Dell versus Sun

For the past several years, Dell has really taken a strong
foothold on 
this campus.  Sun Micro has admittedly gone on the wayside
and trying to 
make a return.

I am doing a comparison of the two companies' products and
services.  So 
far, what I'm seeing is that Sun Micro, like IBM, does not
offer a 
robust set of system customization options.  Sun Micro
prices are also 
substantially higher, and I haven't enough experience with
their 
customer/technical support services to comment.  These
reasons may 
explain Sun's fallout.

I am curious to know the experiences others have had with
the two 
companies.  Did anyone convert from a Dell to a Sun shop or
vice versa? 
  If so, what justified this major decision?

Thanks.

-- 
Michael H. Quan
Programmer/Analyst Zero
School of Public Health

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>>>>> "Michael" == Michael H Quan
<mquanberkeley.edu> writes:

    Michael> For the past several years, Dell has really
taken a
    Michael> strong foothold on this campus.  Sun Micro
has admittedly
    Michael> gone on the wayside and trying to make a
return.

    Michael> I am doing a comparison of the two
companies' products
    Michael> and services.  So far, what I'm seeing is
that Sun Micro,
    Michael> like IBM, does not offer a robust set of
system
    Michael> customization options.  Sun Micro prices are
also
    Michael> substantially higher, and I haven't enough
experience
    Michael> with their customer/technical support
services to
    Michael> comment.  These reasons may explain Sun's
fallout.

    Michael> I am curious to know the experiences others
have had with
    Michael> the two companies.  Did anyone convert from
a Dell to a
    Michael> Sun shop or vice versa?  If so, what
justified this major
    Michael> decision?

ICSI went pretty hardcore Dell (and some custom-built
machines) but
has started drifting back to Suns, both in the server room
and on
desktops.  The Dells started to get pretty cheapo at the low
end -
they obviously cost less to build as well as buy!  Our
current feeling
is that a Sun on e.g. a matching grant promotion is
equivalent _value_
to a Dell (assuming they have a standard config that's
roughly what
you want).  And the current batch of Sun hardware is
actually quite
nicely finished (specifically the X4100 1U servers, which
we've
standardized on).  Also, for compute work, Opterons work
well and that
wasn't an option with Dell until recently.  Finally, many
of Sun's
systems are qualified for RedHat - we've not had problems
with Dells
but, at times, the company has seemed a bit less committed
to
non-Windows OSs.

Sun has, on average, been good service-wise when things get
complicated. That being said, I don't think we've got
complaints with
Dell service either.

David.

    Michael> Thanks.

    Michael> -- Michael H. Quan Programmer/Analyst Zero
School of
    Michael> Public Health

    Michael>
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    Michael> about upcoming meetings, please visit the
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    Michael> site: <http://micronet.be
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