Canada's Leading College Will Be the Brain Trust for the Management of
Identity and Information
MARKHAM, Ontario, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sun Microsystems
(Nasdaq: SUNW) and Seneca College today launched the Sun Center of Excellence
in Enterprise Knowledge Services, to be housed at Seneca. Sun and Seneca will
build upon their common vision of an integrated "Knowledge Service" network,
which provides the personalized delivery of content and resource services to
academic and business users, as well as providing institutions with a
heightened ability to leverage information, to enhance administrative and
services best practices and gain market advantage.
The Center of Excellence in Enterprise Knowledge Services at Seneca
further demonstrates Sun's continued commitment to innovation, collaboration
with leading academic institutions, and the pursuit of new advances in
networked education and federated information. Sun has more than 80 Centers of
Excellence across the world, in fields ranging from life sciences and grid
computing to administration and e-learning.
"Seneca is already a hub for enterprise knowledge services, and this new
partnership will elevate the College's status as a North American brain
trust," said Kim Jones, Vice President, Global Education and Research, Sun
Microsystems. "This Center of Excellence is another major step in the long-
term relationship between Seneca and Sun that has seen a huge amount of
intellectual and financial collaboration result in real technological
innovation."
Real Innovation
Sun and Seneca will work with strategic partners Blackboard, Inc. and
Endeavor Information Systems to jointly pursue research in concepts, standards
and implementation of federated identity and Java Web Services. The Center
will also focus on the architecture and design of highly scalable
collaborative learning environments, as well as the integration of
Blackboard's e-learning solution with Endeavor's search tools.
The initial research phase at the Center will focus on the design and
optimization of Java Webservices and Service Oriented Architectures. A second
phase will focus on the development of federated identity models, learning
object repositories, and portal-based delivery schema, specifically leveraging
Sun identity tools. Systems based upon federated identity allow individuals to
use the same personal identification to sign on to multiple networks and
locations to access information, conduct transactions or collaborate with
others.
"Too many businesses have been caught in the 'lots of data, not much
knowledge' trap, simply because they lacked an information management
resource. Seneca has a significant amount of experience in the capture and
dissemination of enterprise knowledge, and specifically running Blackboard and
Endeavor software on Sun systems," noted Stephane Boisvert, president, Sun
Microsystems of Canada Inc. "Their experience tuning these systems, and in
showing other institutions how to work through issues, made the College a
strong candidate for a more formalized research and development Center."
Strong history of Enterprise Knowledge Services
Seneca College's first forays into Enterprise Knowledge were originally
developed to support its own needs as the College charted it own direction in
support of its 100,000 full and part-time students, faculty and staff. As its
expertise grew, the College has developed an established competency and is
frequently visited by other institutions -- both academic and traditional
business -- looking to help refine their use of enterprise information.
"From the beginning, Seneca has had a responsibility to leverage our own
research," noted Terrence Verity, Chief Information Officer, Seneca College.
"Seneca's academic chair may need to know how student demographics statistics
and grade performance will impact the College enrollment numbers and budgets."
Data can also reveal how the competition is doing, as there is sufficient
access to competitor data to track them. Seneca knows when and how to deliver
better courses and extracurricular activities, and to boost social services or
academic funding, which are all factors that impact its enrollment and cash
flow. The value of this predictive roadmap to a traditional business
environment is clear.
"Enterprise Knowledge comprises the delivery, distribution, and channeling
of information related to the enterprise, in order to more effectively plan,
make clearer decisions, and define a company's position in the marketplace,"
continued Verity.
Seneca will purchase Sun systems and software to enable the collaboration,
and Sun will donate additional equipment to bring the Center up to speed. The
specific architecture framework for content delivery will be based on a Java
web services architecture, integrating library, e-learning, collaboration and
administrative applications.
An Expanded Sun-Seneca Relationship
The Center of Excellence in Enterprise Knowledge Services is yet another
in a list of "firsts" for Sun and Seneca. Earlier the year, Seneca became the
first academic institution in Canada to upgrade to Sun's Java(TM) Enterprise
System. The College chose the Sun software infrastructure to take advantage of
greater cost savings afforded through lower licensing costs, quarterly upgrade
cycles, and access to new infrastructure tools.
Seneca's JES infrastructure is deployed on a group of Sun Enterprise(TM)
6500, Sun Enterprise 250, Sun Fire(TM) 280R, Sun Enterprise 420R, Sun
Enterprise 450, Sun Fire V480, and Sun Fire V880 servers running the
Solaris(TM) Operating Environment. A Sun StorEdge(TM) 3900 storage system
offers the high availability required in Seneca's information-rich
environment. The Java Enterprise Directory Server provides a central
repository for storing and managing identity profiles, access privileges,
application and network resource information for Seneca's growing user
population.
Sun's Java Enterprise System serves as the foundation for the College's
the MySeneca portal, the hub for delivery of new services and online resources
to its expanding student and faculty populations. Students have access to
academic and student services, including customized registration, timetables,
and financial information, all available through the Internet, wireless
devices or PDAs. Faculty can post and host assignments and other documents as
well as applications to expand upon classroom activities. Aside from
referencing student photos to verify identities, faculty and staff also have
access to online human resources information including professional
development.
About Seneca
Seneca College is the largest college in Canada with more than 100,000
full and part-time students on campuses across the Greater Toronto Area.
Seneca provides internationally and nationally recognized career education and
training key to graduate success in the global economy. Every Seneca diploma,
certificate and bachelor's degree program is developed to a high academic
standard, in consultation with industry, integrated with information
technology, combined with technical and transferable skills, and reinforced by
opportunities for ongoing education and re-training.
About Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc.
Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc.,
is headquartered in Markham, Ontario. The company, which employs more than 550
persons, has offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria. Sun
products and services are also available through Sun Authorized Independent
Sales Organizations and iForce(SM) System Providers across Canada. For more
information, visit http://ca.sun.com .
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The
Computer(TM)" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. to its position as a
leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that
make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the
World Wide Web at http://sun.com .
NOTE: Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Sun Fire, Java and The Network
Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems,
Inc. in the United States and other countries.
For more information, contact:
Geoffrey Morgan
MAVERICK for Sun Microsystems of Canada
416-640-5525 ext. 228
geoffreym@maverickpr.com
Seneca College
Martha Lowrie,
Director Marketing and Communications.
416-491-5050, ext. 2259
Martha.Lowrie@senecac.on.ca
Kristen Hyland
Sun Microsystems
Education, Human Resources, Information Technology
kristen.hyland@sun.com
650-786-3007
SOURCE Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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Related links:
http://sun.com
CONTACT:
Geoffrey Morgan of MAVERICK, +1-416-640-5525
ext. 228, or geoffreym@maverickpr.com, for Sun Microsystems of
Canada Inc.; or Martha Lowrie, Director Marketing and
Communications of Seneca College, +1-416-491-5050, ext. 2259, or
Martha.Lowrie@senecac.on.ca; or Kristen Hyland, Education, Human
Resources, Information Technology of Sun Microsystems,
+1-650-786-3007, or kristen.hyland@sun.com
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