Sun Microsystems Inc. will begin offering a security software package to commercial customers that was originally developed for military and government intelligence use. It also announced plans to improve security features in a yet-to-be-released next version of Solaris.

The security system, called Trusted Solaris, can also run on the company’s Intel-based systems. It provides role-based access control at the root level. Access to a system root means having the ability to access all file directories in that root. Trusted Solaris divides up or limits root access by user and creates audit trails, company officials said.

Although Trusted Solaris has been commercially available, the company hasn't marketed it broadly and interest has largely been limited to some financial services companies. Beginning this spring, Sun intends to make a version that includes firewalls and other access controls. It will start at $999 for a standard desktop edition.

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