Sun offers help in academic networking

Under the Sun Technology and Academic Resources initiative, the company will offer equipment grants and training in Sun and related technologies, and set up centers to promote partnerships with universities and a third party. Sun said the program is designed to let educational bodies cut the cost and complexity of managing network systems.

Sun said it is offering free training as well as software to academic and research institutions. More than 1,350 institutions have been helped in the past year under already existing aspects of the new program, Sun said.

Sun says its Java Education and Learning Community program is a medium for sharing open-source educational tools. Equipment grants are given to educational institutions that have worked on projects of interest to the company.

Technology companies are focusing their attention on school and college campuses across the nation, as academic bodies incorporate increasing levels of technology, including Wi-Fi networking. Some of them are also launching joint research programs, like Microsoft's iCampus at MIT.

"Sun's objective in launching the STAR initiative is to get Sun solutions into the hands of educators, students and researchers, to help them build a collaborative environment where best practices can be shared," Kim Jones, vice president of global education and research at Sun, said in a statement.