(2003-12-23) Sun Pulls Cobalt

Sun Microsystems pulled its Cobalt Qube line. *Although the Cobalt line of 1U servers proved popular, its installed base has appeared to shrink over the past few years. According to Net Craft statistics, the number of sites hosted on Cobalts has declined from a peak of 3.1 million hostnames and 942,000 active sites in August 2002 to 871,000 hostnames and 527,000 active sites in November 2003. Another indicator that the Cobalt product line has felt competitive pressure from even less expensive options, such as blade servers: In January 2003, Sun took a $1.6 billion charge against earnings, claiming decreased value of the Cobalt acquisition. *