McNealy hands over charge to Schwartz

NEW DELHI: Sun Microsystems has announced the appointment of Jonathan Schwartz as the Company's chief executive officer. Schwartz, 40, succeeds Scott McNealy, 51, who will continue serving as chairman of the board and a full time employee, devoted to expanding market opportunities for Sun around the globe. Schwartz also retains the title of president.

The appointment is the result of Sun's on-going succession planning process and is effective immediately.

"Since joining Sun in 1996, Jonathan has been a driving force within the Company. His leadership has been instrumental in streamlining Sun's operations, building a solidly competitive product line, securing key acquisitions and major partner relationships and positioning us globally and across industries to reap the benefits of the networked marketplace," said McNealy. "Jonathan has earned the admiration and respect of our nearly 38,000 employees, our customers and partners and the industry as a whole. He is the ideal leader to take the helm as Sun's chief executive officer."

"Sun has been a labor of love for me for since 1982 and it has been an honor and privilege to serve as its CEO for the past 22 years. We've helped shape the industry as it is today and the opportunities before us are immense. I look forward to a smooth transition and to working with Jonathan on Company strategy in my continued role as chairman," McNealy added.

McNealy will focus his efforts on Sun's government and academic relationships globally, as well as expand his role with key strategic partner relationships. McNealy will also assume the role of chairman of Sun Federal Inc., which focuses exclusively on U.S. government business.

"It is an honor to take the reins of this great company from one of the industry's true visionaries," said Schwartz. "I'm thrilled with this opportunity before us - a global marketplace of businesses and consumers ever increasing their participation on the network, a world-class leadership team and development process, and some of the industry's most valuable network computing brands and technologies. I couldn't be more excited."

Schwartz joined Sun in 1996 upon the Company's acquisition of Lighthouse Design, Ltd., where he served as chief executive officer. He was named Sun's president and chief operating officer in April 2004, and has been responsible for Sun's product development, sales, marketing and operations.

McNealy founded Sun Microsystems along with Andy Bechtolsheim, Bill Joy and Vinod Khosla in 1982, and has been the icon for the 'open systems' movement. He was named Sun's chief executive officer and elected chairman of the board of directors in 1984. The ideas spawned from McNealy and other Sun founders about computing have often led the way for industry trends, none more recognizable than Sun's tagline, "The Network is The Computer" - a succinct statement of the Company's vision of seamless connectivity.