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Bridging the Digital Divide
Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy prevails upon the Java community to get involved and help bring connectivity to the rest of the world.
by Terrence O'Donnell

JavaOne, June 28, 2005

Scott McNealy, CEO, Sun Microsystems

Before he prevailed upon the Java community to participate in causes to benefit mankind, Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy began his keynote by announcing that Sun had just signed, in the wee hours of the morning, an agreement to acquire SeeBeyond. SeeBeyond offers Integrated Composite Application Network (ICAN) Suite 5, a fully integrated platform for developing and deploying enterprise application integration (EAI) and composite applications.

McNealy invited SeeBeyond Founder and CEO James Demetriades up on stage to briefly introduce SeeBeyond and its flagship product. The ICAN Suite platform can be used to create a series of services that can be orchestrated, including knitting together legacy architectures. It also runs on app server technology. Look for the full announcement in the fall when the acquisition is fully finalized.

McNealy then turned to the familiar refrain attendees have been hearing at this year's JavaOne by saying he believes the community process can be expanded through participation to address the goal of eliminating the digital divide. He called upon the developer community to get involved in meeting this goal.

"Imagine turning off every device, everything you own, and living life on the other side of that digital divide," McNealy said. "Turn off all of your IP devices, and try to live your life, make a living." McNealy asked the audience to consider those folks all around the world who aren't connected. "If you're not online, you're at a huge disadvantage. I'm asking for your help to eliminate the digital divide."

McNealy discussed two primary areas in which he was enlisting the Java community to help out: health care and education. Asking the audience to consider how fortunate we have it, and to consider how it must be for those who don't have the same advantages, he turned first to the health care industry. McNealy said he couldn't think of another industry as in need of improvement.