Sun
And The Government Market
Sun
has established a new Global Government Office and appointed Clark
Masters as its executive vice president. He will be in charge
of addressing the needs of governments ‘round the world, making
sure that citizens’ needs are being built into Sun technology.
Masters will also become president of Sun Microsystems Federal.
Sun
has several government-specific projects it’s pursuing:
-
Sun’s
Trusted Solaris Operating System is a ruggedized operating
system with secure communications.
-
A
drive to offer the Sun Java Enterprise System at citizen pricing
of $0.33 to $1.95 per citizen per year, as determined by the
country’s ranking by the U.N. (less
developed countries pay less.)
-
(3)
A parallel drive to interest governments in Sun’s Java Desktop
System.
Clark
will also focus on involving Sun in government funded research
projects such as DARPA.
Visiting
Canada (for the HP Software Users meeting), I noted an announcement
for Sun’s newest StarOffice 7
achievement. Ontario’s 72 public and Catholic school boards
are going to use the product for students and teachers, at school
and at home. Sun charges only a minimal fee, to cover the cost
of making a necessary quantity of copies, for educational accounts.
The theory is to catch students early and familiarize them with
Staroffice first, before they learn another office product.
It’s estimated that this win could have as many as 2 million
students using the software.
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