Sun mixes Java into one blend

Scott McNealy arrived in London this week to outline Sun Microsystems radical reorganisation, which will create seven divisions within the company and consolidate its Java operations under the direction of JavaSoft president Alan Baratz.

The new Java division will bring together JavaSoft, SunSoft tools and developer relations. The company's individual operating units, or planets, had previously operated like separate companies with their own resources and developer relationships. These will be replaced with new divisions, focused on delivering specific products and services.

The changes are designed to allow Sun to focus its efforts on Java computing in the enterprise and consumer markets and to streamline development processes.

The restructuring comes in the wake of IBM and Intel's commitment to co-operate on development of a Java NC. It also follows Sun's own announcement that it would ship its Java Plug-in, the server technology that allows Java applications to access the latest features of the Java Development Kit, earlier than expected.

Sun has now appointed a president of each of its new seven divisions who will report to chief technology officer Greg Papadopoulos and chief operating officer Ed Zander. "Our goal is to achieve greater operational efficiency and provide a unified face to the customer," said Zander.

Siemens Nixdorf has said it is licensing Sun's Solaris to run on its Intel based servers. This follows Sun's deal with Fujitsu last month in which the Japanese computer giant contracted to build Solaris servers running on Intel processors.