New Innovations From Sun Deliver Retail in Real-Time
Sun Kicks Off 2004 With Strong Showing at National Retail Federation Conference
NEW YORK, Jan. 11 -- National Retail Federation Conference -- Sun Microsystems, Inc., (NASDAQ:SUNW) is kicking off the new year and riding the wave of recent retail successes. Sun has a strong presence at the National Retail Federation (NRF), delivering retail industry news that has Sun poised for a bright year.
"2003 has been a strong year for Sun in delivering the right infrastructure at the right time for retailers. With our continued focus on low-cost, secure and reliable solutions and our technology and partner momentum around RFID, Sun is well poised in 2004 to continue to meet the high demand for real-time technology," said Bob DeLaney, Director of Worldwide Industry Solutions at Sun Microsystems.
SUN`S ANNOUNCEMENTS ARE:
-- Sun unveiled its Sun Java(TM) Enterprise System innovative pricing model to the retail industry. Java Enterprise System is an open, integrated enterprise infrastructure software system that can be deployed as a solid corporate standard. Priced at $100 per full-time employee per year, including an unlimited right to use for all deployments, the Java Enterprise System establishes a dramatic new pricepoint for the delivery of a complete system of standards-based software integrated as one entity for the retail industry.
-- Sun announced the grand opening of an RFID Test Center located in Dallas, Texas. The facility`s location was specifically chosen for its relative proximity to the Distribution Centers that are part of Wal-Mart`s rollout in 2005.
Sun`s Dallas RFID Test Center is one in a series of similar facilities being planned worldwide where companies can start testing their RFID plans. The test facilities are aimed at reducing the risk for companies looking to invest in RFID Infrastructure by helping them evaluate various configurations before they invest in them. The 17,000-square-foot warehouse facility is equipped to meet specific standards requirements like those stipulated by Wal-Mart or government bodies. The Test Center is one part of Sun`s overall RFID offering, which includes hardware, software, services and partnerships. Sun RFID customers will have access to Sun`s unique RFID infrastructure software which includes standards-based components for interfacing with RFID hardware such as readers and other input devices, and managing the Electronic Product Code (EPC) events generated by them. Sun`s RFID infrastructure is currently scheduled to be available more widely and generally in the second quarter of 2004.
-- To complement Sun`s previously announced Auto-ID Business Unit, Sun[SM] Services has created a new strategic focus for Auto-ID that will include a portfolio of services to help companies architect, implement and manage Auto-ID solutions.
-- Aldata Solution S.A., currently the 4th largest retail software company in Europe, further aligns Aldata`s G.O.L.D software, a multi-national software suite for supply chain management, with Sun`s enterprise-class RFID infrastructure software, which helps improve the solution`s responsiveness and operational efficiencies.
-- California-based Vizional Technologies, Inc., a provider of RFID-enabled adaptive supply chain software, is also announcing its support of Sun`s RFID infrastructure software. The benefit to the customer is competitive real-time retailing.
-- International Mass Retail Association (IMRA) unveiled a unique Web-based management training course developed in conjunction with Sun and The ePC Group to simplify RFID planning and teach the basics of RFID technology to retailers and consumer product companies.
-- Sun and Manugistics recently announced a 250% increase in performance improvement for Manugistics` Store-Level Replenishment Solution by re-architecting the application to the Java 2[TM] Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE(TM) platform) running on the Solaris(TM) Operating System (SPARC(R) Platform Edition).
-- Innovative Retail Systems, LLC announced the commercial availability of its front office and retail showroom solution, 360 degree Retail, which combines technology from Sun with award-winning kiosk technology from Apunix and portal and open-source technology from CommNav.
-- Sun, Wincor Nixdorf and Retek announced the availability of an integrated solution that delivers a low-cost, secure and scalable JavaPOS(TM)- based technology offering to the retail industry. The solution helps retailers acquire and implement end-to-end JavaPOS-based technology at the point of sale, on store servers, at the application level and on large enterprise servers in the data center. Sun and Retek also announced the grand opening of the world`s first iForce(TM) Competency Center designed for Retek products. Based in Menlo Park, California, the center will help customers test Retek on Sun before they invest, which can further reduce risk and cost.
Recently, high-profile retailers like Florida-based Office Depot and Italy-based Benetton have chosen Sun solutions to help their businesses. Last week, RIS News awarded recent Sun customer Sportsman`s Warehouse `Retailer of the Year` in the `Quick Growth` category due to its 50% growth rate helped by its full implementation of Sun`s technology in stores (source: RIS, December issue).
About Sun Microsystems` Work With RFID
Sun Microsystems` industry-leading, standards-based, RFID solution is a comprehensive end-to-end offering that includes hardware, software, services and best-in-class partnerships. For over three years Sun has been working to make RFID technology an extension of web services and a seamless part of software infrastructure such as the Sun Java Enterprise System. Sun has been a leading member of and advisor to the MIT Auto-ID Center -- the driving force for Auto-ID standards, and has participated in numerous successful pilots and deployments. Sun is opening RFID Test Centers around the world to help companies test their RFID implementations before they invest -- from tagging products, integrating data into back-end systems and sharing this data with supply chain partners. For more information on Sun`s leading role with RFID visit http://www.sun.com/rfid . To start testing in a Sun RFID Test Center and learn how to get the competitive advantage necessary, email rfid-testcenter@sun.com today.
Sun in Retail
Over the past several years, Sun has been growing steadily in the retail sector, and has become world renowned for its vision and success in this competitive industry. Today, Sun`s global reach includes specialty hard and soft goods, discount and mass merchandisers, department stores, food service, supermarkets, convenience stores, chain drug stores, electronic retailing merchants, catalog and home shopping. Fast growing retailers are building their technology foundations leveraging Java System software on Sun Fire servers, and Sun StorEdge arrays. Because of Sun`s binary compatibility, Sun`s scalability from the smallest to largest servers gives a significant advantage for retailers looking for greater business agility.
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, Java, Solaris, and "The Network Is The Computer" are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the US and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.
For More Information
Aaron Cohen
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
415.294.4207
aaron.cohen@sun.com
Kim Evans
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
415.762.2270
kim.evans@sun.com
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