----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        The Florida SunFlash

               Sun and Thomson Consumer Electronics Unite

SunFLASH Vol 67 #21					           July 1994
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
            The Electronic Journal For Sun Users Since 1988
         John J. Mclaughlin, Publisher & Editor - flash@sun.com
____________________________________________________________________________
67.21 	Sun and Thomson Consumer Electronics Unite

	Sun Microsystems Inc. (Sun) and Thomson Consumer Electronics SA
	(TCE) announced they will team to build and market solutions
	for the interactive multimedia services marketplace. The
	powerful combination brings together for the first time two
	recognized global leaders from the workstation and consumer
	electronics industries. Sun and TCE will form a new,
	jointly-funded business unit to capitalize on their respective
	leadership positions in network multimedia servers and digital
	entertainment systems in order to capture new business
	opportunities in the interactive services market.

	(114 lines)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact: Cindee Mock at (415) 336-3563


	SUN MICROSYSTEMS AND THOMSON CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
	    UNITE IN INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA SERVICES


The business unit will be chartered with developing and marketing
end-to-end solutions necessary to deploy interactive television, home
shopping, distance learning and other on-line business and personal
services. Its offerings will target telephone company networks, cable
television systems and other large-scale public digital networks that
are now being upgraded to support delivery of interactive multimedia
services.

Drawing on the technologies and support of Sun and TCE, the new
business unit intends to offer a tightly-integrated, cost-effective
services framework, ranging from video servers to digital set-top
devices. Sun will contribute technologies in the areas of the
scalable multimedia SPARCserver(TM), ATM networking and network
management and systems management software. TCE will offer its
leadership in consumer products, compression technologies, its
unique experience in digital decoders as well as its vast retail
distribution capabilities built on prestigious brands.

"This new business unit represents a unique combination of computing
and consumer expertise. We believe we'll have a distinct advantage,
due to our complementary technologies, in providing network
operators with reliable, secure solutions based on open, standard
interfaces and protocols," said Scott G. McNealy, CEO, Sun
Microsystems, Inc.

"By combining our worldwide positions, we will be able to leverage
bigger opportunities that will translate into consumer benefits,"
said TCE Chairman & CEO Alain Prestat. "What we should never forget
is that tomorrow's interactive networked TV and communications
systems will be consumer-centric. Understanding how consumers react,
evaluate and finally adopt new products is the essence of TCE's
business."

One of the outstanding benefits for system operators to be provided
by the new unit will be an entire interactive service framework,
not just individual products.

"At the consumer end of our offering," said Patrick Samier, Senior
Vice President, Corporate Business Development, TCE, "we intend to
provide a family of digital and hybrid -- i.e. digital/analog --
set-top decoder boxes, including a scalable, secure operating
environment based on technologies from both Sun and TCE."

J. Phillip Samper, President of Sun Microsystems Computer Company,
added, "We're excited about marrying the TCE consumer products with
Sun's open computing platforms. With our combined offerings as the
foundation, the joint Sun/TCE team will address the complete needs
of network providers by aggressively partnering with switch
providers, systems integrators and other suppliers."

The unit will be staffed by technical and marketing professionals
from both companies and will commence operations in September 1994.

Sun Microsystems, Inc., is an integrated portfolio of businesses
that supply distributed computing technologies, products and
services. Its innovative, open client-server computing solutions
include a broad range of networking products for implementing
multimedia services in networked settings.

Headquartered in Paris, Thomson Consumer Electronics is among the
world's largest consumer electronics companies and is the market
leader in the U.S. TCE is an industry innovator in the development
of digital technologies for both professional and consumer
applications. With the recent introduction of the RCA brand DSS
(Digital Satellite System) in the U.S., TCE became the first consumer
electronics company to develop and implement a digital delivery
system for video reception in the home.

				###

Sun, the Sun logo, and Sun Microsystems are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All SPARC trademarks, including
the SCD Compliant logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of
SPARC International, Inc. SPARCserver is licensed exclusively to Sun
Microsystems, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based on an
architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. All other product
or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective
owners.

Press announcements and other information about Sun Microsystems are
available on the Internet via the World Wide Web. 
URL: http://www.sun.com