Sun Microsystems Powers Text Messaging Campaign at Philadelphia Live 8 Show

Sun Microsystems Powers Text Messaging Campaign at Philadelphia Live 8 Show

26 Million Text Message Their Support for End to African Poverty

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Combining social activism and technology, Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) joined with Live 8 concert organizers on July 2nd to power a record-setting text messaging campaign at the Philadelphia Live 8 show. At the concert, over 26 million attendees and TV viewers text messaged their name to code "unite" or 86483 and joined the Live 8 worldwide campaign to end African poverty.

On July 6th, leaders of the G8 Summit will gather in Edinburgh, Scotland. At the top of their agenda is African poverty and debt relief. Never before has the issue of African poverty been such a high priority for the leaders of developed nations. Seizing the moment, legendary rock star and Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof teamed with U2's Bono to organize nine free Live 8 concerts in cities around the world. Top musicians like Coldplay, Elton John, U2 and many more donated their talents to this effort, with well more than one million people in attendance worldwide and two billion TV viewers worldwide.

Sun Microsystems, recognizing the potential that its Java(TM) technology has in harnessing the efforts of this movement, teamed with Live 8 to power a text-messaging campaign. At the Philadelphia Live 8 concert, Sun delivered a text messaging infrastructure that enabled all concert attendees, not only to witness the concert, but join in and participate in a global movement to end extreme poverty. Sun Microsystems' Java-based, text messaging infrastructure enabled Americans to share in the Live 8 movement. By leveraging Sun's infrastructure, the Live 8 Philadelphia show enlisted 26 million dedicated people to the cause of wiping out poverty.

"Combining millions of voices from around the world in support of Africa epitomizes the power of sharing," said John Gage, chief researcher at Sun Microsystems. "This is a time like no other, and we're thrilled to help build this global community."

Throughout the spring and summer, Sun has provided a similar messaging engine to Bono and powered text messaging at U2's concerts in support of the ONE campaign. To date, approximately 100,000 people have sent text messages in support of this campaign. To learn more about Live 8 and its mission, please visit: http://sun.com/live8

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

A singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer"(TM) -- guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at sun.com.

NOTE: Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, Solaris and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

CONTACT: Kate Wesson of Bite Communications, +1-415-365-0458, or kate.wesson@bitepr.com, for Sun.

Source: Sun Microsystems, Inc.

CONTACT: Kate Wesson of Bite Communications, +1-415-365-0458, or kate.wesson@bitepr.com, for Sun

Web site: http://sun.com/

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