Sun Microsystems opens new development center in Prague

16 Mar. 2006 | CzechInvest | Sun Microsystems, a leading global provider of computer technology, has opened a first-class development center and new headquarters of its Czech branch in the Chodov district of Prague. Jiri Havel, the Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy, and Minister of Informatics Dana Berova took part in the celebratory launch of operations at the new headquarters yesterday. Sun Microsystems is investing approximately USD 10,9 million in new jobs for highly qualified software-development specialists, and USD 10,6 million in technical equipment. Over 200 developers will work in the new development center, and their number should double to 400 by 2008.

“We are very pleased that Sun chose to locate its development center in the Czech Republic over other attractive locations around the world,”said Zdenek Pilz, general manager of Sun Microsystems' Czech branch, on the occasion of the new development center’s opening. "Prague was chosen especially thanks to its abundance of software-development specialists, excellent infrastructure, stable economic and political environment, and—of no less importance—the helpful attitude of the government as represented by the agency CzechInvest.“

Sun’s Prague development center
The origins of Sun Microsystems’ development center date back to 1999, when the company acquired the NetBeans project, a development environment for the Java platform. From 1999 to 2005, dozens of developers worked at Sun’s development center in the Czech Republic. The key turning point came in the first half of 2005, when Sun Microsystems, with support from CzechInvest, decided to expand its activities in the Czech Republic.

“Support of this type of investment is crucial for the further development of the Czech economy. Its greatest value lies in the transfer of know-how, technology and, above all, in further investments in the education and qualification of Czech specialists. And these are qualities that will grow over time,” says CzechInvest CEO Tomas Hruda, adding: “The fact that such an important company is significantly expanding its activities here provides an impetus for other potential investors in this field.”

More than 200 highly qualified specialists are currently working on the development of key software technologies at Sun’s Prague center. NetBeans, the best development environment for the Java Platform, remains the main project of the Prague development center. The NetBeans tool, which is distributed as open-source, has been downloaded from Sun’s website by more than nine million developers. In addition to NetBeans, the Prague development center has also participated in the development of the Solaris operating system, Sun N1 Software products (tools for IT infrastructure life-cycle management), Java Wireless Toolkit, and Java Enterprise Edition platforms.

Sun Microsystems also cooperates in the training of new specialists at universities in the Czech Republic. In 2004, Sun built a laboratory for testing the usability of software (Usability Lab) at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University (CVUT) in Prague. The laboratory simultaneously serves for the training of students and for the actual testing of software products developed at Sun’s development center in Prague. The Usability Lab at CVUT is the only facility of its kind in Central Europe.

MORE ABOUT THE COMPANY

Since its inception in 1982, Sun Microsystems has followed a singular vision, “The Network Is The Computer™“, which placed Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) in the vanguard of providers of high-performance hardware, software and services for operation of the internet, enabling companies around the world to expand their scope of business. Sun operates in more than 100 countries. More information can be found atwww.sun.com.