Sun Microsystems says that the United India Insurance Company (UIIC), one of the largest insurers in India, is ordering 10,000 seats of Sun’s StarOffice office productivity software.
StarOffice software is a key component of the Sun’s Java Desktop System. Sun says UIIC chose it for its price/performance value, ability to interoperate with existing technologies and its use of open standards. Sun says that, with more than 40 million copies distributed to date, StarOffice/OpenOffice.org software is proving itself as an affordable office productivity tool.
“We selected Sun’s StarOffice 7 software because it matches our technical specifications and it is very competitively priced,” says S.M. John Victor, assistant general manager, Information Technology, UIIC, Limited Chennai India. “With Sun’s StarOffice software, we are able to leverage our existing hardware and operating systems investments while deploying consistent, interoperable and familiar office productivity software across the company.”
A number of companies in India, including Onesource, National Fertlisers and Apnaloan.com, have bought StarOffice.
“The reality is that customers are looking for a better business proposition to do more with less. UIIC can now focus on its business and core competencies — not on restrictive licensing models and escalating desktop costs — through the savings gained by choosing StarOffice software,” says Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice president, Software, Sun Microsystems, Inc. “Sun’s growing desktop market share in India and the recent government agreements in China and the United Kingdom, demonstrate how the Java Desktop System and the Java Enterprise System are revolutionizing the software industry worldwide.”
As part of the UIIC deployment, Sun is partnering with ACCEL ICIM Systems & Services Limited, a Sun iForce partner in India, to provide systems integration services, and round the clock support at its 24 regional offices throughout India, and offer software upgrades and updates for four years.
“ACCEL ICIM is proud to have won this prestigious order from United India Insurance Company for Sun’s StarOffice 7 software,” says S.V. Sriram, president and chief operating office, ACCEL ICIM Systems & Services Ltd. “We firmly believe that StarOffice software addresses pent-up demand for a quality, low-cost, multi-platform office productivity suite in Indian enterprises. StarOffice software delivers excellent value to premier financial institutions, insurance companies, other large corporations as well as small and medium enterprises.”
UIIC expects StarOffice software to be deployed to most of its 1,126 offices across the country in the first quarter of 2004.