COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Intel Corp. is offering Solaris 10 as an alternative operating system for both its rackmounted TIGW1U servers and the NetStructure line of ATCA blades.

The servers are the first fruits of a pact that Intel and Sun Microsystems signed in January calling for wider use of Intel Architecture processors by Sun and Solaris OS by Intel.

Both versions offer high-availability features and are hardened to meet NEBS-3 standards.

Keate Despain, director of marketing in Intel's modular communications platform division, said Intel's rackmount line has a strong existing customer base, while the NetStructure ATCA line is still in the early stages of being adopted by OEM and carrier accounts. Intel already offers telecom servers using Windows, Linux versions from MontaVista and Red Hat, and WindRiver's VxWorks.

The TIGW1U has completed the Solaris Hardware Certification Test Suite and is ready for immediate shipment. The NetStructure MCPBL0050 ATCA board is in the early stages of certification and is slated for release in the third quarter. The ATCA board is based on a dual-core Xeon LV5138.

Despain said ATCA still is generating interest among network equipment manufacturers. The long lead time in expanding its popularity is due not only to carriers' long cycles, but to the consolidation taking place in both carrier and OEM markets within telecom, he said.

The list price of the TIGW1U is $1,898. The ATCA board will have a list price of $5,169 when it ships in the third quarter.