PDF: 2962 pages, 5.2 MB - Bay Area Council Economic Institute

Computing/Networking/Internet
Sun was an early proponent of open source software and client-server networks, as a counter to
Microsoft-Intel dominance in the personal computing market. It launched a range of low-end
servers and Sun Open Net Environment (SunONE) software in India, and it offered donated
hardware, software and training to government agencies and universities in China and India, in
an effort to create a critical mass of users and developers to jumpstart future business.
In 2002, Sun and Oracle jointly set up the iForce Developer Lab with 150 SunBlade workstations
running the full range of Sun and Oracle software and Java platform development tools. The lab
enables Indian software developers and vendors to test and certify products for small and midsized
businesses. Sun partnered in 2004 with Cadence and very large scale integration (VLSI) engineering
institute VEDA-IIT to launch a center of competency for R&D in VLSI engineering
design automation and embedded system engineering in Hyderabad.
Sun had invested $150 million in India by 2005, and also in 2005, it joined with the Centre for
DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) consortium and the government of Andhra Pradesh
to open a center of excellence in medical bioinformatics in Gandipet. The company also committed
$5 million in matching grants to degree-granting institutions for purchasing equipment.
As computer viruses, worms and denial-of-service (DoS) threats over the Internet made headlines
in 2006, Sun joined the list of network firms to focus on IT security, setting up regional
control centers in Scotland, the U.S., and Chennai, India, to monitor customer IT infrastructures
and processes, spot threats and potential systems failures, and respond within 15 minutes across
the world, 24 hours a day.
Sun, General Motors, Electronic Data Systems, and product lifecycle management software firm
UGS Corp. collaborated with PES Institute of Technology (PESIT) in Bangalore in 2007, to
provide computer hardware and automotive design and engineering tools worth $155 million to
PESIT students.
Sun has recently partnered with Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) in Karnataka to
offer distance e-training and certification via the EDUSAT satellite television network across the
111 VTU colleges, taught by Sun India engineers in Bangalore and reaching students throughout
rural Karnataka. On the commercial side, Sun provides the backbone for Tata Sky’s digital directto-home
pay television service and has partnered with Tech Mahindra to set up a next-generation
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) lab in Pune to develop video-based services and personalized
video streams using the Sun Streaming System scalable video delivery platform.
In comparison to its India workforce of 1,200 (mostly Bangalore-based) in 2005, today Sun
employs about 1,400, mostly in Bangalore and Chennai, but also in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata,
Hyderabad, Pune, and Gujarat. Through partners Wipro Infotech, Comptek International, Aman
Technologies, Accel Frontline Ltd., and Micropro Software Solutions, it has begun to reach into
Tier 2 and 3 cities, including Bhopal, Ranchi, Indore, Jammu, Coimbatore, and Nagpur.
Sun’s shift to India has coincided with tough global competition from IBM, HP, and others in
the more mature U.S. and UK markets. By contrast, Sun’s India revenues have increased by an
average 35% annually through much of this decade, including 28% growth in fiscal 2007–08.
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