Amazon.com Selects Sun's Starfire Server and Sun StorEdge Arrays to Power Strategic Data Warehouse and Decision Support Systems
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Sun Microsystems, Inc. has announced that Amazon.com, Inc., one of the Web's best-known retailers, is turning to Sun's server, software and storage systems to help serve its growing customer base. The online retailer has selected the Sun Enterprise 10000 Starfire server running the Solaris operating environment with Sun StorEdge A5000 fibre channel arrays and the L3500 tape library for its data warehouse and decision support system.

"We needed technology that could keep pace with a growing e-commerce market, and we knew of Sun's reputation as a leading provider of systems for data warehouses," said Rick Dalzell, CIO at Amazon.com. "Our business required the ability to analyze market trends and to respond quickly. The scalability of Sun's Starfire server and storage subsystems supports that model."

"We're very excited that Amazon.com, which is truly blazing the trail for electronic commerce, has selected the Sun platform as the backbone for its strategic data warehousing needs," said Masood Jabbar, president, Computer Systems, at Sun. "This is a great example of how Sun's highly scalable core technology can help companies compete in the rapidly changing electronic commerce market and how we, along with our business associates, are dominating this field. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Amazon.com."

A Sun Enterprise and E10000 Certified reseller, Avcom Systems, helped put the deal together.

"We're finding the Starfire server to be a big success with our value added reseller channel," said Bill Cate, director of marketing for the U.S. reseller channel at Sun. "In fact, one of every five of these servers sold in the United States is sold through a Sun Enterprise Certified reseller, Specialty certified at the Sun Enterprise 10000 level."

Amazon.com, Inc., claims to be Earth's biggest book and music store. Amazon.com offers a catalog of more than 3 million book, music, and other titles, plus easy-to-use search and browse features, e-mail services, personalized shopping services, secure Web-based credit card payment, and direct shipping to customers. Amazon.com offers customers a vast selection through an efficient search-and-retrieval interface, as well as streamlined ordering through 1-Click technology. Amazon.com is one of the pioneers of syndicated selling on the Internet and has more than 60,000 members in its Associates Program, including AOL.com, Yahoo!, Netscape, Excite, the Alta Vista Search Service, the @Home Network, and iVillage.

Sun's global retail clients include catalog and home shopping organizations, grocery chains, convenience store chains, chain drug stores, discount and mass merchandisers, department stores, hard and soft goods companies and specialty chains as well as hotel and restaurant chains.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The Computer," has propelled Sun Microsystems to its position as a leading provider of high quality hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $9 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the WorldWide Web at http://www.sun.com