Sun to conduct research with top Indian institutes

NEW DELHI: Computer networking leader Sun Microsystems Inc. on Thursday

launched a collaborative research program with leading Indian technology

institutes.

Sun signed agreements with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) centers

in Delhi, Kanpur and Kharagpur.

The IIT at Mumbai and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore were also

expected to take part in the program, Sun officials told a news conference.

Sun will fund projects on subjects linked to theory, software languages and

tools that would enable the creation of technologies to improve the quality and

power of network computing.

"It (the program) can have an enormous impact on Sun's product

line," said Sun Microsystems Laboratories director Jeff Rulifson.

Rulifson said Sun liked to be involved with leading technology institutions

and was not aware until last year of the huge research base in India. The

company then decided to fund research in India.

Research subjects will include Sun's Java language technology, which is a key

Internet tool. Sun officials did not give financial details of the program.

The intellectual property rights generated by the research would be jointly

owned by Sun and the institutions, they said.

Rulifson said Sun was also willing to share where necessary the source codes

that drive basic software in order to benefit the research.

The IIT centers are India's leading engineering institutions, and have

produced thousands of high-technology engineers. One of Sun's co-founders, Vinod

Khosla, now a leading Silicon Valley venture capitalist, is a graduate of IIT,

Delhi.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.