Sun sets up $200m VC fund

Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Intel and Cisco Systems are four of Silicon

Valley’s largest and most successful high-tech companies. Besides being

located within a few miles of each other they also have large cash and stock

reserves. Lately they have been leveraging their wealth by acquiring companies

in fields relevant to their main business and investing in a new generation of

start-ups.

Less than 24 hours after Oracle said it was expanding its venture capital

operations, Sun said it has formed a $200 million fund to invest in next

generation Internet technologies. Separately, Sun said it has agreed to acquire

NetBeans Ceska Republica, an open source software company located in Prague in

the Czech Republic. Sun intends to use its venture capital fund to invest in

young companies to promote its Java software and Sun's Solaris operating system.

"The innovation around Java is not only happening within Sun but also

outside of Sun,'' said Jonathan Schwartz, who will be Sun's vice president for

the fund. "We really want to focus on early-stage investments.''

NetBeans, which employs 40 people in Prague, makes tools for software

developers so they can create applications in Sun's Java programming language.

Its tools are available for Sun's Solaris operating system, the Linux operating

system, Windows 98 and Windows NT. NetBeans Developer 3.0 Entry IDE, one of the

company’s products. is available for free over the Internet.

NetBeans will become part of Sun's tools organization, which will be folded

into Forte Software, another company Sun has recently agreed to buy for $700

million in stock. Marty Sprinzen, the chief executive officer of Forte, will

become the head of Sun's tools business.