"Java technology is the foundation for Web and networked services," said Nigel Horspool, chair of the computer science department at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, who headed ACM's Software System Award committee. "It has been remarkably successful as a language used at colleges and universities, and it has had far reaching effects on the software industry and on e-business applications, " he added.

Dr. Gosling earned his Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University and his BS from the University of Calgary. He has been with Sun Microsystems since 1984, and is the author of numerous publications. ACM will present the award to Dr. Gosling at its annual Awards Banquet on June 7, at the Town and Country Conference Center in San Diego, CA. The Software System Award honors an institution or individual for developing a software system that has had lasting influence, reflected in contributions to concepts, commercial acceptance, or both.

A major force in advancing the skills of i-technology professionals and students, ACM serves its global membership of 75,000 by delivering cutting edge technical information and transferring ideas from theory to practice. For more information, see www.acm.org.

• Sun's Gosling: "Our Future is NetBeans"