More affordable software is within reach of developing nations, with the announcement that Sun Microsystems Inc. is making its Java Enterprise System (JES) available on a per-citizen pricing model, for federal, state and local governments.
Already available on the Solaris Operating System (OS) for Sparc and x86-based systems, including Xeon and AMD Opteron-based systems, the latest release of JES aims to extend platform support to Linux, with plans to extend support to Windows and HP-UX in future releases.
“With our new per-citizen pricing model, governments of developing nations can re-allocate punitive software licensing fees to critical tasks, such as healthcare and education. And the expanded platform support allows these nations to deliver network services to citizens and customers on the architecture of their choice,” says Lodewyk de Beer, systems engineer at Sun Microsystems SA.
JES is designed to reshape the way in which software is designed acquired and managed for enterprises, including government entities. It aims to enable organizations to replace costly, unpredictable middleware components with a software system available on a predictable release schedule and affordable subscription basis.
The unique licensing model is available to government entities, such as countries, provinces, states and cities, in less developed and least developed countries and regions, and is based on pricing ranging from US$0.33 to US$1.95 per citizen per year. It is based on two factors: the number of citizens in the respective government entity, and the stage of development of the country, as defined by the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs classification.
De Beer explains: “By calculating the price on these factors, world-class software can be made available to nations that cannot afford to allocate large budgets to technology,” he says. This is the first time that a company has offered governments around the world a complete network infrastructure software system that assists their populations in bridging the technological divide, along with a pricing model that allows for adjustment, according to the level of the country’s development.
