Stanford University and Sun Unveil Computational Earth and Environmental Science Facility

June 21 2006

Stanford University President John Hennessy and Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW) Chairman Scott McNealy opened the doors to the Stanford Computational Earth and Environmental Science (CEES) research facility today. The facility will be used to expand the present capacity for interdisciplinary Earth science research, and is expected to allow deeper analysis, simulation and prediction around complex Earth processes and systems -- which could lead to advances in earthquake detection, oil exploration and the effects of oceanic and climate changes.

Bridging the needs of large corporations with expertise from academia, the center also aims to tackle technology issues that plague the energy industry. For instance, researchers will study the detrimental effects of using applications with inefficient computing systems and explore business technology pain points related to data center consolidation and grid computing.

"Our mission is to enhance the capacity for large-scale computational research for Earth and environmental science," says CEES director Jerry M. Harris, professor of geophysics in the Stanford School of Earth Sciences. "A driving force for this is the fact that, here at Stanford, we have some of the world's best scientists, and across the street in Silicon Valley are some of the world's best computer designers and builders."

"Working with the energy sector for over 20 years, Sun is helping bridge the gap between academia and industry and by supporting the CEES. This provides a unique and innovative architecture for functional analysis of very complex applications used in Earth and environmental science," says Kim Jones, vice president of global education and research at Sun. "As part of Sun's Eco-Responsibility initiative, the company remains committed to innovating products to provide the energy industry with the most advanced computational resources to power the next generation of energy solutions for the planet, while building further efficiencies into existing processes."

The CEES is a one of a kind facility built by Stanford, government agencies and private companies. Sun Microsystems contributed hardware and software, including its x64 (x86, 64-bit) and SPARC(R)-based Sun Fire(TM) servers, and the Solaris Operating System (OS), and program support to aid this research facility. Sun is a founding member of what the university hopes will be a larger consortium. Other board members include representatives from Chevron and BP among others. For more information on CEES, please visit http://cees.stanford.edu/

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Melissa Pereira

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

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