Sun Microsystems on Monday expanded its Opteron-based server line with a four-processor box to complement the Sun Fire V20z two-way server it began shipping in April as it seeks to convince business customers it's serious about x86 this time around.

Sun also officially rolled out single- and dual-processor Opteron-based workstations, the Sun Java W1100z and the Sun Java W1200z. The workstations and the four-processor Sun Fire V40z are all available and shipping now.

As expected, the V40z is can be configured with up to four 800 series Opteron processors and is aimed at business customers running databases, computer assisted design applications and other highly intensive computing workloads that need a lot of memory. The system starts at US$8,495 for a two-processor configuration.

The W1100z starts at just under US$2,000 and the W1200z starts at about US$4,700.

The Opteron-based systems announced Monday are another step in Sun's efforts to expand its x86 offerings since it announced a wide-ranging partnership with AMD in November. Sun CEO Scott McNealy has admitted that his company has been slow to jump on to the x86 bandwagon. Sun has introduced Xeon-based servers, but sees Opteron as a way to turn the tide and catch up to Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp. and Dell Inc., all of which have stronger x86 businesses, analysts say.

Sun introduced its first Opteron box, the two-processor V20z for Web tier and grid applications, at its quarterly product launch in February. John Fowler, executive vice president of the Network Systems Group at Sun, says he's been pleased with sales of the V20z thus far, but says that is just the beginning of a strong push into the x86 market.

"Frankly, a two-way server isn't a serious commitment to a broad marketplace," he says. "Now with four-way and two-way (Opteron-based) servers we can cover databases, applications servers, business logic, Web tier, streaming media and high-performance computing. It's a huge step for us."

Blades and an eight-way system are also upcoming, he says. In addition, the systems all run Windows and Linux, as well as Sun's Solaris operating system.

The V20z and the V40z are manufactured by Newisys, which was acquired by Sanmina last year. Fowler says users will continue to see enhancements to the current stable of Opteron servers, but Andy Bechtolsheim, one of Sun's original cofounders, will design new systems from Sun. Sun acquired Bechtolsheim's server design company, Kealia, in February.

"Andy is very clever on serviceability, mechanicals and thermals. But we're also working very hard on management - how the support management infrastructure of the server works with our own software," Fowler says.

He says Bechtolsheim-designed systems will be released sometime this fiscal year, which ends next June.

As part of the effort to expand its customer reach, Sun is auctioning a V40z on eBay.