Sun partners Accentutre for Identity-Enabled SOA

NEW YORK: Accenture and Sun Microsystems, Inc. agreed to jointly develop Identity-enabled Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and composite applications to meet growing client demands. The expanded relationship involves a series of initiatives, which initially, includes the creation of the Accenture Innovation Center for Sun Solutions.

In the identity management area, Sun and Accenture have agreed to pursue opportunities in both technology enablement and market-specific solutions. For the SOA, application integration, and composite application market, Sun and Accenture will pursue technology solutions which further enhance ease-of-use and speed to market for the creation of secure, composite applications built on the Sun platform.

"Enterprises across the world are looking to open source and open standards as they architect for Web 2.0 and the next evolution of Service-Oriented Architectures," said Jonathan Schwartz, CEO and president of Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Sun's leadership products and developer momentum combined with Accenture's business process expertise and world-class implementation resources make this an ideal relationship" he added.

The Accenture Innovation Center for Sun Solutions will initially include engineers from Sun and Accenture -- dedicated to the development of Identity-enabled SOA-based solutions utilizing Sun's software suite and high-performance Solaris Operating System. Capabilities created in the Center will be complemented by additional Sun-platform-based solutions developed through Accenture's Global Delivery Network and client sites already performing Sun-related work.

"By harnessing all of our Sun-related work throughout our global network and complementing it with this additional commitment, we should be able to rapidly accelerate the delivery of new solutions for our clients' needs," said Don Rippert, chief technology officer at Accenture.

Joint development teams will be dedicated to the creation of custom solutions for specific client requests as well as the development of industrialized, repeatable and secure Identity-enabled and SOA-based solutions for clients globally.

The two companies have a long relationship in supporting each other on client engagements, using Accenture's delivery team and Sun's hardware/software platform.