SPRINT AND SUN FORM ALLIANCE TO PROVIDE AN INTEGRATED SOLUTION FOR E/BUSINESS CUSTOMERS.

Sprint Corp. (NYSE: FON) and Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW) are aligning sales and marketing teams to create a strategic alliance that will provide an integrated Web solution for customers, enabling both companies to capture revenue and market share in the hosting and Application Infrastructure Provider (AIP) markets. Through this agreement, Sun becomes a preferred technology provider within the Sprint E|Solutions Internet Center infrastructure and will help drive significant sales activity during the next three years.

"Sprint E|Solutions' focus is to deliver superior E|services -- whether through alliances or organic growth," said Keith Paglusch, president, Sprint E|Solutions. "Sun's strong global leadership in providing the Internet computing platform and its reputation for outstanding technologies, coupled with Sprint's award-winning, top-rated Tier 1 IP backbone and expert sales force, present a compelling value proposition to the market."

"Sprint and Sun, combined, offer a strong complementary alliance with a shared vision of providing end-to-end solutions to the market," said Mark Bowser, Sprint vice president of Business Development, Strategy and Alliances. "Sprint's history of performance and investment toward next-generation hosting to support wireline and wireless data growth is strengthened by adding Sun to the equation."

Sun Microsystems will play a major role in the deployment of Sprint E|Solutions' Internet infrastructure strategy to help provide the necessary mission-critical, Web-based solutions for its extensive network of Sprint E|Solutions Internet Centers throughout the country. Sun technology to be used includes Sun Enterprise servers and storage devices running on the robust Solaris Operating Environment, and software technologies from iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions, a Sun/Netscape alliance. Sun consulting, service and support are also included with the focus on optimizing people, processes and products in order to help meet the availability standards Sprint E|Solutions customers expect.

"Sprint is at the forefront of delivering value-added Internet solutions to its customers," said John McFarlane, executive vice president of Sun's Network Service Provider group. "With the combination of Sun's massively scalable and reliable Internet computing platform and Sprint's complete hosting services, we will be able to deliver anytime, anywhere E|business infrastructure solutions for our customers."

The alliance will target all-sized businesses and address key customer needs, such as scaled networks and services, integrated performance management between application servers and data networks, managed and professional services, accessible information technology support, and a single, managed platform for application deployment.

Customers will benefit from the alliance's complete suite of secure, reliable and scalable E|business services, improved speed to market, lower total cost of ownership and overall improved ability to leverage technology. These benefits will allow customers to spend less time and money on managing technology and more time focusing on their core business.

As part of the agreement, Sprint E|Solutions will participate in a number of Sun's key iForce initiatives. In a commitment to deliver the highest quality service, Sprint E|Solutions is seeking to SunTone(SM) certify its Internet data center hosting services. The SunTone program is designed to provide end-user customers the confidence that every aspect of a service provider's operations and infrastructure has been evaluated and judged to be reliable and high quality.

Sprint E|Solutions is also joining the Sun(SM) Startup Accelerator program and Sun's Service Provider program, as an Elite Plus member. The Sun Startup Accelerator program will nurture startups by providing Sprint's Web hosting and Sun's platform through a single solution, helping to enable companies to reach the application deployment stage more rapidly. As an Elite Plus member, Sprint E|Solutions will work together with Sun to present customers with solutions that provide the reliability and manageability required to support mission critical services within Sprint E|Solutions Internet Centers.

Both Sprint and Sun enjoy well-respected brands and strong customer service. With this alliance, they have a clear strategy with complementary corporate visions, which will help enable them to create a world-class team for delivering hosted applications anytime, anywhere via secure, manageable hardware and software platforms.