SYSTEMS

DENVER, CO -- Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW), and the Globus Project(TM) today announced a joint effort to further the advancement of the Globus Toolkit(TM) and Sun's Grid technologies, including Sun(TM) Grid Engine software and the Technical Compute Portal. The parties will focus on continued development of the existing interfaces between the Globus Toolkit and Sun Grid products to provide the features needed for the Advanced Web -- the next generation of web infrastructure for computing, collaboration, and communication. ``Sun sees Grid Computing as a megatrend for information technology. We are very pleased to be extending the compatibility between Globus and Sun's Grid technologies begun in 1998. The combination provides a powerful and complete Grid Computing solution for the Solaris Operating Environment,'' said Greg Papadopoulos, CTO of Sun Microsystems. ``Expanding our relationship with the Globus Project helps facilitate the development of key tools and applications that will help usher in this new era in computing.'' The Globus Toolkit is an open-architecture, open-source set of protocols, services, and tools that address central problems in ``Grid Computing'' the secure, scalable, and coordinated sharing and use of resources in dynamic, multi-institutional ``virtual organizations.'' Grid Computing and the Globus Toolkit have seen widespread adoption over the past two years in the research and education area, with dozens of major projects worldwide applying these concepts and technologies to challenging problems in scientific and technical computing. ``Sun has had a long-standing commitment to network computing,'' said Globus Project co-leader Ian Foster, of Argonne National Laboratory. ``Grid Computing is a natural next step on this path.'' While Globus Project co-leader Carl Kesselman, of the University of California's Information Sciences Institute noted, ``We are very pleased to collaborate with Sun. Both Solaris and Sun Grid Engine software are important platforms to many of our users and this collaboration will ensure that they have a robust environment for application development.'' ``Sun Grid Engine software is the leading distributed resource management software today, running on over 100,000 systems,'' said Wolfgang Gentzsch, Sun's Director of Grid Computing. ``After an early integration of Sun Grid Engine with Globus two years ago, we are now looking forward to working more closely with the Globus Project, integrating Sun's Grid Computing software stack for Cluster Grids, Campus Grids, and Global Grids. This will be achieved mainly through a standard and open API for Distributed Resource Management systems and applications, which we just recently proposed to the Global Grid Forum.'' Sun Microsystems in Education Sun is a leading provider of open network computing solutions to colleges and universities around the world, powering academic, research and high performance computing systems, campus administration, digital libraries and student instructions systems. In addition, Sun is committed to connecting the world's students to the Internet, beginning with primary and secondary schools and extending to all levels of higher education. For more information: www.sun.com/edu