Sun opens Asian services quality facility

SINGAPORE--Sun has opened a facility in the island-state to boost the development and training of the company's technology and products.

The Asia-Pacific Sun Services Quality Institute (SQI) is the first of such initiatives for the company, and will focus on skills development, training and certification, according to a media statement.

The SQI will initially establish a technical curriculum for its partner engineers and the academia world in the Asia-Pacific region. But it plans to eventually implement this model globally, as the training and certification platform for its services partners in Europe and the United States.

The training and certification program covers the full range of Sun products and services, and combines skills assessments, Web-based learning and classroom interactions.

According to a financial report on Sun's Web site, the company's revenue from services has been increasing, from US$3.6 billion in 2003 to US$3.9 billion in fiscal year 2005. Until last year, Sun's chief executive officer and chairman Scott McNealy, refused to define the organization as a services company, even though revenue from services had accounted for nearly one-third of Sun's total revenue in 2003.