Sun and Canonical Push Enterprise Open Source

November 9th, 2006: In a joint announcement, Sun Microsystems and Canonical, Ubuntu Linux’s benefactor, have declared that Java Enterprise Edition 5 application server will soon be available on the open source operating system, which is also now certified and supported for use on Sun hardware.

The first Java application server to be distributed by Ubuntu, the two companies say that Java EE 5 will enable developers to create cutting-edge enterprise Java applications more rapidly than before.

“The combination of GlassFish and Ubuntu gives developers access to the leading open-source frameworks that will be key to developing next-generation Web 2.0 applications,” said Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu.

The announcement comes as the momentum behind the open source movement surges forward, with big announcements such as the new Novell/Microsoft partnership, Adobe’s donation of Flash to the open source community and Oracle’s murmurings that it will buy Ubuntu itself.

Canonical has also pushed deeper into the enterprise space, announcing that Ubuntu will soon be certified and offering support for Sun's x64 hardware. The two say that this means that enterprises will now be able to run Ubuntu on Sun's x64 systems with the confidence of five-year software support provided by Canonical.

“Sun is teaming up with the vibrant Ubuntu community, which shares Sun's commitment to open source,” said Karen Tegan Padir, vice president, Enterprise Java Platforms at Sun. “With the distribution of the GlassFish Java EE 5 application server on all Ubuntu releases, we are making it easier for developers to gain access to the latest version of the enterprise Java platform. And with certification and support of the Sun Fire x64 products, Ubuntu is an attractive option for enterprises.”

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