Sun Microsystems has entered into an agreement to acquire SevenSpace, a privately-held company based in Ashburn, Va.

Sun who resells Red Hat’s software, is competing for the same customers as Red Hat with their upcoming release of Solaris 10 in January.

In 2004 Sun Microsystems rolled out the most innovative systems portfolio in the company’s 20-plus year history.

Sun Microsystems is trying a new marketing strategy, giving away its new Solaris 10 operating system for free.

At its Network Computing ’04Q4 launch, Sun Microsystems announced the Sun Service Optimized Data Center program, a new comprehensive roadmap of services and technologies to help customers deploy and manage IT services more cost-effectively.

Sun Microsystems has made available the latest version of its breakthrough visual development environment, Sun Java Studio Creator.

Settlement Assures Sun’s Java Communities Will Not Be Affected by Kodak Patents. Without admitting or denying allegations, Sun Microsystems has entered into a formal settlement agreement with the Eastman Kodak Company to settle all claims in pending litigation between the parties.

Program Includes Free Training, Free Sun Software Solutions and Collaborative Communities.

Top Price/Performance Honors Achieved Running BEA WebLogic Server with MySQL Open Source Database on Solaris-Based Systems With Opteron Processors.

Nelson-Gal Joins the Interwoven R&D Team as Senior Vice President of Engineering.

Borland, Computer Associates, Compuware, Mercury Interactive and Quest Software Leverage Sun’s Platform to Broaden the Ecosystem for Enterprise Developers.

In the second quarter of 2004, Sun Microsystems achieved significant revenue and volume growth in almost every category.

Sun Marks 10 Years of Leadership With Continued Gains in Worldwide Workstation Revenue and Unit Market Share During the Second Quarter of 2004.

PerformaSure and Java System Application Server Integration Enhances Performance and Availability of J2EE Applications.

The possible purchase was suggested by Sun President Jonathan Schwartz in interviews with the Wall Street Journal. So far, Novell has been mute on this possibility. Acquiring Novell would cost approximately $3 billion.

Exam Background and Its Importance

In March 2004, Sun Microsystems launched a new version of their existing Sun Certified Web Component Developer 1.3 (SCWCD 1.3) exam, which tests the web component development according to the latest J2EE 1.4 specification. The old version will co-exist and a separate upgrade exam will be made available soon.

Sun hopes a new version of its Java software will lure nonprogrammers by sporting a more Windows-like look and feel.

Sun Microsystems fired its first salvo at Microsoft’s upcoming Office 2003 by calling into question the aim of Redmond’s overall XML strategy, and touting StarOffice 6.1 as a low cost alternative for cost conscious enterprises. During a telephone interview, Sun’s Iyer Venkatefen, product manager for StarOffice, told BetaNews that Microsoft was not abiding by the OASIS standards. With more than 600 members in 100 countries, OASIS, or Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, is a global consortium that establishes standards to ensure interoperability.

On his Asian tour, Sun’s CEO tells reporters that being controversial is good for business–then describes Intel’s Itanium chip as a “serious disaster.”

65 million handsets all over the Java-enabled. Qualcomm’s BREW and Windows CE are lurking in the sidelines but Sun does not see them as big threats. A 100 million handsets will be Java enabled within a year, believes Sun.

In a major effort to get together an estimated 6 million Java developers across the world, Sun Microsystems is calling for developers to form the Java community.