Sun empowers students at German-Jordanian University; Launches Sun Authorised Academic Institute

An agreement was signed between Sun Microsystems and German-Jordanian University in the presence of Dr. Thomas Bayer, Sun Chief Learning Officer for South & East EMEA; Mr. Tarek Ayass, Sun Education & Research Regional Manager for MENA; and Professor Labib Khadra, President of the German-Jordanian University.

The launch of the Sun Authorised Academic Institute in Jordan will boost development of technical skills, help to bridge the gap between requirements at the local and international market, and increase professional skills of Jordanian students in the country's IT sector.

"The vision behind Sun Authorised Academic Institution is to draw on Sun's vast array of human talent and technical expertise, for the benefit of the country's emerging generation of developers and IT management," said Dr. Thomas Bayer, Sun's Chief Learning Officer for South and East EMEA. "Technological innovation and Sun OS and Java technologies will also be high on the agenda for the forthcoming education labs."

Tarek Ayass, Sales Manager-Education and Research, Sun Microsystems Middle East and North Africa, explained: "Jordan's national commitment to technology and its burgeoning education sector have created an ideal climate for Sun's academic initiatives in the Levant region."

He added: "It is crucial to Sun and its regional operations that, as this territory grows in importance, there is a means through which we can understand what academic organizations and their students here really need. Through our close relationship with many education institutions in the region, we have realized the great demand for ICT capacity building and are providing the tools needed to enhance the local skills and expertise."

According to the agreement, STS, the leading integrated IT solution provider in Jordan, completed the installation of SUN UNIX educational labs at the German-Jordanian University under special academic programs from Sun Microsystems.

The SAI will provide practical support and education to partners and customers from Jordan as well as surrounding states. By working with in-country solution provider STS, Sun will be in a position to support the region and its ambitions to develop a leading-edge IT infrastructure.

"Through SAI, the University will develop modern and practical ICT-related educational programs that are competitive with the increasing demands of the regional market," said Professor Labib Khadra, President of the German-Jordanian University. "The goal is to help Jordan and the region shift towards a stronger knowledge economy."

The Sun Authorised Academic Institute will prepare university students for industry-leading certifications from Sun, such as the Java programming language and UNIX Solaris Operating System. This will ensure future professional advancement.

To support the new education scheme, Sun has already dedicated servers, thin-clients, workstations and various software suites with more hardware and software donations to follow; ensuring that the facilities at the labs are on par with Sun's other research establishments.

The educational labs are equipped with state-of-the-art technologies including Quad processor Sun Fire servers powered by UltraSPARC RISC technology and flat screen Sun Ray thin clients.