Presents the Annual Duke’s Choice Award to Java Innovators
JavaOne(SM) Developer Conference
Today at Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) 10th Annual JavaOne Conference, Scott McNealy highlighted the success enjoyed by Java during the first 10 years of its life, empowering software engineers to build a ubiquitous computing infrastructure capable of delivering powerful services to consumers, developers and industry.
McNealy invited SeeBeyond’s CEO, Jim Demetriades, on-stage to discuss the announcement earlier that morning that the two companies have signed a definitive agreement for Sun to acquire SeeBeyond for $387 million in cash. Both CEOs detailed the synergies between the two companies’ product lines and sales forces. This acquisition will strengthen Sun’s software portfolio and open new growth and partnering opportunities.
Speaking on the second day of JavaOne 2005, McNealy, Sun’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, also pointed to future opportunities, particularly in education and health, where accelerated delivery of this low-cost, high-value, Java-based infrastructure can unite people with valuable sources of information and ultimately help eliminate society’s digital divide.
Highlighting today’s most promising innovations, McNealy also co-presented the annual Duke’s Choice Awards with Java technology inventor and Sun Fellow James Gosling, “The fact is that two and a half billion Java devices worldwide run Java and there are 4.5 million Java developers in every corner of the planet. Millions upon millions of Web users experience Java each time they go online and this means that the community has done a fantastic job of turning James Gosling’s vision for Java technology into reality. There is an opportunity now, to turn ubiquity of infrastructure into ubiquity of service. The industry has never seen a platform adoption rate like this before, “ McNealy said.
McNealy went on to map out today’s infrastructure: Java runs on 708 million phones, one billion smart cards, 700 million PCs and provides a powerful and scalable platform for 28 compatible application servers. Driving that infrastructure are more the millions of Java developers who are pushing the edge of innovation while protecting compatibility for all.
“Sun has always been fantastic at starting and fostering communities. The Java Community Process (JCP) is a great example. As the JCP steward, we have tried to stay in the background and out of the way of the over 900 contributing organizations. Their efforts and 10 years of results are truly amazing.” McNealy added. “The next community that I envision Sun growing is a free and open, self-paced, Web-based community for students to get access to the best curriculum on the planet. This community’s mission is to empower teachers, students, parents and to advance student achievement by providing access to quality open source content, a critical factor to success in learning. Global Education Learning Community (GELC) puts teachers a click-away from training, curriculum resources, and tools to train tomorrow’s workforce.”
Sun is demonstrating the power of Java technology as a community force by building the Global Education Learning Community (GELC). This education community that was founded last year is growing exponentially with 1,991 developers actively contributing to 291 Java and open source projects. Today the Peoples Republic of China’s Ministry of Education (MOE) and Korea’s Education and Research Information Service (KERIS) officially joined the GELC and are contributing their best resources online for use by all members of the global teaching community. GELC seeks to provide students, teachers, research worldwide with online access to the best in open source educational resources.
Sun is helping empower students further, with the launch of the Student Developer Program. The company is giving away copies of Sun’s Java Studio Enterprise, Sun Java Studio Mobility, Sun Studio 10, Solaris10 Operating System, and training in Solaris 10 worth $180 million. This program provides students with access to a valuable Sun hardware and software grant, as well as hundreds of Sun software products in new and emerging markets like Radio Frequency ID (RFID).
“The vision for a PC on every desktop did not close the digital divide, it only helped us realize a gap existed in the first place,” McNealy said. “We believe that Java-based services, delivered online to any device, will help us efficiently and effectively bring teachers and students even closer to the resources they need. The world is moving toward ubiquitous computing and Java technology as the enabling ‘glue’ between rich educational content and the on-demand communications infrastructure.”
McNealy highlighted the role Java is playing putting doctors in touch with patient information and research, for online diagnosis and greater knowledge.
“Information is the killer application in medicine and Java is helping realize that application by linking-up vital medical systems and services, while meeting the security needs of doctors and data privacy concerns of patients,” McNealy said.
McNealy also presented the third-annual Duke’s Choice Awards for most innovative Java technology applications and devices. Winners received a statuette of the Java mascot “Duke” recognizing their achievement from McNealy and creator of the Java programming language James Gosling. This year’s winners included an integrated patient scheduling system for the City of San Paulo from Atech Foundation, use of Java technology by GE Healthcare products for cardiology and radiology, and Boeing’s use of Java in real time systems to navigate and fly unmanned military aircraft.
The full list of winners in each category is:
- Community Category: Agilent, Romberg Tiburon Institute, San Francisco State University and Sun Microsystems
- Desktop Category: SAS InSchool
- Enterprise Backend Category: Atech Foundation; ECOCEAN
- Device Category: NTT DoCoMo
- Emerging Technology Category: The Boeing Company; GE Healthcare; Giga Spaces Inc.
- Gaming Category: Three Rings Design Inc.
- Looking Glass Category: Kyushu Institute of Technology
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.
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