Sun Microsystems Inc. South Africa (SSA) has embarked on a sub-Saharan Africa initiative to make the latest Java technology available to the local developer community, by investing up to R15 million (US$2.5 million) in a program which aims to provide professional software and hardware to developers at reduced prices.

Jos Nickmans, channel manager SSA, and Vito Bonafede, regional director SSA, both of whom introduced the product package to the public in Sandton last week, say: "SSA would like to give 500 local developers the opportunity to utilize the professional tools required to join the Java world. The promotion will be limited to 500 at first, but, if demand requires it, we will consider extending the offer." Sun estimates that there are about 100 000 developers in the region, and 25 000 of them use Java. The Sun Developer Network currently has up to 16 500 subscribed developers.

The Sun developer bundle is centered around Sun Java Studio Enterprise, which is a complete portfolio of Rapid Application Development tools, providing a complete "develop-test-deploy" environment. It is supported by Solaris, Linux, MS Windows and Apple Macintosh.

Sun Java Studio Enterprise will be made available for R12,699 (US$2,078), and comes with a free Sun Java Workstation W1100z. Developers preferring a server platform can obtain a Sun Fire V20z server for an additional R2,900.

The product, which is strictly targeted at individual existing or aspiring developers, or SMMEs with less than five people, will be made available through retail dealers and volume product resellers (VPRs) around the region. Interested individuals will be able to apply via the company"s Web site.

"We want to equip young bright developers with the resources to reach the higher end of the market, and possibly give those technical yet entrepreneurial individuals support to export their solutions," he adds.

Some key highlights of the package include the first ever visual development environment based on Java technology standards, and Java Server Faces technology, which provides drag-and-drop visual development plus a simplified, event-based coding model. It also includes tools, technologies, run times, examples, tutorials, technical articles, forums and more.

The retail range will feature packages including Web application development, visual access to databases, InSync Editing and complete solutions for learning, developing and deploying Web applications.