Sun Microsystems opens research center on Java in Seoul

Sun Microsystems opens research center on Java in Seoul

SEOUL, April 6 (Xinhua) -- US network computer manufacturer SunMicrosystems Inc. opened its first research and development center inAsia here on Wednesday to develop a wide range of software using itsJava programming language, reported South Korean Yonhap News Agency.

The opening ceremony for the Java research center, held hereWednesday afternoon, was attended by Sun Microsystems Chief ExecutiveScott McNealy and South Korean Information and Communication MinisterChin Dae-je, according to Yonhap.

Sun plans to spend a total of 50 million US dollars over the nextfour years to fund the lab's development activities.

"Just like Silicon Valley, Korea is where to go if you want to seethe real potential of a fully networked society," McNealy said in aspeech at the ceremony.

"There's a belief here that everything should be connected to thenetwork, and that's exactly what our vision is at Sun," he said."Korea has an extremely talented IT workforce, and that's why we willcontinue to have a strong presence in Korea moving forward."

For his part, Chin Dae-je said Sun's Java technology is consideredto be essential because it will have a tremendous impact on thefurther development of mobile and embedded software.

South Korea leads the world in broadband Internet usage. More thantwo-thirds of its 15 million homes have high-speed Internetconnections. In addition, there have been 37.1 million mobile phonesubscribers in the country out of a population of 48 million as ofMarch.