NetBeans, OpenSolaris Also in Spotlight at JavaOne - Page 2

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Now OpenSolaris users can rent space and CPU cycles on Amazon EC2, be it for testing applications or to augment their existing enterprise. Amazon EC2 is an on-demand cloud computing service which enables users to buy only the capacity they need and scale with their changing business requirements.

Up to now, rented space was only available on a few Linux service providers, according to Juan-Carlos Soto, vice president of global market development and engineering at Sun. Sun will support development projects on EC2 that customers would like to eventually deploy on their own systems.

"What we're trying to do is make sure whatever environment is appropriate for that customer is available for them, so they can seamlessly move when they need it," said Soto.

Cote said there's a certain "hipness" to using Amazon EC2 because it's so popular, but he said it's also a great way to try out OpenSolaris without any real investment beyond computer time.

"Just having it available on Amazon lowers the barriers to those who want to test it out," he said. "There are a lot of features in OpenSolaris that people want to test out."