Technology Transfer

In the big picture of research and development, Sun Labs fills the key role of generating and pursuing great ideas and transferring the best into Sun's product divisions.

"There's a strong focus here on interaction and technology transfer," said Dr. Jeff Rulifson, Director of Sun Labs Europe in Grenoble, France. "We want to build things that matter. We want to make things that wind up in products, as well as in research papers. The notion of having a million customers is very motivating to our engineers."

Sun Labs' research projects focus not just on the possible or the theoretical, but on what is likely to work. Project concepts may start with a wild idea from a Sun Labs researcher. They may also start with input from external research, from Sun product engineering, or even from a Sun customer.

Sun Labs projects can last anywhere from one to five years and are usually small (three to five researchers). At project culmination, the technology developed in the project is transferred to Sun product divisions.

On any given project, technology transfer involves:

• Leveraging personal relationships with Sun product teams.
• Developing prototypes for concept demonstration.
• Conducting technology forums for education and training.
• Researchers contributing to product development--prototype to product.

"A Contact Sport"

Technology transfer only works when there is a close working relationship between the Labs' researchers and the product division.

"Technology transfer is a contact sport," said Dr. Jim Mitchell, Director of Sun Labs. "It depends upon collaboration, teamwork, and interpersonal networking much more than fundamental research does. So the communication skills of the team are critical."

Technology transfer involves more than just a transfer of technical information from the Labs' researchers to the product divisions. Often transfer involves literally moving a prototype and the entire research team from Sun Labs to the product divisions, on a temporary or permanent basis. This was the case, for example, with the development of the Sun Ray™ desktop appliance and Hot Desk Technology, Sun™ Cluster 3.0 software, and the Java™ virtual machine for mobile computing and embedded devices, the K Virtual Machine (KVM). "We're doing whatever it takes to enable the success of the technology, and in many cases that means personnel transfer as well as technology transfer," said Laura Hill, Sun Labs' Director of Technology Transfer.

Creative Collaboration

Sun Labs' innovations do not only come from research, but from collaboration and teamwork.

"Where we differ from other research labs is that we are very careful not to work in isolation from the rest of the company and its customers," said Dr. Jim Mitchell, Director of Sun Labs. "We pursue the big ideas and we're supposed to take risks, but our goal is making things that can help Sun in the marketplace."

An example of how Sun Labs collaborates with the product groups is the Advocates program, in which researchers from Sun Labs meet and work regularly with product groups to understand their problems, concerns, and expectations. "The idea that technology transfer is easy, or that the researcher automatically knows what the product teams are looking for, is a myth," said Mitchell.

Technology developed by Sun Labs usually goes to Sun product divisions, but not always. Research and development work that may form the basis of new industry standards is made available to standards bodies to support development of new technical specifications.

Sun Labs is very creative about how it uses its network of contacts both within and outside Sun to foster collaboration. "We have connections at universities all around the world," said Ms. Hill. "So we'll often know who is working on a particular technology from a fundamental development standpoint. We have occasionally been able to bring in those pioneering researchers for a period of time, or get a trail-blazing professor to join us temporarily, or even create consulting positions for other top university researchers."

With facilities in France, Massachusetts, and California, some of the best minds in the computer industry on staff, and connections with top universities and research firms throughout the world, Sun Labs has emerged as a premier center of applied research.

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