Sun Microsystems SA has played an important role in the establishment of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) by donating four servers to the organisation. Its partner, BreakPoint Solutions, has assembled and delivered the machines.
AIMS is a joint initiative between the Universities of Stellenbosch, Western Cape and Cape Town, supported by the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in the UK, the University Paris-Sud in France as well as the South African Department of Science and Technology and the private sector.
The AIMS educational centre, launched in Muizenberg on 18 September 2003, provides a teaching and research platform for advanced studies in pure and applied mathematics, theoretical physics, astrophysics and computer science.
Prof Chris Brink, Chairman of the Advisory Board of AIMS, says this joint venture by higher education, government and private sector will impact largely on the development of scientific and technological capacity across the African continent. It will, he says, have far-reaching, long-term benefits for sustainable economic growth and development in Africa.
According to Andre Muzerie, Sun Microsystems SA coastal accounts manager, the company has donated four Linux-based servers - two V65s and two V60s - which support the institute's Web site, e-mail and a host of other applications.
"It's common knowledge that there is a shortage of mathematical, technical and engineering skills in Africa. By supporting AIMS, Sun hopes to play a part in bridging the skills gap that exists between developing nations and developed countries," he says.
In addition, Sun reseller Breakpoint Solutions has come on board to install and configure the hardware, donating its technical skills to help the organisation get the most out of the machines, says Muzerie.
Jan Groenewald, computer officer at AIMS, says the servers are ideally suited to the goals of the organisation. "We want to use open source throughout at AIMS, so the Sun servers, which are running Debian Linux, fitted well with our technology strategy," he says.
Groenewald explains that AIMS chose open source because it is more efficient and reliable than Windows and it is free. "The AIMS setup will serve as an example to other African institutions wanting to establish excellent, low cost computer networks," he says.
With the servers providing a highly stable infrastructure, Groenewald says the institute can get on with training its students without having to pay attention to technical problems.
Sun Microsystems offers all educational institutions free StarOffice productivity software for Linux/Unix/Windows. It can be downloaded or ordered from http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/edu/promotions/edusoft/. The company also offers free Web-based training to all educational institutions worldwide, which can be accessed at http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/edu/programs/sai/.
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Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision - "The Network Is The Computer" - has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc (Nasdaq: SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com.
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