Java Compatible and Java Verified Products Drive Widespread Demand for Java Technology Enabled Solutions

J2EE Technology Compatibility Bolsters Adoption Of The Java Platform Among Technology Leaders and Their Customers

SANTA CLARA, CA -- May 15, 2003 -- Sun Microsystems, Inc.(Nasdaq:SUNW) and leading IT vendors today jointly announced growing demand for Java Compatible and Java Verified products. To date 19 licensees are shipping Java2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) v 1.3 Compatible products - up 46 percent from January 2002. Currently surpassing 3.5 million, the number of J2EE Reference Implementation(RI) downloads also demonstrates Java platform's widespread adoption. The 19 vendors offering J2EE v 1.3 technology compatible implementations include ATG, BEA Systems, Borland, Fujitsu, Hitachi, IBM, IONA, Macromedia, NEC, Novell, Oracle, Pramati, SAS, SeeBeyond, SpiritSoft, Sun Microsystems, Sybase, TmaxSoft, Trifork. Equally representative of this strong demand are the first ever Java Verified applications which have been launched to market recently. The charge is led by six companies including MRO Software, Novell, Ohioedge, Polaris Software Labs, Sun Microsystems and TheServerSide.com.

By leveraging the J2EE standard API developed through the collaboration of the world's leading IT vendors via the Java Community Process (JCP) and the Java Verified applications recently premiered to market, application server vendors and application developers offer their customers a cost effective way of enhancing their market share with interoperable and portable products designed for use in heterogeneous environments.

"Java Compatibility is at the heart of the Java community value proposition. We are pleased with the uptake of Java Compatible and Java Verified products as customers ensure they buy 'real' Java," said Mark Bauhaus, vice president, Java Web Services at Sun Microsystems. "Sun plays a leading role in maintaining and evolving the Java platform with and for the Java community through technology innovation and market-leading implementations based on Java standard specifications and industry adopted standards. We will continue to support Java Compatibility as the only way of delivering the true promise of "Write Once, Run Anywhere". This key feature of Java Compatible/Verified products eliminates the risk of vendor lock by offering a standards-based foundation to accomplish platform independence with minimum development costs and maximum ROI."

"BEA leads the market in providing cost-effective and innovative technologies and services so customers can more easily build and integrate large scale, enterprise grade solutions. We were one of the first vendors to support J2EE standards enabling our customers to leverage the benefits of simplified application development and standards-based integration of J2EE in their Web Services and e-business applications," said Eric Stahl, Director of Marketing at BEA Systems. "BEA will continue to be among the leading vendors helping our customers use the latest innovations in J2EE and Web services to achieve faster time-to-value for their IT."

"Since the first release of Jbuilder(r), Borland has been a leader in adopting the latest Java standards," said George Paolini, vice president and general manager of Java solutions at Borland. "Strict adherence to J2EE standards allows Borland to support all major application server vendors. The end result is that customers have choice and flexibility in their deployment options."

"IBM's customers have made it abundantly clear to us that they want software that allows them to meet their business goals while letting them use the hardware and operating systems of their choice," said Rod Smith, Vice President, Emerging Technologies, IBM Software Group. "They want their heterogeneous systems to operate more homogeneously so their e-businesses are more flexible and better equipped to respond to market opportunities and demands. As the industry leader in J2EE-based application servers, portals, and integration, IBM is proud to have been among the leaders of the companies who have made Java what it is today: an enterprise class technology that forms the implementation basis for critical e-business applications and standards like Web services."

"Novell, both a J2EE licensee and a leading vendor of Java Verified products, is committed to delivering on Java's promise of portability as part of our cross-platform computing strategy," said Frank Auger, vice president of product management for Novell's Web application development products. "We're extending the reach of J2EE to a new market by including the Novell exteNd Application Server with Novell NetWare. In addition, Novell's Java Verified integration and portal products, Novell exteNd Composer and Novell exteNd Director, are providing customers with the power to build Web services-based applications without locking them into any particular vendor's platform. The J2EE Compatibility and Java Verified programs make it possible for Novell to deliver this freedom of choice to our customers."

"The code portability across vendors, hardware, and operating systems provided by J2EE significantly lowers the cost of deploying business applications, Web services,and enterprise portals for Oracle's customers," said John Magee, vice president Oracle9i Application Server and Tools Marketing, Oracle. "As a leader in J2EE software, Oracle has always been committed to supporting the latest J2EE standards in Oracle9i Application Server and Oracle9i JDeveloper."

To download the J2EE v 1.3 Reference Implementation and try out the beta implementation of the J2EE v 1.4 specification visit http://java.sun.com/j2ee/download.html#platformspec. For the trial version of the Java Application Verification Kit go to http://java.sun.com/j2ee/verified/#download.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer" -- 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://sun.com

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, JCP, "Write Once, Run Anywhere", Java, J2EE, Java Compatible, Java Verified, Java AVK are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.