The move comes just weeks after Sun launched a legal action against Microsoft, which accused it of adapting Java for use only on Microsoft products.
Sun is trying to promote Java as an industry standard language that will run across all computer systems.
Scott McNealy, Sun chairman, told a 5,000-strong audience of computer engineers, Sun customers and Java users, that it was essential Java remain untainted.
Compatibility in the computer industry is crucial. People want their computers to be able to talk to other computers. Java has to be 100 per cent pure.
Sun on Wednesday said it had set up 200 Java design centres to provide technical consulting services to software developers and IT engineers.
It has also established two testing centres, in the US and Europe, where Java developers can check programs are written correctly. Approval is rewarded with the Java brand.
Sun is promoting Java as part of its strategy of expanding the use of computer networks.
The company specialises in network products, particularly file servers. It will shortly introduce the JavaStation, a network terminal it expects to replace the PC in small and medium sized organisations.
The group hopes the growth in the network market and use of Java will result in higher sales of Sun products.
Mr McNealy said that by the end of the year there would be 700,000 programmers working in Java around the world. More than 100 computer groups have licensed the language for use in their products.
He added the legal battle with Microsoft -which has countersued Sun for breach of contract - would take forever to resolve.
Christopher Price in Berlinn
Thomson eyes markets division of Dow Jones
Thomson, the Canadian media group, would be interested in buying Dow Joness troubled markets division if it was put up for sale, an executive at the company said. His comments come amid signs that other potential buyers are preparing offers for the business.
Bridge, a rival information group backed by the New York buy-out company Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe, is thought to be interested, while Dow Jones Markets managers have talked to financiers about raising money for a buy-out of their own.
The flurry of interest follows Dow Joness announcement last month that it was considering various options for Dow Jones Markets, the financial market information service formerly known as Telerate.
Thomson, whose financial information businesses include Technical Data, a bond-market information service, and First Call, which monitors corporate earnings expectations, is the first potential buyer to express an interest in the markets business publicly. If it were for sale, we would be compelled to look at it, David Flaschen, head of the Thomson Financial Services division, said.
Richard Waters and William Lewis in New Yorkn
They [Dow Jones] fully understand the options. Thomson already owns a small real-time equity service, called ILX, but would be a newcomer to the business of selling a broad range of market data internationally. Without an established technology infrastructure of its own, it would be forced to complete the expensive overhaul of Dow Jones Markets itself. Copyright Financial Times Limited 1997. All Rights Reserved.
