During its quarterly Network Computing '05 (NC05Q1) launch, Sun Microsystems Inc and Archipelago Holdings Inc , operator of the Archipelago Exchange (ArcaEx), the first totally open, all-electronic stock exchange in the United States, announced the companies plan to build the world's first online compute exchange.

Based on the new Sun Grid and Archipelago's electronic matching technology, the companies plan to introduce a new electronic trading environment that will allow customers to bid on CPU usage cycles. Being able to dynamically bid for open compute cycles will provide companies across the globe with unprecedented flexibility in planning for the purchase and use of compute power. This is a new paradigm in computing where companies can access an unlimited number of CPUs as they need them.

"Archipelago leads the way when it comes to electronic trading technology," said Robert Youngjohns, executive vice president of strategic development and Sun financing at Sun Microsystems Inc. "With Sun Grid, and Archipelago's matching technology, we expect companies will be able to access an unlimited number of CPUs as they need them -- and have access to technology that is reliable, simple to use, powerful, and sophisticated -- at a single point of contact."

"We believe the technological underpinnings of the Archipelago Exchange could be customized to trade nearly anything, and as the demand for computing power increases, we see great potential in building an exchange for trading CPU usage cycles," said Steve Rubinow, CTO of the Archipelago Exchange. "We're excited about partnering with Sun and developing this opportunity."

The compute exchange announcement comes on the back of Sun's new utility offerings, which include the Sun Grid compute utility, a $1 per CPU per hour pay-per-use offering ($1/cpu-hr), and the Sun Grid storage utility, a $1 per gigabyte per month offering ($1/GB-mo). In the coming months, Sun will also roll out additional Sun Grid offerings for the desktop and developer communities.

About Sun Microsystems Inc

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems Inc to its position as a 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/.