INDUSTRY

Sun Fuels IT Skills Development with Education Initiatives that Give Students and Workers Greater Access to Technology -- Sun Microsystems today announced an impressive list of international customers who have implemented Sun technology, enabling increased access to education and enhanced IT skills development. These customer wins reaffirm Sun's commitment to bridge the digital divide and gives students and workers worldwide, greater ability to connect through simplified and open technology. Markets as varied as Argentina, England, India, Italy, Mexico, Paraguay, Spain and Taiwan have chosen Sun products to use in classrooms, government operations and institutes of higher learning to give students and workers technology skills to compete in today's global economy. "Not only is it increasingly important for citizens of developing nations to access and familiarize themselves with new technologies, but for educators worldwide to foster enthusiasm for technology which can fuel innovation, " said Kim Jones, vice president of Global Education and Research for Sun Microsystems. "Sun is making it possible for the next generation of students and workers to compete and win in the global economy, by introducing affordable, scalable and interoperable technology to prevent students from being on the wrong side of the Digital Divide." Sun fuels IT development with its open source technology, providing better educational resources to its customers worldwide. Thousands stand to benefit from a series of learning and training initiatives undertaken by the company to further the adoption of Java technology, the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS), the Sun Fire family of servers and Sun Ray products, all which are designed to help create global, participative communities for educators, students and workers alike. Recent international customers that have signed with Sun include: Argentinean Ministry of Labor In alliance with the Ministry of Labor of Argentina, Sun will provide Java technology training to more than 1,500 college level students enrolled in five different higher education institutions throughout the country. Efforts undertaken here intend to help local students become more competitive in the global marketplace and enable multinational companies to look locally for talent to staff their operations. The alliance with the Ministry of Labor enables Sun to contribute to Argentina's national efforts to lower its 15% unemployment rate. Integrated Bradford, England--an Amey-led consortium Sun is a member of the successful Integrated Bradford consortium which won the contract after a six-month selection process involving a team of school representatives and council officers. The program will see the deployment of 4,500 ICT access devices enabling every secondary school pupil and teacher in Bradford to be given access to his or her own Sun Ray desktop or laptop, creating a virtual learning environment where it is as natural to search for information using the Internet as it is to open a text-book. The infrastructure will be supported by Sun's Java Enterprise System (JES) which can offer a flexible, affordable and future-proofed network. JES is capable of supporting any application or operating environment, allowing schools to add extra capabilities as when they are required. Italian Ministry of Education Sun and the Italian Ministry of Education University and Research (MIUR), in collaboration with the Java Italian Association (JIA), have an agreement to extend the knowledge of Java technology within Italian schools by providing online access to Java training courses for students and IT teachers. The project, called "Java a Scuola" (Java at School) is part of a framework of initiatives sponsored by MIUR to enhance the quality of teaching by applying multimedia technology. As the use and penetration of Java continues to grow, the Italian education authorities want to enable future generations to be equipped with the Java skills that businesses demand. The initiative builds on Sun's track record and commitment to effectively promote the use of technology in education. Indian Institute of Technology In a country where the population exceeds 1.1 billion, India has evolved to become a major player in the global IT marketplace and is actively encouraging its educational institutions to adopt programs that will further bridge the digital divide. Sun technology plays a part in making this possible by working with the India Institute of Technology -- Madras to implement an e-learning program recognized and supported by the Indian Ministry of Human Resource and Development. Sun's SunFire 15000 servers and storage offerings provide the technological backbone of the program. Mexican Ministry of Education Sun recently won a $400 million contract to offer workstations for the Enciclomedia project launched by the Mexican Ministry of Education (Secretaria de Educacion Publica) to deliver computer technology to fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms throughout Mexico's national public school system. As part of the project, Sun will provide more than 27,000 Sun Ultra 20 Workstations and a five year services contract to help local students familiarize and fully utilize technology in learning. This is the largest contract ever secured by Sun Mexico, the largest for Sun Education in Latin America and the largest K-12 deal for Sun in the world. Paraguay Gran Asuncion, Paraguay has approximately 2000 schools, but only 268 of them have internet access (representing only 10% of the state's schools). Sun has been working with the Ministry of Education of Paraguay to replicate the Sun Ray Bus program that was implemented in Argentina last year. Working with the Minister and Vice-Minister of Education to replicate the program, Sun has donated StarOffice licences for all public schools in Paraguay as well as equipment to implement the Sun Ray Bus program (15 Sun Rays connected to a server). With a Sun Ray bus, schools are able to provide their students with alternate and new ways of learning by giving them access to the Internet. Spain Sun has entered into an agreement with the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science to significantly boost the use of technology in education by donating the Java Desktop System to all interested schools and universities across the country. Approximately nine million students will benefit from this program, which also aims to give teachers and administrative staff access to one of the most robust desktop software system in the world. At a regional level, Sun has entered into an agreement with the government of Valencia to distribute free Java Desktop System and StarOffice to all schools in the region. Licenses to use Java Platform, Standard Edition, J2EE, J2ME and Java WebStart were donated to approximately 1,500 schools in the region benefiting 525,000 students and 50,000 teachers. At the higher education level, Sun has also donated a classroom equipped with Sun open source software and Java W2100z workstations to the Polytechnic University of Catalu±a for use in practical training of the Faculty of Computing in Barcelona. Sun Academic Initiative Program, Taiwan The Sun Academic Initiative Program offers free online Java, Solaris and JES lessons to students at 150 colleges and universities located throughout Taiwan. The program was launched in 2005 and now has more than 70 schools actively participating, including the top National Taiwan University and the National Sun Yat Sen University. Taiwan remains a global hub for technology R&D, and the local developer community recognizes the importance of outfitting the next generation of engineers with open source technology such as Java and Solaris. Sun Hosts WWERC in New York City During the conference, top educators, technologists and luminaries from around the world will join Sun executives to discuss their vision and unique contributions that are shaping the future of education, globally. Featured Sun Speakers include: - Scott McNealy, Chairman and CEO - John Fowler, Executive Vice President, Network Systems - John Gage, Chief Researcher and Director of the Science Office - James Gosling, Vice President and Sun Fellow - Kim Jones, Vice President of Global Education and Research - Randy Kerns, Vice President, Data Management Group - Greg Papadopoulos, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer - Ingrid Van Den Hoogen, Senior Vice President, Brand, Global Communications and Marketing - David W. Yen, Executive Vice President, Scalable Systems Group Additional Featured Speakers: - Curtis Barness, Senior Director Product Strategy - Education and Research, Oracle - James Burke, Science Historian, Author and TV Host - Dr. Robert A. Cecil, Ph.D. - Dr. Djbril Diallo, Director United Nations New York Office of Sport for Peace and Development - Matthew Goldstein, Chancellor, City University of New York - Joel I. Klein, Chancellor, New York City Department of Education - Hede Nonaka, Vice President Marketing Division, Ricoh U.S./Ricoh Corporation - David Schwartz, Vice President and CIO, The George Washington University - Dr. Arthur Toga, Professor of Neurology, UCLA - Jimmy Wales, Founder and President, Wikimedia Foundation For more information on the conference, please visit: its Web site.