SPARC: Oracle Linux Coming Soon!

[SPARC International Logo, Courtesy SPARC International]

Abstract:
Linux has been available under SPARC for some time. Ubuntu had committed to supporting Linux under UltraSPARC T systems. Fujitsu offered Linux under their SPARC systems for their MPP based clusters. China had offered Linux for small controllers based upon SPARC. Oracle is getting into the business of releasing Linux for their systems.

[Oracle Corporation Logo, Courtesy Oracle]

Source: Job Posting:
Oracle made a public job posting, foreshadowing an upcoming product release: Course/Curriculum Dev 4-Training

Oracle VM Server for SPARC is highly efficient, enterprise-class virtualization enabling the creation of 128 virtual servers on one system leveraging Oracle's SPARC servers... The change here is to remove any mention of "Solaris"... This product will also be available on Linux going forward so Linux or Solaris are equally valid. 

Documentation of a training class for a product is a pretty reliable source for a new product release.

[SPARC M7 Die, Courtesy The Register]

Not the Only Source
Larry Ellison, currently the CTO of Oracle, announced that Oracle Enterprise Linux was coming to SPARC back in 2010, around the acquisition time of Sun Microsystems by Oracle Corporation.

"We think Sparc will become clearly the best chip for running Oracle software. At that point we'd be nuts not to move Oracle Enterprise Linux there. We're a ways away, but I think that's definitely going to happen," Ellison said. It's likely to happen in "the T4, T5 timeframe."

The SPARC T4 & T5 processors are currently being sold. More SPARC processors are coming...

[San Francisco California, courtesy Oracle Corporation]

Reading the Tea Leaves
The T5's are about to be supplanted with the SPARC M7 pending release. and the SPARC T7 pending release. Oracle OpenWorld is about to occur. This seems like the right timing for a product announcement or release... get your new SPARC processors with Oracle Linux or Solaris could be a great marketing campaign!

Conclusion:
If your company has been holding out for a large vendor to support Linux under SPARC, this may be your opportunity. This could also be foretelling of the inevitable decline of Intel under Oracle Engineered Systems. The bundling of Linux under a lower cost SPARC could be the beginning of Oracle re-entering the HPC market.