---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SUN MICROSYSTEMS: ONE SMART 10-YEAR-OLD SunFLASH Vol 38 #20 February 1992 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Startup Revolutionizes Computer Industry MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. February 24, 1992 Ten years ago this month, several entrepreneurs in their mid-20s signed the papers incorporating Sun Microsystems. They built their first computers mostly by hand in what the local press dubbed "an oversized garage" in Santa Clara, Calif. And in their first year of business, they saw $8 million in sales. Yet, Sun's young founders weren't driven by money. They were driven by a vision of a computing world that didn't exist a world based on "open" computer systems: "We always said, `Let's think big.' If we fail, we'll make the biggest crash anyone has ever seen. But if we succeed, we'll change the fundamentals of the computer business the same way Henry Ford changed the fundamentals of the automobile business." CEO Scott McNealy, Fortune , August 17, 1987 By all accounts, they succeeded. Today, the company that made the expensive, proprietary computer an anachronism celebrates its 10th anniversary. Having grown at a pace six times faster than the industry as a whole, it's safe to say that Sun's competitors are still scrambling to catch up. "Every time we appear to have Sun cornered, Scott McNealy comes along and pops his head up again." A frustrated member of the ACE consortium, The New York Times, Oct. 17, 1991 This year, Sun Microsystems is expected to gross well in excess of $3 billion. Despite a sluggish economy, its revenues in the second quarter of fiscal year 1992 rose more than 20 percent to $909.1 million and revenues per employee exceeded $279,000 -- the highest of any computer company that sells its products through direct sales channels -- while most of its competitors posted losses. The company leads the market for workstations and servers, with 40.8 percent of the units shipped in 1991 (the next closest competitor is Hewlett-Packard, with a 17.2 percent market share). The installed base of Sun systems has topped 550,000. Sun workstations and servers are based on open technologies that are industry standards: the powerful SPARC RISC computer architecture and the Solaris distributed computing solution. "Words fail to describe how successful Sun has been. For a company to grow at that rate is just incredible." Robert Herwick, Hambrecht & Quist, USA Today , Jan. 19, 1988 "Sun wins because they don't have preconceived notions of what can't be done." Franklin Moss, former Apollo VP for software development, Business Week, July 24, 1989 From a handful of employees in that Santa Clara garage, Sun has grown to nearly 12,400 employees and has 18 subsidiaries around the world. Now based in Mountain View, Calif., the company builds its products in Milpitas, Calif.; Westford, Mass.; and in Linlithgow, Scotland. More than 50 percent of revenues come from foreign sales. Fortune magazine ranks Sun as America's second-largest exporter as a percentage of sales (45%). Today, Sun has become the world's leading supplier of client/server computing solutions, which feature networked workstations and servers that store, process and distribute information in demanding technical and commercial applications. Sun's success has made its founders' dream of an "open" UNIX workstation a powerful, low-cost system built from off-the shelf components, streamlined designs and extensive outside assembly available to anyone a reality. ### Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo and Solaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. SPARC is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. All other products or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners. Press contact: Cindee Mock 415/336-3563 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu, paris.cs.miami.edu, uunet.uu.net, src.doc.ic.ac.uk and ftp.adelaide.edu.au All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.