Sun Takes Concrete Steps to Eliminate the Worldwide Digital Divide; Readies for Upcoming Worldwide Education and Research Conference
Sun Fuels IT Skills Development with Education Initiatives that Give Students and Workers Greater Access to Technology
March 2, 2006
In anticipation of its annual
Worldwide Education and Research Conference (WWERC) in New York March 6
-- 9, 2006, Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW - News) 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(TM) technology, the
Solaris(TM) 10 Operating System (OS), the Sun Fire(TM) family of servers
and Sun Ray(TM) 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(TM) 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(TM) 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:
http://events-at-sun.com/wwerc2006/
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, Solaris,
StarOffice, Sun Fire, Sun Ray, Java and The Network is The Computer are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United
States and in other countries.
