Sun is pursuing initiatives on several fronts in an effort to monetize the enormous revenue growth projected in demand for advanced mobile data services. Sun announced a number of Java technology infrastructure enhancements at the recent 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France.

To give wireless operators and developers access to a large pool of wireless Java technology applications and to monetize them, Sun and Motorola, Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson started the Java Verified program for wireless handsets.

Multi-factor authentication, identity management and containment support -- these are all aspects of the new infinite access security model developed by Sun Microsystems that will enable users to open their enterprises to the network and extract the optimum value from the Internet. The Sun Java Desktop System, an open-standards alternative to Windows, will be the first Sun product to integrate complete out-of-the-box support for Java Card multi-factor authentication technology.

Sun has achieved Ford Motor Company's Quality 1 (Q1) Recognition for strategic information technology vendors. The award is for Sun's AutoTone program, which provides remote systems monitoring, and for other services which are installed on all Sun systems at Ford. Of Ford's IT providers, Sun Microsystems was first to have achieved Q1 status.

According to IDC's Technical Qview, Q4 2003, Sun is able to claim the top spot in total server units shipped in the high-performance and technical computing (HPTC) market. Sun is also able to claim the most server units shipped for the whole 2003 calendar year.

A recent article by eWEEK.com evaluates the Sun Java Enterprise System, which is Sun's recent solution designed to combine its directory, Web and collaboration server products. eWEEK comes away impressed with several aspects of the solution, including the quick set-up and configuration of the product.

A number of Sun Open Net Environment (Sun ONE) software products are being rebranded under the Sun Java Systems name. A partial list of products to be renamed is listed. Check upcoming issues of the news report as future products are rebranded.

A recent news.com article by Sun's David Yen examines how the debate over Moore's Law may be a search in the wrong direction. Instead of pushing the physical speed and performance limits of microprocessors, Yen sees a future where machines and networks divide the work more intelligently, and thus produce better results.

UltraSPARC s400 Uniboards for Sun's midrange and high-end servers offer up to twice the compute throughput of UltraSPARC III processors (depending on workload) while occupying the same footprint.

A free TeamQuest seminar examining "Information Technology Trends" will be held on March 24, in San Francisco, CA. Individuals from Sun Microsystems, Thomas Weisel Partners LLC and TeamQuest will speak on several key issues involving current and future trends in IT. A Q&A session and technical demonstrations will also be featured.

The International Oracle Users Group (IOUG) is an education conference for Oracle users. There will be over 200 sessions to choose from, with a special group on Oracle 10g. Topics include DBA, Development, Infrastructure, Data Warehousing and more.

Sun launched the Sun Fire E20K and Sun Fire E25K data center servers, the first high-end systems from Sun to be based on UltraSPARC IV processors with the Chip Multithreading (CMT) technology that enables Sun's Throughput Computing strategy. This advance in technology gives users twice the compute power within the same footprint as servers using the UltraSPARC III processor.

The SunPlex system, a Service Level Management platform that facilitates delivery of higher service levels at lower cost and reduced risk, now supports the following Sun Fire enterprise line of servers with Sun Java System Cluster 3.0 and 3.1 software: Sun Fire E2900, E4900, E6900, E20K and E25K servers.

The Sun Fire Link for Sun Fire 6800 servers and Sun Fire 12K servers and Sun Fire 15K servers will be repriced at a lower cost.

Sun is running a promotion through September 30, 2004, on the Sun StorEdge 6000 family storage system, which it offers at a 30 percent discount when ordered with any 12-way or larger server from among either the Netra 1280 server or any one of the following Sun Fire servers: the E2900, E4900, E6900, E7900, E20K, E25K, V12809, 4800, 6800 12K or 15K. For more information, see article [12293].

The Sun Fire V60x Compute Grid rack system now comes with 3.2 Ghz, ATO (Assemble To Order) option, 2x3.2-Ghz Xeon, 2 GB of memory, 36 GB internal disk and CD/floppy drive. This upgrade replaces the Sun Fire V60x Compute Grid standard configuration, 2.8 Ghz V60x ATO option and 3.06 Ghz V60x ATO options.

Following recent lab testing at eWEEK, writer Francis Chu recommends IT managers consider the Sun Fire B1600 Blade Platform due to its flexibility, redundancy features and competitive offerings. Chu writes that it is ideal for enterprises wanting to deploy and manage their Web server, application server, database, load balancing service and SSL acceleration service.

Solaris Product Manager Bill Moffitt talked with internet.com about features of Solaris 10 Operating System (Solaris OS) such as Dynamic Resource Pools (DRP) and Expanded Disk Set Support in Solaris Volume Manager (SVM).

The PC/SC SRCOM bypass 1.0 package is to be used with Sun Ray Server software 2.0 with a patch level at or above 114880-03. This package enables the integrated Sun Ray appliance smart card reader to be utilized as a PC/SC compliant reader when used with third-party middleware products.

Sun has gained new Java technology-based smart card deployments with National Aeronautics and Science Administration (NASA) and the government of Thailand. These successes and others demonstrate the growing adoption of Java technology.

Consolidate testing for mobile applications written in the Java programming language with the Java Verified program. Access resources such as documentation and testing criteria.

Visual MainWin for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) is designed to be first application development tool to allow developers of Visual Studio to create J2EE platform enterprise Web applications and Web Services within the Visual Studio .NET framework.

abaXX elements 3.6.1 is a development environment based on Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) for building component-based Web applications on top of application servers such as JBoss, BEA and IBM. New features include a portlet container compliant with the Java Specification Request (JSR) 168, an improved and simplified access control, UI preferences, Life-cycle-Events notification and an enhanced version of the Portal Builder Toolkit for even more productive portal development.

Wincor Nixdorf, Sun and Retek have teamed up to develop an integrated JavaPOS technology-based solution that delivers a low-cost, secure, scalable offering to the retail industry. Based on Java technology, the end-to-end solution offers retail customers all the benefits of the only standards-based platform for developing and deploying secure, robust, interoperable enterprise applications.

A report from the Yankee Group projects revenues of up to $3.8 billion in 2004 from retail and defense spending on RFID implementations based on electronic product codes (ePC). The report, "Unlocking the ePC RFID Opportunity Requires Migration Management," suggests that revenues will reach $4.2 billion in 2008.

Sun is planning to introduce a technical, Web-based training program in India by setting up a Center of Excellence (CoE) for medical and bio-informatics for Fingerprinting Analysis and Development (CDFD). The $5 million facility will place much of India's health data on a computer to better identify patterns of genetic disorders.

The latest version of Spotfire's DecisionSite, version 7.3, is being released with additional tools and features to help functional genomics research and aid in new discoveries. The new version includes a Gene Ontology Browser that gives researchers the ability to visualize genes within that gene's ontological context.