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Seneca College and Sun Microsystems Open Global Center of Excellence in Enterprise Knowledge Services

Posted on: Monday, 15 November 2004, 18:00 CST

MARKHAM, Ontario, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sun Microsystems and Seneca College today launched the Sun Center of Excellence in Enterprise Knowledge Services, to be housed at Seneca. Sun and Seneca will build upon their common vision of an integrated "Knowledge Service" network, which provides the personalized delivery of content and resource services to academic and business users, as well as providing institutions with a heightened ability to leverage information, to enhance administrative and services best practices and gain market advantage.

The Center of Excellence in Enterprise Knowledge Services at Seneca further demonstrates Sun's continued commitment to innovation, collaboration with leading academic institutions, and the pursuit of new advances in networked education and federated information. Sun has more than 80 Centers of Excellence across the world, in fields ranging from life sciences and grid computing to administration and e-learning.

"Seneca is already a hub for enterprise knowledge services, and this new partnership will elevate the College's status as a North American brain trust," said Kim Jones, Vice President, Global Education and Research, Sun Microsystems. "This Center of Excellence is another major step in the long- term relationship between Seneca and Sun that has seen a huge amount of intellectual and financial collaboration result in real technological innovation."

Real Innovation

Sun and Seneca will work with strategic partners Blackboard, Inc. and Endeavor Information Systems to jointly pursue research in concepts, standards and implementation of federated identity and Java Web Services. The Center will also focus on the architecture and design of highly scalable collaborative learning environments, as well as the integration of Blackboard's e-learning solution with Endeavor's search tools.

The initial research phase at the Center will focus on the design and optimization of Java Webservices and Service Oriented Architectures. A second phase will focus on the development of federated identity models, learning object repositories, and portal-based delivery schema, specifically leveraging Sun identity tools. Systems based upon federated identity allow individuals to use the same personal identification to sign on to multiple networks and locations to access information, conduct transactions or collaborate with others.

"Too many businesses have been caught in the 'lots of data, not much knowledge' trap, simply because they lacked an information management resource. Seneca has a significant amount of experience in the capture and dissemination of enterprise knowledge, and specifically running Blackboard and Endeavor software on Sun systems," noted Stephane Boisvert, president, Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc. "Their experience tuning these systems, and in showing other institutions how to work through issues, made the College a strong candidate for a more formalized research and development Center."

Strong history of Enterprise Knowledge Services

Seneca College's first forays into Enterprise Knowledge were originally developed to support its own needs as the College charted it own direction in support of its 100,000 full and part-time students, faculty and staff. As its expertise grew, the College has developed an established competency and is frequently visited by other institutions -- both academic and traditional business -- looking to help refine their use of enterprise information.

"From the beginning, Seneca has had a responsibility to leverage our own research," noted Terrence Verity, Chief Information Officer, Seneca College. "Seneca's academic chair may need to know how student demographics statistics and grade performance will impact the College enrollment numbers and budgets."

Data can also reveal how the competition is doing, as there is sufficient access to competitor data to track them. Seneca knows when and how to deliver better courses and extracurricular activities, and to boost social services or academic funding, which are all factors that impact its enrollment and cash flow. The value of this predictive roadmap to a traditional business environment is clear.

"Enterprise Knowledge comprises the delivery, distribution, and channeling of information related to the enterprise, in order to more effectively plan, make clearer decisions, and define a company's position in the marketplace," continued Verity.

Seneca will purchase Sun systems and software to enable the collaboration, and Sun will donate additional equipment to bring the Center up to speed. The specific architecture framework for content delivery will be based on a Java web services architecture, integrating library, e-learning, collaboration and administrative applications.

An Expanded Sun-Seneca Relationship

The Center of Excellence in Enterprise Knowledge Services is yet another in a list of "firsts" for Sun and Seneca. Earlier the year, Seneca became the first academic institution in Canada to upgrade to Sun's Java(TM) Enterprise System. The College chose the Sun software infrastructure to take advantage of greater cost savings afforded through lower licensing costs, quarterly upgrade cycles, and access to new infrastructure tools.

Seneca's JES infrastructure is deployed on a group of Sun Enterprise(TM) 6500, Sun Enterprise 250, Sun Fire(TM) 280R, Sun Enterprise 420R, Sun Enterprise 450, Sun Fire V480, and Sun Fire V880 servers running the Solaris(TM) Operating Environment. A Sun StorEdge(TM) 3900 storage system offers the high availability required in Seneca's information-rich environment. The Java Enterprise Directory Server provides a central repository for storing and managing identity profiles, access privileges, application and network resource information for Seneca's growing user population.

Sun's Java Enterprise System serves as the foundation for the College's the MySeneca portal, the hub for delivery of new services and online resources to its expanding student and faculty populations. Students have access to academic and student services, including customized registration, timetables, and financial information, all available through the Internet, wireless devices or PDAs. Faculty can post and host assignments and other documents as well as applications to expand upon classroom activities. Aside from referencing student photos to verify identities, faculty and staff also have access to online human resources information including professional development.

About Seneca

Seneca College is the largest college in Canada with more than 100,000 full and part-time students on campuses across the Greater Toronto Area. Seneca provides internationally and nationally recognized career education and training key to graduate success in the global economy. Every Seneca diploma, certificate and bachelor's degree program is developed to a high academic standard, in consultation with industry, integrated with information technology, combined with technical and transferable skills, and reinforced by opportunities for ongoing education and re-training.

About Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc.

Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc., is headquartered in Markham, Ontario. The company, which employs more than 550 persons, has offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria. Sun products and services are also available through Sun Authorized Independent Sales Organizations and iForce(SM) System Providers across Canada. For more information, visit http://ca.sun.com/ .

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer(TM)" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. 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://sun.com/ .

NOTE: Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Sun Fire, Java and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

For more information, contact:

Geoffrey Morgan

MAVERICK for Sun Microsystems of Canada

416-640-5525 ext. 228

geoffreym@maverickpr.com

Seneca College

Martha Lowrie,

Director Marketing and Communications.

416-491-5050, ext. 2259

Martha.Lowrie@senecac.on.ca

Kristen Hyland

Sun Microsystems

Education, Human Resources, Information Technology

kristen.hyland@sun.com

650-786-3007

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

CONTACT: Geoffrey Morgan of MAVERICK, +1-416-640-5525 ext. 228, orgeoffreym@maverickpr.com, for Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc.; orMartha Lowrie, Director Marketing and Communications of Seneca College,+1-416-491-5050, ext. 2259, or Martha.Lowrie@senecac.on.ca; or Kristen Hyland,Education, Human Resources, Information Technology of Sun Microsystems,+1-650-786-3007, or kristen.hyland@sun.com

Web site: http://ca.sun.com/

Web site: http://sun.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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