Sun Micro takes on Amazon in cloud computing

Jonathan Schwartz, CEO and President of Sun Microsystems Inc., speaks at a panel discussion at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Half Moon Bay, California, July 22, 2008.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc is preparing to take on Web retailer Amazon.com Inc in the fledgling market for "cloud" computing services that can be accessed via the Internet.

Sun, which sells high-end business computers, will lease the use of servers and data storage space to developers who can access those resources over the Web.

Cloud computing has become the industry's biggest buzzword. It is a catch-all term to describe systems that allow consumers, developers and businesses to use the Internet to access programs and data at remote computer centers.

The Sun Cloud services, which mirror ones that Amazon has offered for three years, will initially be targeted at students, computer programmers and start-ups that cannot afford to buy their own servers and storage equipment.

Executives with the Santa Clara, California-based Sun plan to demonstrate the new services, which will be available this summer, at a developers' conference in New York on Wednesday. They will also discuss plans to optimize Sun software, including Java, MySQL and OpenSolaris, for use in cloud computing.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)