We are definitely in the week of partnerships. Everybody knows that IBM likes Java and therefore there is no surprise that IBM and Sun Microsystem have announced partnerships around Solaris and its Java software.

In fact, the IBM-Sun agreement on Java technology is getting a 10-year extension. And this is not the only news form the two companies. IBM has also announced plans to deliver IBM middleware support for the Solaris 10 Operating System on SPARC, x86 and x64 systems.

IBM will continue to license and use Java technologies from Sun, including Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE), Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE) and Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME) and Java Card (TM) throughout its software products, including its middleware and web services portfolios. With this extension, IBM and Sun continue to promote and re-affirm the value and necessity of Java compatibility across platforms and demonstrate that both companies are committed to Java innovation.

Sun and IBM will also continue to advance and enhance the development of Java technology through the collaborative Java Community Process (JCP) (SM). In addition, IBM will also expand its role to become a channel partner in delivering Java compatible products for the embedded market to Sun's Java technology licensees.

"The next wave of economic and social progress will spring from ever-growing communities participating on the web. Open technologies like Java and Solaris lower barriers to network participation and, together, form the world's most advanced platform for Internet service development and deployment," said Jonathan Schwartz, president and chief operating officer, Sun Microsystems

IBM will broaden support of its DB2, Rational, Tivoli and WebSphere software to include the Solaris 10 OS on x64 AMD Opteron-based platforms.