SAN FRANCISCO -- January 25 2006 -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW), the creator and leading advocate of Java technology, today announced that American Express (NYSE: AXP) has chosen Sun to provide a new integrated software environment for critical applications in its global IT infrastructure. The agreement includes the purchase of licensing subscriptions, services and support for the Sun Java Enterprise System (Java ES), growing the total number of subscribers to significantly over one million and continuing Sun's momentum in financial services. Additionally, American Express plans to use the Solaris Operating System (OS) as a platform supporting this new integrated software environment.

"We found an excellent value proposition in the Java Enterprise System as it will help us to consolidate our licensing costs, reduce integration costs, and improve both functionality and flexibility of our distributed applications, identity management and web services," said Phil Steitz, chief technology officer, American Express.

"A complete, open-sourced enterprise-class software portfolio, with multi-platform support and priced at or below Linux or Windows is proving to be a very compelling value proposition," said John Loiacono, executive vice president of Software, Sun Microsystems. "American Express joins the long list of recent wins on Wall Street and once again validates that tight integration, a simplified business model and low, predictable pricing wins the day."

American Express plans to utilize the full-featured Java ES system to support a number of projects, including portal applications, and enhanced identity management services. The Java ES system is the software companies use to build their web based applications, help maintain the identities of people who access their services and enable them to quickly and securely develop and deploy applications and services.

About Java Enterprise System

The Java Enterprise System is an open, standards-based software system that delivers a core set of industry-leading shared enterprise network services as a single, integrated entity on a predictable release cycle. It serves as the strategic underpinning of Sun's software strategy. For more information on the Java Enterprise System please visit: http://www.sun.com/software/javaenterprisesystem

About American Express

American Express Company, founded in 1850, is a global travel, financial and network services provider.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

A singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer" -- guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun Logo, Java, Solaris, and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.