Sun Confirms Intellectual Property Rights for all Versions of its Unix Operating Systems

Solaris[tm], Solaris x86, Trusted Solaris and Sun Linux Platforms Unaffected by Today's UNIX-related IP Lawsuit

Santa Clara, Calif. -- March 7, 2003 -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. today confirmed with its customers and partners that it has licensing rights to UNIX code, on which the Solaris[tm] Operating System is based for both SPARC and recently available x86 systems. In light of SCO's legal dispute with IBM over UNIX licensing rights, Sun announced it has absolutely no licensing issues with SCO today. Sun's previous licensing agreements give Sun complete UNIX IP rights in relation to Sun's operating systems. This makes the Solaris Operating System a safe choice for customers moving forward. With the Solaris multiplatform product line, customers can have a consistent Solaris environment from low-end x86 servers, up to hundreds of processors, in a SPARC mainframe-class system.

Sun confirms that:

• As part of a series of licensing agreements, Sun acquired rights to make and ship derivative products based on the intellectual property in UNIX. This forms the foundation for the Solaris OS that ships today.
• Sun's complete line of Solaris and Linux products -- including Solaris for the SPARC and x86 platforms, Trusted Solaris[tm], the industry's premier highly secure operating system, and Sun Linux -- are covered by Sun's portfolio of UNIX licensing agreements.
• Solaris and Sun Linux represent safe choices for those companies that develop and deploy services based on UNIX systems.

About Solaris Operating System

The Solaris Operating System (Solaris OS) is the premier OS for the enterprise. With over 300 new features, the Solaris OS is the most scalable, available, manageable and secure services platform for the networked world. By focusing on industry standards, the Internet, innovation and integration, the Solaris platform delivers a documented lower cost of operation. The Solaris OS is the leading UNIX platform operating system with Sun servers owning 54 percent worldwide UNIX market share in shipments and 34 percent worldwide UNIX revenue share, according to Gartner Dataquest's 3Q02 Servers Quarterly Statistics.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com

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

All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.

UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd.