Sun Microsystems on Friday announced a database and application-server package that allows unlimited deployments for a fixed annual rate, positioning the offer as a lower-cost alternative to competing vendors like Oracle.

The package bundles Sun's GlassFish application server along with its MySQL database.

Pricing starts at US$65,000 a year for companies with fewer than 1,000 employees, and goes up in tiers from there depending on the number of employees, according to a news release.

Information on how the tiers stack up was not readily available; a spokeswoman for Sun said those interested can contact a sales representative at the company.

The announcement's timing is telling, given the recent news that Oracle had substantially raised prices on a number of its products, including its database, which now costs US$47,500 per CPU (central processing unit) license.

Stephen O'Grady, an analyst with Redmonk, said it's unlikely that Sun expects customers to rip out their Oracle implementations and replace them with its own technology. "The expectation is rather, I would expect, more for new deployments than for old," he said.

"I don't think anyone -- least of all Sun -- would contend that its offering can match Oracle on a performance basis," he added. "The opportunity here is more traditional MySQL: Aim at customers requiring less than elite performance, which is a much larger market by any metric."