[SIZE=4]SUN powers SMART’s mobile value-added services[/SIZE]
(Manila Bulletin 08/29/05, Edu Lopez)

SMART has recently acquired Sun Fire E20K, Sun’s massively scalable, highly available flagship data center server that scales up to 36 UltraSPARC IV processors with chip multithreading technology executing 72 simultaneous computing threads.

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SMART Communications’ subscriber base on its GSM network is growing at a faster pace than its competitors, mainly driven by its mobile value-added services which account for about 80 percent of the company’s total revenue.

As of end-September 2004, SMART has generated 17.5 million subscribers.

Of the total subscriber base served, 13.3 million are under the brands Smart Buddy, Smart Gold, Addict Mobile, Addict Mobile Prepaid, Smart Infinity, Smart Kid, Smart Kid Prepaid and Smart ACeS.

The balance of 4.2 million subscribers are serviced through its subsidiary, Pilipino Telephone Corp. (Piltel) under the GSM brand Talk ‘N Text.

Since the debut of its GSM service in 1999, SMART introduced the world’s first wireless data services such as Smart Money, Smart Load, and Smart Padala.

The other value-added services that propelled SMART’s revenue include ring-back tones, JAVA games, balance inquiry, application downloads, Pasa load and e-load, among others.

SMART also launched its unlimited call service within its network dubbed as 25/8 in response to its rivals’ unlimited call service.

Sun Microsystems powers SMART

As a heavy user of Sun servers, SMART has already invested millions in the latest state-of-the-art technology particularly in high-end servers.

Since the inception of SMART’s mobile value-added services (MVAS) group, it has been acquiring Sun servers for their mission critical systems.

To augment this system MVAS, recently purchased SUN Servers that will run more than twice their current systems.

The reliability, availability and scalability features of Sun servers have kept it a reliable hardware resource to running MVAS’ mission critical systems that generate 80 percent of the total revenue of SMART.

SMART has recently acquired Sun Fire E20K, Sun’s massively scalable, highly available flagship data center server that scales up to 36 UltraSPARC IV processors with chip multithreading technology executing 72 simultaneous computing threads.

With these processors plus new hsPCI+ I/O assemblies, the Sun Fire E20K provides over twice the compute density in the same footprint as previous generation servers and enhanced I/O performance for lower total cost of ownership.

The Sun Fire E20K is a data center system optimized for high-volume databases as well as customer management, decision support.

Investments are protected with the ability to mix and manage UltraSPARC IV and UltraSPARC III processors-running at their rated speed — in the same domain.

This server comes remote-services ready for preemptive support and preloaded with a rich set of applications with the Java Enterprise System.

It is designed to deliver the highest levels of reliability and availability through full hardware redundancy, Dynamic Reconfiguration and Predictive Self-Healing.

With up to nine fault-isolated Dynamic System Domains and thousands of Solaris Containers through the robust Solaris 10 OS, the Sun Fire E20K server provides unprecedented security, resource optimization and investment protection.

Sun Fire 4900

Another powerful server that SMART has installed is the Sun Fire 4900, a large-scale shared memory system with Chip Multithreading (CMT) UltraSPARC IV processor technology, offering over twice the application throughput of previous generation servers in the same footprint.

Scaling up to 12 UltraSPARC IV processors executing 24 simultaneous computing threads, this server is ideal for server consolidation and optimized for running applications such as large departmental databases, customer management, decision support, and high-performance technical computing.

For maximum performance and availability, the Sun Fire E4900 server offers full hardware redundancy, fault-isolated Dynamic System Domains, Dynamic Reconfiguration and Predictive Self-Healing and Solaris Containers through the robust Solaris 10 OS. Investments are protected with the ability to mix and manage UltraSPARC IV and UltraSPARC III processors - running at their rated speed - in the same system.

This server comes remote-services ready for preemptive support and preloaded with a rich set of applications with the Java Enterprise System. With Capacity on Demand (COD) 2.0, the Sun Fire E4900 server offers the ability to add ‘on demand’ resources to meet changing business requirements and pay only when extra capacity is needed.

Sun services

SMART has maintained its previous Sun servers which are still up and running because of their backward compatibility with the processor technology.

This would enable the user to protect its investments and any application developed in previous operating system (OS) is compatible to the new OS.

With Sun’s full technical and support services, SMART has maintained its leadership in the mobile value-added services.

When it comes to service and support, Sun delivers it best. From award-winning online tools to mission-critical services, Sun offers a coverage plan that suits a customer’s unique needs.

Sun helps SMART cut costs, simplifying IT architecture, and speed up time-to-market while ensuring systems security.

With its partners, Sun has the know-how to help maximize investment in network computing technology.

Sun shares knowledge and work with its clients to solve business problems using technology. It delivers flexible business models, such as subscription-based pricing that allow clients to choose the optimal solution to meet their needs.

Sun teams with partners to provide innovative, open, next-generation offerings, that not only deliver integrated, results-oriented solutions, but also help prevent problems before they occur.

Its Sun Managed Services, Sun Connected Customers, Sun Preventive Services, and Sun Utility Computing offer customers help reduce cost and complexity, accelerate network services deployment, and deliver mobility and security.