NOTES FROM THE CTO

GREG PAPADOPOULOS,
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC.

As chief technology officer for Sun Microsystems, I've found that a big part of the job is looking for technologies that have the power to change everything -- disruptive technologies that aren't likely to show up on the company's well-planned product roadmap.

At first, the potential of these technologies may go unrecognized or even be denigrated. Do these sound familiar?

"Who would ever download music from the Web?"
"Gee, video on the Net looks lousy -- it's not going to be anything."

History would suggest we keep an open mind. Companies with a vested interest in the status quo have often been slow to recognize the significance of new developments, from PCs (considered toys when first introduced) to the Internet.

At Sun, our Lab plays an invaluable role in discovering and developing things no one else saw coming -- from platform-independent Java(TM) technologies to our ground-breaking Sun Ray(TM) and Sun Cluster(TM) products.

It's my pleasure to join Sun Labs in celebrating 10 years of innovation.

-Greg Papadopoulos

A FOREWORD BY WILLIAM R. "BERT" SUTHERLAND,
DIRECTOR EMERITUS, SUN MICROSYSTEMS LABORATORIES

I am honored by the request to provide comments for the Sun Labs 10 year anniversary report. My time as the Director of Sun Labs from 1992 to 1998 was the highlight of my research management career and certainly an enjoyable, exciting, and thrilling experience.
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INTRODUCTION TO 10TH ANNIVERSARY VOLUME
JIM MITCHELL, DIRECTOR, SUN MICROSYSTEMS LABORATORIES

As this compendium of Sun Labs' first ten years is being assembled, I am the fortunate inheritor of the Labs created by my predecessors: Wayne Rosing, Bert Sutherland, and Greg Papadopoulos. Each one of them has shoes that are very hard to fill, and trying to be as good as all of them is an impossible task. Happily, I don't have to: In Sun Labs we have a collection of some of the most talented, accomplished research scientists and staff on the planet. They have created the ideas and technologies that have built our reputation and that are so well exemplified by this collection of papers.
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