Using Sun tech at Strathclyde Sun@Strathclyde

What to write in the first entry of a new blog? Well, some introductions would make sense, so here's who I am and what this blog is all about...

I'm Liam McBrien, though I often go by the moniker 'Lamsey'. I'm in the fourth year of an MEng degree course in Computer Science at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland. I can often be found lurking in one of the CIS department's computer labs or, more likely, in the Union schooling n00bs at pool :-D

So what's a Strathclyde student doing with a Sun Microsystems corporate blog, then? Well, the simple answer is that I'm going to be a Sun Campus Ambassador at Strathclyde for the remainder of my course - essentially, this means that I'll be responsible for promoting and demonstrating Sun's technology within the university.

For a more complete answer, we need to look back eighteen months to the summer of 2006, when I started what turned out to be an eighteen-month industrial placement with Sun at their Guillemont Park location in Surrey. Below you can see me with Sun's "Project Blackbox" during a short working trip to Germany.

During my time at Sun I learned about all kinds of Sun's coolest technologies, from the powerful Solaris operating system to trend-breaking 'Coolthreads' high-throughput servers right through to networked ultra-thin clients - the low-power desktop replacements known as Sunrays. My job over the coming months will be to show off some of these technologies to fellow students at my university, and get them using some of the free open-source technology made available by the company.

Watch this space for more info about what's going to be happening with my new role!