Editing Sun Microsystems (section)

===x86-based systems===
In the late 1980s, Sun also marketed an [[Intel 80386]]–based machine, the [[Sun386i]]; this was designed to be a hybrid system, running [[SunOS]] but at the same time supporting [[DOS]] applications. This only remained on the market for a brief time. A follow-up "486i" upgrade was announced but only a few prototype units were ever manufactured.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How Sun's need to control the code cost them the company |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-suns-need-to-control-the-code-cost-them-the-company/ |access-date=2022-07-02 |website=ZDNet |language=en}}</ref>

Sun's brief first foray into [[x86]] systems ended in the early 1990s, as it decided to concentrate on [[SPARC]] and retire the last [[Motorola]] systems and 386i products, a move dubbed by McNealy as "all the wood behind one arrowhead". Even so, Sun kept its hand in the [[x86]] world, as a release of [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]] for [[PC compatible]]s began shipping in 1993.

In 1997, Sun acquired Diba, Inc., followed later by the acquisition of [[Cobalt Networks]] in 2000, with the aim of building ''network appliances'' (single function computers meant for consumers). Sun also marketed a [[Network Computer]] (a term popularized and eventually trademarked by [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]]); the [[JavaStation]] was a diskless system designed to run Java applications.

Although none of these business initiatives were particularly successful, the Cobalt purchase gave Sun a toehold for its return to the x86 hardware market. In 2002, Sun introduced its first general purpose x86 system, the LX50, based in part on previous Cobalt system expertise. This was also Sun's first system announced to support [[Linux]] as well as Solaris.

In 2003, Sun announced a strategic alliance with [[AMD]] to produce x86/x64 servers based on AMD's [[Opteron]] processor; this was followed shortly by Sun's acquisition of Kealia, a startup founded by original Sun founder [[Andy Bechtolsheim]], which had been focusing on high-performance AMD-based servers.

The following year, Sun launched the Opteron-based Sun Fire V20z and V40z servers, and the [[Sun Java Workstation]] W1100z and W2100z workstations.

In September 2005 Sun unveiled a new range of Opteron-based servers: the Sun Fire X2100, X4100 and X4200 servers.<ref>[http://www.sun.com/nc/05q3/videos/index.jsp?exec=3 Sun Microsystems<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051203062546/http://www.sun.com/nc/05q3/videos/index.jsp?exec=3 |date=December 3, 2005 }}</ref>  These were designed from scratch by a team led by Bechtolsheim to address heat and power consumption issues commonly faced in data centers. In July 2006, the [[Sun Fire X4500]] and X4600 systems were introduced, extending a line of x64 systems that support not only Solaris, but also [[Linux]] and [[Microsoft Windows]].

In January 2007 Sun announced a broad strategic alliance with [[Intel]].<ref>{{cite press release
 |title= Sun And Intel Announce Landmark Agreement
 |publisher= Sun Microsystems
 |date= January 22, 2007
 |url= http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/pr/2007-01/sunflash.20070122.1.xml
 |access-date= January 23, 2007
 |archive-date= January 24, 2007
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070124052008/http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/pr/2007-01/sunflash.20070122.1.xml
 |url-status= dead
 }}</ref> Intel endorsed Solaris as a mainstream operating system and as its mission critical [[Unix]] for its [[Xeon]] processor–based systems, and contributed engineering resources to [[OpenSolaris]].<ref>{{cite press release
 |title = OpenSolaris & Intel Xeon Processors
 |publisher=YouTube
 |date= April 30, 2008
 |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIb8VIg0JM0
  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/VIb8VIg0JM0| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|access-date=May 12, 2008
}}{{cbignore}}</ref>  Sun began using the Intel Xeon processor in its [[x64]] server line, starting with the Sun Blade X6250 server module introduced in June 2007.

In May 2008 AMD announced its Operating System Research Center (OSRC) was expanding its focus to include optimization to Sun's OpenSolaris and [[Sun xVM|xVM]] virtualization products for AMD processors.<ref>{{cite press release
 |title=AMD Expands Charter for the OpenSolaris OS and Sun xVM at the AMD Operating System Research Center
 |publisher=AMD
 |date=May 5, 2008
 |url=https://www.amd.com/gb-uk/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~125446,00.html
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116054951/http://www.amd.com/gb-uk/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0%2C%2C51_104_543~125446%2C00.html
 |archive-date=January 16, 2009
}}</ref>