SOUTH AFRICA OPENS THE DIALOGUE WITH ITS CITIZENS VIA SUN SYSTEMS AND THE INTERNET.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 26, 1995--Sun Microsystems Computer Company (SMCC) announced today that it has been designated as the provider of the database server which will be used by the South African Constitutional Assembly to develop a constitution for the new South Africa. The new SPARCserver(TM) will store all constitutional data and allow anyone with access to the Internet to get to any document on the database, whether it is the minutes of a committee meeting, a submission from a private individual, or a report by an expert on some particular aspect of the constitution. Vector Network Computers, a leading South African distributor of the open network computing solutions developed by Sun(TM), donated the SPARCserver to the Assembly.

The hope is that on-line computers will soon be installed at public buildings such as libraries and post offices, so that the public will be able to find out what is happening in government, such as what is being said daily in Parliament and what changes are being proposed to the law and government regulations. In effect, more citizens will be able to respond and make their views known to their representatives and the various authorities.

According to Hassen Ebrahim, executive director of the Constitutional Assembly, the process of developing a constitution for the new South Africa is one of the most open and transparent in the history of democracy. It is also the first time that all documents considered by the Constitutional Assembly, which is responsible for framing the constitution, will also be available via the Internet, the world's biggest information and communication network.

"All of us involved in this project hope it will be the start of a huge revolution that will see democracy being extended and made more meaningful to every single person in our country," said Julien Hofman, a member of the Law Faculty of the internationally-renowned University of Cape Town (UCT) and coordinator of the database. Hofman, a specialist in computerization and the law, is one of several faculty members at UCT involved in various aspects of the constitution-making process. Initially, he found that the project presented major challenges to the faculty, particularly when he realized that the University's existing server was inadequate for the task of storing four or five gigabytes of constitutional data -- a database the size of which no one at UCT had ever experienced.

"The Sun solution had immediate appeal," said Hofman. "Not only is its technology based on more than a quarter of a century of development of the UNIX(R) system, but the company has done more than any other to popularize the Internet." More than half of all the database servers linked to the Internet worldwide are Sun computers. Combined with Verity Inc.'s Topics document search and retrieval software, the set-up makes it possible to search the database for ideas and concepts, rather than simple text expressions. And with thousands logging on to the Internet to view constitutional progress, this is good news.

At present, documents are streaming into UCT at a rate of about 100 a day. Law students are being employed part-time to scan and load them into the database. Among the documents already available for public scrutiny on the database are more than 3,000 submissions from groups and individuals concerning issues they want taken into account during the framing of the new constitution. And with the drafting process not due to be completed before mid-1996, thousands more views are expected to be submitted, some of them electronically via the Internet. "I share the view of the Assembly's Executive Director, Mr. Ebrahim, that this is a foretaste of what will happen in the future in South Africa," Hofman adds. "That this will be a model for enabling a much greater proportion of the population to become involved in the business of government and to get what they want from society."

Sun Microsystems Computer Company (SMCC) is a world leader in the design, manufacture and sale of network computing systems and is a division of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Recognized for quality and innovation, the company's SPARCstation systems and multiprocessing servers each hold the No. 1 UNIX marketshare position. These systems are used primarily by businesses, educational institutions and governments worldwide for technical, commercial, industrial and software development applications. -0-

Note to Editors: Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd. All SPARC trademarks, including the SCD Compliant logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. SPARCstation is licensed exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. All other product or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Sun Microsystems Computer Company, Mountain View

Brigitte Mouchet, 415/786-8181

Shanan Carney, 415/786-8457