Sun Microsystems, Inc. has developed a JavaOne Conference event connect tool, an online tool for JavaOne conference attendees to connect with others in advance of the event. In addition, Sun announced information and registration details for two pre-JavaOne events taking place on May 15, 2006 – the Java University Program and NetBeans Software Day.

Sun is also pleased to announce, BEA, Nokia and Sprint (together with Nextel), as new co-sponsors of the 2006 JavaOne Conference. The cosponsors of the 2006 JavaOne Conference are currently:
Platinum – BEA, IBM, Oracle
Gold – Justsystem, Nokia, SAP, Terracotta
Silver – Quest Software, Sprint (together with Nextel)

In addition to the nine cosponsors, over 60 additional companies and organizations will be participating as exhibitors in the JavaOne Pavilion.

The newly announced matching, searching, and visualization tools enable JavaOne attendees to quickly identify other attendees with whom they can exchange knowledge, and share best practices. Developers can create a profile, which
can include as little or as much information as they prefer and no personal information will be shared. Then they can search for other attendees by technology, industry or company to network with others attending the conference, re-establish friendships and make new contacts, schedule meetings during the conference, interact with other attendees in focused
group discussions and build business relationships.

The Java University program is created and delivered by Sun certified instructors who are experts in Java technology. These one-day courses will be held on Monday, May 15, 2006 and are designed for Java technology developers who are seeking in-depth knowledge on specific areas of interest related to Java technology programming.

The third annual NetBeans Software Day is a free event that will take place on Monday, May 15, 2006 at the Argent Hotel in San Francisco. It is designed to let attendees learn from the experts about what's happening with the NetBeans IDE and platform. James Gosling, the father of Java technology, and other Java technology luminaries will be present to discuss the NetBeans software and the future of Java developer tools.

The event is also a great opportunity for community members to meet each other face-to-face, see demos of the next
generation of NetBeans software and learn how easy it is to develop NetBeans plug-ins and extend the NetBeans platform. A reception will be held immediately after the event, so come and meet NetBeans software partners and developers. The first 400 attendees will receive a complimentary copy of the next edition of the soon to be published NetBeans
IDE Field Guide covering all the new 5.0 features.