Johannesburg, 04 Feb 2003
Sun Microsystems is delivering on its commitment to the open source community with the announcement that it has seven Sun ONE (Open Network Environment) products for the Linux platform.
According to Dumisani Mtoba, senior systems engineer at Sun Microsystems SA, new products announced at LinuxWorld in New York include Sun ONE Application Server 7 and the Sun ONE Directory Server 5.1.
"To date, Sun has delivered seven Sun ONE products on Linux, up from only two products that were available six months ago," says Mtoba.
He adds that other Sun ONE products that support Linux include Sun ONE Web Server 6, Sun ONE Active Server Pages, Sun ONE Studio 4, Sun ONE Grid Engine, and Sun ONE Grid Engine Enterprise Edition.
"Other Sun ONE products for the Linux platform that are scheduled for delivery within the year include Sun ONE Portal Server, Sun ONE Identity Server, Sun ONE Calendar Server, and Sun ONE Messaging Server," says Mtoba.
In addition to its increasingly strong Linux product suite, the company has announced new contributions to the open source community. "Sun is expanding its commitment to the open development of grid computing technologies with the contribution of its Grid Engine Portal portlet technology to the open source Grid Engine Project," says Mtoba. He explains that the product works in conjunction with Sun Grid Engine and the SunONE Portal server to allow users to access and execute applications and to manage a grid via a Web interface.
And, in a joint announcement with Ximian, Inc, the company has unveiled a solution that provides an open, low-cost communications and collaboration alternative for Linux and Solaris desktop users dubbed the Sun ONE Evolution Connector. This provides complete integration for Sun ONE users with Linux and Solaris desktops to the open source Evolution e-mail and calendaring workgroup.
"The integration enables them to easily collaborate with Windows-based co-workers, while maintaining a windows-like look and feel on the desktop. The enables users accustomed to an Outlook environment to make a smooth transition to Evolution," says Mtoba.
Mtoba notes that this is an important development for the open source community as it removes many of the issues of interoperability with proprietary systems, potentially driving wider adoption of open source alternatives.
Furthermore Sun's Linux desktop solution Mad Hatter, is scheduled for beta during the second quarter of this calendar year, and for general availability in the third quarter. "Enterprises across the world seeking to leverage the value of Linux and open source now have a world-class option with Sun," says Mtoba. "Sun continues to be an innovator in Linux - and that's truer than ever as we bring more products, partnerships and programs to Linux and the x86 server and desktop marketplace.
"Linux is a real growth opportunity for Sun and we are continuing to make enterprise-class software available on Linux through both our Sun ONE offerings and our Mad Hatter project," he concludes.
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