Bertelsmann AG Chooses Sun as Corporate IT Platform for Online Services

Bertelsmann AG in Guetersloh, Germany said it named Sun Microsystems’ Solaris SPARC Platform Edition operating environment as a standard corporate platform for UNIX servers and as the preferred platform for Web servers.

According to Bertelsmann, the infrastructure for its strategic online
activities will be built using the Solaris SPARC Platform Edition operating
environment, which was chosen for its price/performance, robustness, security
and interoperability.

Bertelsmann has already ordered more than 100 Sun systems for its new media
activities like Telemedia, mediaWays and Pixelpark and other e-commerce
activities. These servers span the range of Sun systems, from workgroup
servers to the high-end, datacenter class Sun Enterprise 10000 server.

Financial figures were not disclosed.

Michael Behrens, CIO of Bertelsmann, said, “In the very large arena of
multimedia and communications, and with the pervasive acceptance of the
Internet, the Bertelsmann group and Sun Microsystems intend to join forces in
promoting best in class solutions to address these worldwide, fast-growing
market opportunities.”

>From its Java technology to its scalable servers, Sun’s solutions are designed to enable new revenue streams such as electronic commerce and new media services, in addition to traditional back office functions like customer management and billing.