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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Charles Tutt who wrote (50279)	7/9/2002 9:14:05 PM
From: DRRISK	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

WSJ(7/10) Sun-Backed Body Set To Unveil New Web Tools By Rebecca Buckman The war over Web standards between Microsoft Corp. and rival Sun Microsystems Inc. appears to be cooling off a bit, with both companies moving ahead with new initiatives and, in some cases, working together to try to make more money from e-commerce. One big milestone will happen Monday, when a Sun-backed group called the Liberty Alliance finally unveils new technical specifications for online "identity management" systems. The specifications -- which have been hammered out by Sun and about 40 other large companies, including UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and General Motors Corp. -- can be downloaded free from the Internet starting next week. The new tools are important because they are the building blocks upon which companies can build new services that allow consumers to move easily among Web sites without having to constantly identify themselves with a new password. United, for example, might use the specifications to link parts of its Web site to those of business partners, such as another airline or a rental-car company, said Eric Dean, United's chief information officer and the chairman of the Liberty group. That might allow people to easily make multiple reservations for a trip. Microsoft is promoting its own online-identity service, called Passport, and hasn't joined the Liberty group. Sun actually started Liberty in response to some Microsoft moves last year to expand Passport and use it as the basis for new businesses. But Mr. Dean said services built on Liberty's technology could ultimately work with Passport, and Liberty continues to talk to Microsoft about joining the group. He is also heartened by Sun's recent decision to support a related Web-security initiative, known as WS-Security, recently submitted to a Web-standards body by Microsoft, International Business Machines Corp. and VeriSign Inc. Sun's decision to cooperate with the initiative "kind of shocked all of us," said Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group. He said the continuing technology recession, which is crimping revenue at even the biggest companies, may have contributed to Sun's decision. A Sun spokesman said Sun is supporting WS-Security mainly because the specification will be free for companies to license, something Sun says was unclear when IBM and Microsoft introduced it. (END) DOW JONES NEWS 07-09-02 07:59 PM