UAE University students showcase security solutions with Sun at GITEX

'Students today are raised on technology, fundamentally changing the educational environment and how students interact, learn and share,' said Scott McNealy, at the Worldwide Education and Research Conference (WWERC) earlier in the year.

'Continued focus on eliminating barriers to education by leveraging technology and the network will help bridge the digital divide and deliver world-class education to everyone. Today's students are the leaders of tomorrow and it is our duty to provide the education they need to shape the future.'

In the UAE, Sun has a long standing partnership with the UAE University, one of the sites chosen to host a Sun Center of Excellence (COE) for Information Security in the Network. The COE acts as a hub for students and their teachers to monitor real-time security threats, allowing them to then develop tools and response mechanisms that can be shared with the regional security community. The aim is to drive a local industry response to information security threats attacking Middle Eastern businesses.

Some of the projects carried out in the center include digital certification authority, covert channels generation, OS fingerprinting, and a A security graphical tool for detecting malicious sniffing activities.

During GITEX, two students will join Sun on its stand to demonstrate some of the achievements of the UAE University's Sun Center of Excellence for Information Security over the past academic year. Joining Sun's experts, they will discuss the security issues facing companies today, as well as acting as ambassadors for the COE program as they network with industry experts.

The COE is built from Sun's leading technology, but the partnership extends to a broader agreement with the University to support its requirements across the organization. With specialist ERP systems and portals available for use by universities, as well as applications such as the Student Information System based on SunGuard, the University can work closely with Sun's education team to ensure that every student benefits from the leading technology.

'As the economy of the region develops, it is important to ensure that regional higher education institutions are equipped to supply industry with enough qualified, home grown graduates. This rise in demand has caused a major shift in the technology space in the education industry toward open standards, open content and open source-based software,' said Tarek Ayass, Sales Manager, Education and Research, Middle East and North Africa Region, Sun Microsystems MENA.

'Open systems and software improve interoperability, enhance collaborative learning and protect against vendor lock-in. Sun's unique systems approach gives customers the software, services, storage and systems they need to help them tackle their biggest IT issues, allowing them to focus on improving the quality of education.'

'The partnership with the UAE University and the presence of its star students from the Sun Center of Excellence at the Sun stand during GITEX highlights the success of the program so far in the Middle East,' Ayass added. 'Producing industry experts at university ages will boost the information security industry regionally, and this can only result in a positive knock-on affect for all local businesses.'