NEWS BRIEFS

Palo Alto, CA — Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq:SUNW) today announced that its 64-bit UltraSPARC(TM)III processor received MicroDesign Resources’ (MDR) Microprocessor Report 2001 Analyst’s Choice Award in the Best Server/Workstation processor category. Sun Microsystems accepted the award at MDR’s second annual awards ceremony, Thursday, Jan. 18 at the Hyatt Saint Claire in San Jose, Calif.

The MDR awards confirm the top technology picks from the Microprocessor Report’s analyst team, recognizing excellence in technology innovation, design and implementation. The Sun Microsystems, Inc. UltraSPARC III processor won first place for Best Server/Workstation Processor in a competitive field of nominees which also included Intel’s Itanium, IBM’s Freeway for eServer z900, and Intel’s Pentium III Xeon processors.

“The prestigious MDR awards celebrate the companies and products that shaped the electronics industry in 2000. Microprocessors for servers and workstations do the heavy lifting in this industry. The immense processing requirements placed on this class of processors require them to incorporate many advanced features,” said Max Baron, editor-in-chief and principal analyst, Microprocessor Report. “Because of its advanced multiprocessing architecture, we gave the Sun UltraSPARC III processor the Microprocessor Report 2001 Analyst’s Choice Award for Best Server/Workstation Processor.”

“Sun is very proud to receive this prestigious award from MicroDesign Resources for the UltraSPARC III processor,” said John Shoemaker, executive vice president, System Products Group, Sun Microsystems, Inc. “The UltraSPARC III processor is the cornerstone of Sun’s next generation network computing architecture, designed to meet the demands of the Net Effect. MicroDesign Resources’ recognition further validates the direction Sun has taken in 64-bit computing for advanced multiprocessing.”

“The 64-bit UltraSPARC III microprocessor is one of the most advanced processors available today,” said Anant Agrawal, vice president and general manager, Processor Products Group, Sun Microsystems, Inc. “We congratulate our design team for their industry-leading work on this complex 64-bit processor and are especially honored to have gained this recognition among top industry analysts.”

The UltraSPARC III microprocessor comprises 29 million transistors and features include embedded memory controller and 9.6 Gigabyte-per-second address bus for massive scalability; support for a large 8 Megabyte Error Checking and Correcting (ECC)-protected external cache; and a new error isolation and correction “Uptime Bus” for high-system reliability.

The UltraSPARC III processor offers a balanced, multidimensional portfolio of industry-bests in nearly every category of performance: clock speed, scaling capability, multiprocessor linearity, and processing bandwidth. The UltraSPARC III processor design is the only microprocessor on the market with an integrated scalable memory design, frequency isolation to allow mixed-speed CPU support within a single system, and a first-of-its-kind single-cycle coherency protocol.

Sun began volume shipment of the 750 MHz UltraSPARC III processor last year and in September 2000 announced the first implementations of the new processor in the Sun Blade(TM) 1000 high-end workstations and the Sun Fire(TM) 280R workgroup server.

About MicroDesign Resources

MicroDesign Resources, a Cahners company, is recognized as the leading provider of in-depth analysis of today’s electronic industry trends for technical and business decision makers. MDR’s team of staff analysts are respected worldwide for their credible, unbiased views. MDR’s Microprocessor Report, published weekly on the Web, focuses on the constant advances in the microprocessor industry. Topics range from the most up-to-date analysis of developments in PC, server, workstation, and embedded processors, to the latest acceleration technology for 3D and video.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision — The Network Is The Computer(TM) — has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq:SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to “dot-com” their businesses. With $15.7 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web.

Web site: http://www.sun.com/

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