Sun To Offer Java Bundle On Other Unix, Windows Platforms

The move will be introduced among a slew of announcements during Sun's quarterly Network Computer update event, NC03Q4, held simultaneously Wednesday at the European Sun Network show, in Berlin, Germany, and in San Francisco.

By early next year, Sun will ship JES for HP-UX, AIX and Windows, said Larry Singer, Sun's senior vice president, global marketing strategies.

JES, a bundle of Java-based software for $100 per employee, per year, is scheduled to ship by January on Solaris and Linux. Customer implementations on early access versions of the software have run on both platforms, solution providers said.

Since Sun officially branded its Project Orion JES at the Sun Network show in September, solution providers have encouraged Sun to port JES to platforms besides those that Sun's servers support to prove that Sun is not just using JES to sell hardware. Sun's Java software competitors, such as BEA Systems and IBM, already run their software on multiple platforms.

Sun's hardware legacy does remain intact to a certain extent. To encourage sales of some of Sun's new Intel-based, low-end servers to the small and midsize market, Sun will give the JES software to customers with 100 or fewer employees if they deploy JES on Sun servers, Singer said.

Sun Wednesday also will unveil OEM pricing for JES at $1,000 per CPU, Singer said. Solution providers have said signing up ISVs is another way Sun can bolster its credibility as a viable competitor against IBM, BEA and Oracle in the Java software space--and give JES greater market penetration.

Sun also will unveil news from the desktop side of its software strategy at its quarterly event. A significant part of that will be a deal with EDS to provide implementation and support of the Java Desktop System (JDS), a move that symbolizes Sun's and its partners' commitment to the open-source-based OS as a Windows alternative. "EDS does not go into things for the fun of it," said John Fowler, Sun's software CTO. "They are in business to make money and see opportunities [with JDS]."

Sun also will offer JDS for half-price--$50 per employee, per year, for the first year for customers that switch from a Windows/Microsoft Office environment to JDS between Dec. 2, 2003, and June 2, 2004, Singer said.

JDS is scheduled to ship sometime next week, CRN has reported previously. Sun already has signed up 1,200 JDS early access customers through a registration program introduced in August after a particularly nasty Blaster worm attack on Windows, a Sun spokeswoman told CRN earlier this week.

In addition, Sun will make several tools announcements Wednesday. The company will ship Sun Java Studio Enterprise 5.1, which will include an enhanced IDE product with extra debugging and other high-level developer tools previously sold separately, for $1,500 extra, Singer said. The price for the product remains $1,895 per developer for a yearly subscription, or $5 per employee, per year if the toolset is purchased with JES.

Sun also will give a formal name to its Project Rave tool, which is aimed at corporate developers. Sun is calling the product Sun Studio Creator, and will demonstrate the first technical preview of the new tool in Berlin.

Sun also is introducing Sun Java Studio 8 with significant enhancements to the tool's C++ compiler, Singer said.