Sun Microsystems and Nominum Boost the Performance and Resiliency of IP-Services

By Derek Iwasiuk
DomainInformer.com
March 20, 2006

Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Nominum, the leading provider of network naming and addressing solutions, today announced an agreement to deliver Nominum's industry-leading Domain Name System (DNS) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) software to wireline, wireless and cable operators around the world. The solution, made available through Sun and on a range of Sun's hardware platforms, has been optimized for Sun's Solaris (TM) 10, the most advanced operating system on the planet.

Combining Sun platforms, Solaris 10 and Nominum's software allows customers to deploy a scalable and resilient network naming and addressing infrastructure solution with the backing of two world-class vendors. The combination eases deployment, reduces cost and provides service availability and connectivity for broadband internet, VoIP and IPTV users. The Sun-Nominum solution offers unmatched DNS performance and resiliency while significantly reducing DNS query latency needed for real time applications. The result is a high-performance, scalable and highly available DNS infrastructure that enables telecommunications, cable and enterprise customers to meet the growing demand for high-quality Internet and IP-based services.

"As one of the UK's leading operators, our business customers demand secure, always-on, high-speed connections," said Alex Kiernan, Principal Engineer at THUS plc. "Deploying Nominum CNS on Solaris 10 provides us with the assurance of a high-performing DNS platform that offers the speed and scalability to meet our existing and future needs."

In addition to THUS, international telecommunications service providers such as Telefonica de Espana (TdE), NTL, Eastlink and Telewest have also already deployed Nominum software on the Solaris Operating System to build a solid infrastructure designed for future growth.

"The DNS infrastructure that supports broadband Internet and real time IP-based services is in dire need of an upgrade," said Tom Tovar, vice president of worldwide sales and business development at Nominum. "Service assurance and guaranteed connectivity require a scalable, high-performance, and resilient DNS infrastructure. By combining Nominum's DNS/DHCP solutions with Sun's operating system, carriers and service providers can deploy true DNS/DHCP infrastructures to support a variety of business initiatives."

"The quality and performance of DNS/DHCP infrastructures should meet or exceed the quality and performance of every other network element to support subscriber and traffic growth, new services and connectivity and to provide network resiliency in case of attacks," said Darrell Jordan-Smith, vice president, global telecommunications industries, Sun Microsystems. "Delivering a next-generation DNS/DHCP infrastructure solution is a top strategic initiative for Sun moving into 2006, and we see Nominum as the leader in providing the superior DNS and DHCP technology that our customers demand."

Nominum Foundation Caching Name Server and Authoritative Name Server for DNS on Sun Fire (TM) V20z and V40z servers, powered by AMD Opteron (TM) processors, give carriers a cost-effective platform for unrivalled DNS responsiveness and capacity. Both products include advanced security features helping prevent cache-poisoning attacks. They are ready to support cryptographically-signed zones as the adoption of DNS Security Extension (DNSSEC) progresses. Customers choosing Sun's x64 (x86, 64-bit) architecture servers have the flexibility to run the Solaris(TM) Operating System and Linux, allowing them to deploy a single server architecture, in line with their technical objectives.

Nominum's Dynamic Configuration Server (DCS) is the next generation of a true carrier- grade DHCP infrastructure. Powered and tuned for Sun's award winning AMD Opteron processor-and SPARC-based systems, DCS can help service providers keep pace with the number of devices connecting and reconnecting to the Internet (i.e. MMS, Chat, SMS and Mobile Web). With these devices only staying connected for a short time and with the number of services and devices increasing exponentially over time, the need to strengthen DHCP infrastructures is essential.

Nominum's relationship with Sun encompasses performance and scalability tuning on the Solaris 10 OS, a global reseller agreement as well as joint marketing and sales initiatives.

About Nominum

Nominum is the leading provider of IP address infrastructure solutions for Global 2000 companies. Nominum provides the industry's only high scalability and high availability Internet name and address solutions for the always-on network. Nominum's Foundation product family includes the most scalable, reliable and secure DNS and DHCP servers, with open architectures for extensibility and real-time integration with external systems. These solutions allow service providers to deliver a carrier-grade telecommunications infrastructure that supports the rapidly growing demand for new services, and enterprises to create resilient and reliable networks that are responsive to changing business conditions.

NOTE: Nominum and the Nominum logo are registered trademarks of Nominum Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

A singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer" -- guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com .

NOTE: Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun Logo, Java, Solaris, Sun Fire and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

    AMD and Opteron are trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro
Devices.