Sun Offers Early Registration For Mad Hatter In Response To Blaster Worm

Customers that wish to sign up for early-access registration for Project Mad Hatter can contact [email protected], according to Sun.

In a press release, Sun Executive Vice President of Software Jonathan Schwartz called the industry's reliance on Microsoft Windows as its primary desktop OS "an achilles heel in the safety and security of the world's network infrastructure."

Schwartz said Sun's Mad Hatter desktop offers a more secure option to Windows for several reasons, not least which is that users are authenticated through Java card technology, so no one other than the person authorized to use the system is allowed access.

Schwartz also noted Sun's track record in providing secure OSes with its Trusted Solaris, an ultrasecure version of its Solaris Unix-based OS.

Sun's military-grade security incorporates products, technologies, partners and services to secure information systems and physical devices so that their owners can focus on business results, not virus recovery, Schwartz said.

The Blaster worm, which hit the industry Monday, exploits the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. Blaster scans random ranges of IP addresses on port 135 for vulnerable systems and instructs those systems to download and execute the file MSBlast.exe via TFTP.

The flaw--a buffer overflow that affects Windows NT 4.0, 2000, XP and Server 2003--made big news when it was revealed last month, prompting even the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to issue an alert. In response, Microsoft offered a patch to Windows users last month.

Mad Hatter tightly integrates Java card authentication and security, the StarOffice user productivity suite, the Mozilla browser, the GNOME interface and the Evolution e-mail and calendar application. It is slated to be priced between $50 and $100 per desktop per year, although Sun will also offer a perpetual license option, CRN previously reported.

Sun originally scheduled Mad Hatter for availability this summer, but the Santa Clara, Calif.-based vendor recently pushed up the release date until the September-October time frame. Mad Hatter is slated to be formally launched at Sun's Sun Network show, to be held in San Francisco Sept. 16-18.

Sun executives and solution providers have said Mad Hatter will be an attractive alternative to Windows for customers such as call centers, schools and hospitals where users tend to stay at their computers and have little need to be mobile.

MARCIA SAVAGE contributed to this story.