Introduction

In 1987 Sun Microsystems released the SPARC V7 processor.  A 32-bit RISC processor featuring the unique Berkeley RISC designed register-window.  This was followed soon after in 1990 with the SPARC V8.  This was a revision of the original SPARC V7, with the most notable inclusion of hardware divide and multiply instructions.  The SPARC V8 processors were the basis for a number of Sun Microsystems servers and workstations such as the SAPRCstation 5, 10 and 20.

In 1993 the SPARV V8 was followed by the 64-bit SPARC V9 processor.  This too became the basis for a number of Sun Microsystem servers and workstations, such as the Enterprise 250 and 450.

Through the development of newer products and the sale of Sun Microsystems to Oracle, software and systems developed for these older model SPARC-based workstations and servers has become harder to maintain.  To fill the continued need for certain, end-of-life SPARC-based systems Stromasys S.A. has developed the CHARON-SSP line of virtual machine products.  These products are a software-based, virtual machine replacement for the following native-hardware SPARC systems:

CHARON-SSP/4M supports the following virtual systems:

• Sun SPARCstation 20

CHARON-SSP/4U supports the following virtual systems:

• Sun Enterprise 450

The CHARON-SSP virtual machines allow users of Sun and Oracle SPARC-based computers to replace their native hardware counterparts, in such a way that there is little or no change required to the original system configuration.  This means you can continue to run your applications and data without the need to switch or port to another platform. The CHARON-SSP virtual machines run on commodity, Intel 64 and AMD64 based systems ensuring your continued investment is protected.

The CHARON-SSP/4M virtual machines support the following guest operating system releases: 

• SunOS 4.1.3 - 4.1.4
• Solaris 2.5 - 8

The CHARON-SSP/4U virtual machines support the following guest operating system releases:

• Solaris 2.5.1 - 10