initially support customers in the United
Kingdom, France and Germany. The opening of the new European office
follows the recent expansion of SunExpress into Japan.


SunPics Highlights ------------------------------------------------------

* SunPics has established operations in Europe to market its entire
line of hardware and software products. The SunPics European
headquarters is located in Bagshot, U.K., and serves all of the United
Kingdom and Continental Europe.

* SunPics unveiled the NeWSprinter 20 laser printer, a
20-page-per-minute PostScript-language-compatible printer. The
NeWSprinter 20 product works with NeWSprint software to extend open
network printing to large workgroups. The product complements the
SPARCprinter laser printer, which leads the UNIX print market in
price/performance for smaller workgroup and desktop use.

* SunPics hired Lalita Tademy as vice president and general manager.
Tademy has 20 years of experience in the printing and imaging market,
having held positions at Xerox, ALPS Electric (USA), ITT/Qume and other
companies.


SunPro Highlights -------------------------------------------------------

* SunPro has contracted with a team of 33 highly skilled software
engineers from Russia as an extension to its core engineering group.
The Russian team will work on enhancements to SunPro commercial
software development products. The work will be conducted in Moscow,
St. Petersburg, and Novosibirsk under the direction of Russian
supercomputer inventor Dr. Boris Babaian of the Russian Academy of
Sciences. The agreement is among the first in which Russian scientists
have been employed by a Western firm to develop commercial products for
distribution in key markets including the U.S., Europe and Japan.

* SunPro shipped the ProWorks family of development environments for the
Solaris for X86 operating environment. The initial ProWorks offerings
provide the principal development component of the Solaris for X86
early access kit from SunSoft.

* SunPro and MetaWare, Inc., entered into a licensing agreement in
which MetaWare's highly regarded x86 code generation technology is used
in a new family of SunPro compilers for personal computers. The family,
called ProCompiler, are the first compilers for developing applications
on the Solaris for X86 operating environment.

* SunPro entered a technology development and licensing agreement with
Rogue Wave Software, Inc., a leading supplier of C++ class library
technology. The agreement centers on Rogue Wave's Tools.h++ class
library product, a complete "toolbox" of nearly 100 reusable C++
classes. Enhancements to the libraries will be developed to address
areas such as performance, ease of use, internationalization, and
support for multithreading. SunPro will distribute the product at a
future date as an add-on to its SPARCworks Professional C++ development
environment.


SunSelect Highlights ---------------------------------------------------

* SunSelect has acquired the assets of Praxsys Technologies, Inc., a
software development firm specializing in personal computer emulation
technology.

* SunSelect shipped its one millionth unit of PC-NFS software. PC-NFS
is now the industry's most widely used PC-to-enterprise networking
solution, with a 70 percent share of the personal computer TCP/IP and
ONC/NFS networking market.

* SunSelect expanded its North American channels through new agreements
with leading personal computer networking distributors. SunSelect
products are now available in North America through Tech Data, GBC
Technologies, Transparent Technologies, Intelligent Electronics (IE),
Arrow Electronics, Inc., and Merisel Canada in addition to SunSelect's
existing channels, which include ComputerLand, Access Graphics,
SunExpress and SMCC.

* SunSelect now offers additional volume packaging options for its
PC-NFS 4.0 and PC-NFS Advanced Telnet 1.0 software products. The
packages (in quantities of 10, 25, 100 and 500) are offered at prices
that significantly reduce the per-unit cost of each product.


SunSoft Highlights -----------------------------------------------------

* SunSoft introduced a new version of the Solaris 2.0 distributed
computing environment. Called Solaris 2.1, the software has new
installation, administration, security and internationalization
features, providing commercial users with the industry's most powerful
32-bit software environment for the corporate enterprise. Solaris 2.1
also includes full symmetric multiprocessing and multithreading
capabilities.

* SunSoft distributed Solaris for X86 to select software manufacturers
and developers to take immediate advantage of the powerful 32-bit
system software. These users received Solaris for X86 software on a
single compact disc with ProWorks development tools and documentation.

* Adobe Systems and Sun signed a far-reaching technology and marketing
partnership agreement, whereby Sun will adopt Adobe's imaging
technologies, PostScript and Display PostScript, while Adobe will
increase technology and application development for SunSoft's Solaris
distributed computing environment. As a result of the agreement, Sun
will integrate the Display PostScript system in the Solaris computing
environment, clearly establishing Display PostScript as the standard
imaging model for UNIX platforms. In addition, the companies will
undertake joint marketing and developer support activities.

* SunSoft demonstrated the multiprocessing capabilities of Solaris 2.0
on a Compaq SYSTEMPRO Model 486-840 for the first time at the UNIX Expo
tradeshow in New York City. Solaris is backed by six of the top 10 PC
compatible suppliers in the United States and by three of the top five
PC compatible companies in Europe.

* SunSoft unveiled SearchIt, a new full-text search-and-retrieval
application for the Solaris software environment.   The new application
acts as a personal reference librarian that quickly and easily locates
on-line business data such as reports, proposals, and correspondence
stored anywhere on the corporate network. SearchIt seamlessly
interoperates with the Solaris DeskSet productivity tools.

* ToolTalk, the industry's foremost interapplication communication
software, is now available for seven leading computer platforms.
ToolTalk communication software brings universal plug-and-play
application integration to users of over 75 percent of the world's UNIX
workstations, including systems from Cray Research, Inc., Digital
Equipment Corp., Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intergraph, Silicon Graphics,
Inc., Sun Microsystems Computer Corp. and SPARC-compatible vendors.
More than 50 independent software vendors in a range of market segments
have endorsed ToolTalk.

* SunSoft shipped a new version of its INTERACTIVE UNIX System software
with features that increase system functionality and expand the number
of platforms and peripherals supported. SunSoft is currently offering
an aggressive trade-in promotion that allows Santa Cruz Operation (SCO)
XENIX, UNIX and Open Desktop users to switch to the new INTERACTIVE
UNIX System at a 50% discount.

* SunSoft signed major reseller deals with leading U.S. distributors
Tech Data, Access Graphics and Government Technology Services, Inc.
(GTSI) for the distribution of INTERACTIVE UNIX.


SunSolutions Highlights -------------------------------------------------

* ShowMe, SunSolution's computer conferencing product, began shipping
in September and the initial reaction from the press, analysts and
customers has been extremely positive. According to a product review
published in Open Systems Today (8/31/92), "The user interface for
ShowMe is perhaps the most intuitive and easy to use that I've seen
under an X-based GUI...this is a program that people can use to get
real work done."


STATE OF THE BUSINESS --------------------------------------------------

* SMCC remained the workstation/server market leader in 1991, with
  39.6% of worldwide workstation/server shipments, according to IDC
  reports. (HP: 16.8%; DEC: 13.8%; IBM: 5.6%; NeXT: 5.4%)

* Sun's Q1 FY93 revenues were a record $855.9 million, a 13% increase
  over the $754.9 million reported in the same period a year ago.

* Net income for the quarter was $4.8 million, or $0.05 per share.

* SMCC shipped more than 50,000 units in Q1. Cumulative installed base
  is more than 700,000 units.

* Revenues per employee for the last 12 months were $285,200 - the
  highest revenues per employee of any computer company utilizing a
  direct sales business model.

* Sun's FY92 revenues were $3.6 billion, up from the $3.2 billion
  reported in FY91.

* Net income for FY92 was $173.3 million, or $1.71 per share.

* Sun is ranked #146 on the 1991 Fortune 500 list, moving up from 181
  (#133 at present run-rate).


Information Systems Visionary of the Year

Wells Forgo executive Roy Camblin was awarded the first "Information
Systems Visionary of the Year" award, bestowed by SMCC at a special
industry dinner in New York City. The award recognizes Camblin's
success in creating an organization-wide client-server solution that
improves efficiency, saves money, and brings technology into the hands
of the front-line employees.

SMCC decided to create its information systems visionary award to honor
professionals like Camblin who are on the cusp of an important movement
in information systems. The company solicited nominations from its
worldwide field representatives before selecting Camblin. A $10,000
grant will be made by SMCC in Camblin's name to the higher education
computer science department of his choice.


Public Policy Forum Activities

The SMI Public Policy Process was established to provide coordination
to Sun's public policy positions and activities. The work of the
process is carried out under the direction of Process CEO Kevin Melia
and through the Public Policy Forum, which has representation from each
Sun operating company, geography, and major function. (For more
information contact pubpol@sun.com).

* Ballot Initiatives

On behalf of Sun Microsystems, Corporate Affairs, in consultation with
the Public Policy Forum, took positions on two initiatives on the
ballot in November's U.S. election: support of Santa Clara County,
Calif., Measure A, to fund light rail and other transit projects in the
county; opposition to Proposition 167 (Calif.), which would have
substantially increased the company's tax burden in California. (Note:
Measure A passed; Proposition 167 failed.)

Corporate Affairs also reviewed a Packaging Reduction and Recycling
Initiative on the ballot in Massachusetts and decided to take no
position. For more information on Sun's ballot initiative positions,
contact Andy.Coe@Corp.

* Recent Court Decision: Sega v. Accolade

On October 20, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in a landmark decision
that a method of reverse engineering a competitor's copyrighted
computer program, when required to achieve a legitimate purpose such as
compatibility, is perfectly legal.

This is a major victory for open systems, and a tremendous setback to
proprietary vendors.

Sun, through its leadership of the American Committee for Interoperable
Systems (ACIS), played a significant role in rallying open systems
allies in the industry to advocate this pro-competitive interpretation
of the copyright laws.


SPARC Facts ------------------------------------------------------------

The success of the SPARC platform is due to a single binary interface
based on open technologies that are industry standards --
SPARC/Solaris. This ensures application software compatibility -
"shrink-wrapped" software that runs unchanged on a wide variety of
SPARC systems.

* SPARC is the highest-volume platform in the RISC/UNIX market - the de
facto standard RISC architecture:
	- More than 650,000 systems have been shipped by all SPARC 
	  vendors to date
	- IDC published workstation/server market report indicates 
	  that SPARC systems had 63.1% of the RISC workstation market 
	  in 1991, with MIPS systems having 16.3% and IBM Power 8%. 

* SPARCware developers can take advantage of the leading RISC/UNIX
platform and the #3 (in volume) ABI in the industry (following
Intel/Microsoft and Macintosh). This translates to more market
opportunity for developers and more innovative solutions for end
users.
	- More than 5,300 SPARC hardware and software solutions

* The SPARC microprocessor architecture is implemented by 10
semiconductor manufacturers into a number of different microprocessors
representing a broad performance range -- from 10 to 65 MIPS.
	- More than 750,000 chips have been shipped to date

* SPARC International, through the SPARC Compliance Definition (SCD),
will certify hardware and software binary compatibility after
performing a series of tests. Only systems and software that are
verified through SI will be allowed to use the SPARC trademark. This
means vendors and end users are assured of hardware and software
compatibility. 
	- SPARC International has verified 23 SPARC systems as 
	  compliant with SCD 1.1
	- SPARC International now has more than 250 members

* More than 40 vendors are currently shipping SPARC compatibles or
board products, or reselling SMCC/SPARC systems. Eighty-six SPARC chip
implementations are available on the market today.

Recent SPARC Highlights

* Texas Instruments introduced microSPARC, a highly integrated
microprocessor that combines a complete SPARC-compatible processor with
critical system features on a single chip. The new SPARC microprocessor
is expected to enable low-cost workstations to move into the personal
computer price range.

Features integrated on the microSPARC processor include: 32-bit SPARC
integer unit; low-cost floating point; separate instruction and data
caches; SPARC reference memory management unit; configurable DRAM
controller; a standard SBus interface with support for five add-in
slots.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third
party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local
Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in
your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications
within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or
publication by Sun Microsystems.

John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.

TRACE: To: sunflash@housun.Central Errors-to: owner-sunflash@housun.Central.sun.com