OpenSolaris Makes Leading Technology Accessible Across the Region
Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Sun Microsystems has launched an unprecedented new initiative to raise IT skill levels and prompt a wave of innovation across the Middle East technology industry.
The source code for Sun's Solaris 10 Operating System, the most advanced operating system on the planet, has been released across the Middle East as open source. Solaris' core operating system, networking, system libraries, and commands are all now accessible for both the SPARC platform and the x86/x64 platforms. The OpenSolaris project will enable students, IT professionals and enthusiasts to develop their own advancements for the Solaris system, and gain an insight into this best-of-breed technology.
Although analysts have estimated the value of the IT services markets in UAE and Saudi Arabia to exceed $300 million and $1 billion respectively by 2006, IT innovation in the Middle East has failed to keep pace with this startling market growth, and Sun sees the OpenSolaris project as crucial to extending the reach of technology across the region.
Having established itself as the number two contributor to global open source code, behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sun has reaffirmed its commitment to educating emerging creative talent across the Middle East IT industry through the OpenSolaris initiative.
"If the Middle East is to become a true technology hub, we have to start developing our own innovations. While school and university courses, and the government's encouragement of start-up IT companies, represent a great start, the open sourcing of a solution as advanced and as exciting as Solaris 10 provides the ideal stimulus for creative developers across the region, and will drive discussion for months to come," said Graham Porter, Marketing Manager for Sun Microsystems Middle East and North Africa.
The launch of OpenSolaris is facilitated by the Common Development and Distribution (CDDL) License, a license lauded by the open source community because it allows developers to combine proprietary files with Solaris. While giving developers access to a range of advanced solutions which accompany the OpenSolaris solution, such as dynamic tracing, containers for utilization and protective self-healing, OpenSolaris also carries manifold benefits for Sun Microsystems.
Having targeted a major increase in its Middle East marketshare, Sun will now be able to bid on and participate in projects requiring open source software in governments, universities and data centers across the Middle East, while building upon the 17,000 Independent Service Vendors (ISVs) already accessing the Solaris program.
"Open sourcing has produced amazing results for us in the past. Ten years ago, we gave Java away. Now we have four and a half million developers and two billion devices worldwide running Java - the programme is everywhere. We hope to achieve similarly spectacular success through OpenSolaris," Porter continued.
OpenSolaris is a cornerstone of Sun's plan to reinvent itself for the 'participation age.' The company has already set new standards for creativity, with over 3,500 patents and one of the highest R&D spends in the industry. Now, using an S curve to denote sharing, Sun has re-branded with increasing compatibility and accessibility in mind. The company is now working with Microsoft on interoperability issues, in order that Sun's open technologies such as Java will work with Microsoft technology.
"The barrier to participate on the network is now zero, as is the barrier to learning more about how Sun might help you build your business or your network service. Open source doesn't mean no revenue; it means no obstacles. While OpenSolaris kicks down the obstacles faced by developers who could not otherwise afford our technologies, it also bridges any gap between Sun and the most talented and original developers in the Middle East," Porter concluded.
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About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision - "The Network Is The Computer[tm]" - has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com
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© Press Release 2005
