Sun Offers Free Storage OS

Sun Microsystems is making a storage-optimized version of OpenSolaris available for free download, enabling developers and customers to build low-cost storage appliances.According to Graham Lovell, Sun's senior director for storage servers and appliances, solution providers or customers can download the storage version of OpenSolaris, install it on any server, and have a network storage appliance within 10 minutes. "There's zero cost for the software," Lovell said. "Hopefully they'll buy Sun x86 servers, but maybe they'll just use an older server."

"Storage today is the last bastion of proprietary technology," Lovell continued. "Customers buy their hardware, software, and services from a particular vendor. And if they want additional services, they have to go back to that vendor. But hardware is starting to standardize." Mixing standardized hardware with open source software is an economical way for businesses to grow storage capacity, Lovell said.ChannelWeb