24.April.2006 - Sun's board of directors named Jonathan Schwartz chief executive officer today, as a result of the company's on-going succession planning process. Scott McNealy will continue as Sun chairman and takes on the additional title of chairman of Sun Federal Inc., where he will focus on Sun's key U.S. government customers. Today's announcement marks the culmination of a carefully architected succession plan.

"It is an honor to take the reins of this great company from one of the industry's true visionaries," Schwartz said today.

Schwartz has been with Sun since 1996, when it acquired Lighthouse Design, where he was CEO. Since then, Jonathan has been a driving force within the company. He has been a leader behind many of Sun's open source and standard setting initiatives and an outspoken advocate for the network as a utility with more than just value for the computing industry - but as a tool for economic, social and political progress.

During his 10-year tenure with Sun he has had five major jobs within the company where he has learned every inch of the business from labs and product development to product marketing to corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and operations. He was named Sun's president and chief operating officer in April 2004.

In fact, McNealy credits Schwartz and his team with building the most competitive product line in Sun's history, securing key acquisitions including Waveset, SeeBeyond, and StorageTek, and forging major partner relationships with companies like Microsoft, Oracle, and Google.

"Jonathan has earned the admiration and respect of our 37,900 employees, our customers and partners, and the industry as a whole. He is the ideal leader to take the helm as Sun's chief executive officer," McNealy said.

"Sun has been a labor of love for me," McNealy added. "We've helped shape the industry as it is today and the opportunities before us are immense. I look forward to a smooth transition and to working with Jonathan on company strategy in my continued role as chairman."

McNealy founded Sun along with Andy Bechtolsheim, Bill Joy, and Vinod Khosla in 1982 and the company has been the icon for innovation and openness ever since. He was named CEO and elected chairman in 1984.

"I am incredibly excited by what the future holds for Sun and the opportunity to continue working with Scott, and the rest of the management team, to help Sun attain its financial and operational goals," Schwartz said.

With today's announcement, Jonathan Schwartz becomes chief executive officer of a company with a clear path, a solid team and its greatest days ahead of it.