Mobile phone carrier Vodafone will have the capabilities to provide Sun Microsystems, Inc’s software in providing services and support to customers in over 26 countries worldwide with the signing of a global framework agreement between the two firms.
The agreement includes extensions for the Sun Java Enterprise System and the Sun Java Desktop System. The Java Enterprise System is the strategic underpinning of Sun’s software strategy and provides an open software system that delivers an enterprise network services delivered on a predictable schedule. The Java Desktop System is an enterprise desktop solution that is simple to use and works with existing infrastructure.
The agreement also has the potential to change the commercial software landscape for Vodafone on product deployments. Vodafone, already one of Sun’s largest users of the Java System Directory product, has also begun early evaluation of other components from the Java Enterprise System. To date, after reviewing the business benefits associated with Sun’s software products, Vodafone Operating Companies (OpCo’s) in Greece, Spain, Germany, the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands have purchased local licenses under the new contract.
Sun positioned the announcement as a movement among large organizations to simplify the integration of their infrastructure and cut costs to deliver more services to their customers over the network.