Sun rolls out reference architectures

Sun Microsystems at the SunNetwork 2003 conference here Wednesday introduced eight Sun Reference Architectures featuring repeatable methodologies to boost business processes in several network computing arenas.

Sun’s Reference Architectures are intended to provide a pre-tested, integrated, and documented infrastructure layer and are based on proof-of-concepts done at customer sites. Included in the architectures are recommended product mixes. Sun’s reference architecture specifications can be found here.

Architectures were unveiled for:

* Anti-Virus, for scanning of incoming and outgoing e-mail, FTP, and Web requests to protect against virus intrusion, spamming, and content-filtering, to minimize spread of viruses.

* Application Services, for deploying Java-based Web services and Sun ONE component integration.

* Communications Internet Data Center Phase II, providing enterprises and service providers with infrastructure for communications to scale to millions of users. This architecture features Java Enterprise System, Sun Fire servers, and Sun StorEdge products as well as third-party management tools.

* Data Integrity Assurance (Security), providing defense by detecting undesired changes to server data through monitoring and maintaining systems integrity.

* Grid, offering a methodology for deploying enterprise-wide computational resources to maximize utilization and management for sharing resources.  In a related announcement, Sun on Tuesday introduced a grid bundle featuring Intel Xeon systems as part of its Sun Fire V60x Compute Grid.

* Identity Server, featuring an identity management infrastructure foundation and including federated identity management capabilities for building trusted networks.

* Mainframe re-hosting, using customer application and third-party infrastructure tools and featuring technical documents and guides for architecture, implementation, and sizing.

* Student Information Systems Reference Architecture, intended to provide school districts with a centralized, Web-based system for tracking, management and access to student data from pre-kindergarten through the twelfth grade.