While Sun has been testing and certifying that Solaris 10 will run on various X86 and X64 servers from IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and others, are finding that having Sun or the OpenSolaris community attest to the usability of Solaris on a particular box is not the same thing as having the maker of that box actually sell the operating system on the machine and guarantee that the drivers all work...

HP has what Sun classifies as an "arm's length" agreement with Sun with regards to Solaris and its ProLiant rack, tower, and blade servers, which means Sun or partners certify the box and ProLiant customers have to buy Solaris from Sun and get support from Sun as well...

The recently sealed OEM deal between Sun Microsystems and Dell will widen the appeal of Solaris for x86-based system users, and will benefit both vendors, Gartner has reported.

"The agreement between Sun and Dell is another indication of the momentum Solaris has gained on x86," said Errol Rasit, a senior research analyst at Gartner...

Sun Microsystems and Dell announced Wednesday a distribution agreement under which Dell will distribute Sun's Solaris 10 operating system on Dell PowerEdge servers.

Under the multiyear agreement, Dell also will provide Solaris support services to its PowerEdge customers...

Dell Inc will license Sun Microsystems Inc's Solaris operating system and build server computers based on the Sun software, the companies said on Wednesday.

"Dell's offering of Solaris redefines the market opportunity for both companies," Schwartz said in a statement...