2007-04-26 21:03:19 -

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sun Microsystems today opened the doors of Sun Labs for its annual Open House. Founded in 1991, Sun Labs is an applied research facility and an integral part of Sun's overall research and development program. The birthplace of many of Sun's most successful innovations, Labs researchers tackle the most challenging computing, information technology and engineering issues -- everything from next-generation Java(TM) programming technology and embedded Solaris(TM) Operating System (OS) (PowerPC Platform Edition) to designing high productivity computing (HPC) systems utilizing

proximity communication.

Open House attendees will have access to talks by 20 of Sun's leading research scientists and more than 25 technology demonstrations, allowing interaction with Sun Fellows and Distinguished Engineers as well as a behind- the-scenes view of Sun's most innovative research. Sun Fellow and Chief Security Officer Whitfield Diffie and Sun Distinguished Engineer Susan Landau will be on-hand at the event to sign copies of their new book Privacy on the Line. Sun Labs Senior Staff Engineer Ron Goldman will also be signing copies of his Innovation Happens Elsewhere, co-authored with Richard Gabriel.

"The mission of Sun Labs is to look beyond the horizon to identify and solve the hardest technical problems businesses and governments may face. We identify these challenges by working closely with customers and engineers from within Sun's business units to gauge customer needs, and then collaborating on solutions," said Bob Sproull, director of Sun Labs and a Sun Fellow. "By focusing specifically on customer problems ranging from extending the lifespan of Moore's Law to applying next-generation security to mobile devices, Sun Labs has delivered measurable and results-oriented innovation throughout its history."

"For more than fifteen years, as Sun has built its reputation as one of Silicon Valley's most innovative companies, Sun Labs has provided a home for many of the company's most innovative thinkers," observed Nathan Brookwood, research fellow at Insight 64. "Every time I visit Sun Labs, I feel like I am walking among giants. Sun clearly has mastered the arts of attracting talented contributors, nurturing their ideas in the laboratory, and then -- unlike some ivory tower research groups -- successfully commercializing their inventions."

Projects on display at the 2007 Sun Labs Open House include: -- Project Fortress -- A new programming language invented at Sun Labs specifically for high productivity computing (HPC) applications -- Project Sedna -- A multi-terabit data center interconnect based on proximity communication (chip-to-chip data transfer without wires) -- Project Darkstar -- A Java technology-based game server technology that helps solve many of the distributed computing problems associated with modern online gaming -- MPK 20 -- Sun's Virtual Workspace, powered by Project Darkstar, this "serious game" is the basis for research into collaborative work environments -- Search Inside the Music -- Advanced search capabilities for music that give users a more holistic sense of their collections, enables users to visually see their music collection in 3-D, and to search by the aural properties of the songs -- Project Pulsar -- Highlighting the second code release of Solaris OS on PowerPC to the OpenSolaris(TM) Operating System community -- Project Sun SPOT -- An experimental platform for developing wireless sensor, robotics and swarm intelligence applications entirely in Java; Sun SPOT Developer Kit available at http://www.sunspotworld.com/ For more information about Sun Labs, please visit: http://research.sun.com/ About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

A singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer"(TM) -- guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at sun.com. Subscribe to Sun newswire at http://sun.com/news.

Copyright 2007 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, Solaris, OpenSolaris, and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Carolyn Rohrer Sun Microsystems, Inc. 415-294-5084 carolyn.rohrer@sun.com Kate Wesson Bite Communications 415-365-0458 kate.wesson@bitepr.com allpress@sun.com 650-786-7737

Source: Sun Microsystems, Inc.