Sun Microsystems has hooked up with China Unicom - the world's leading CDMA telecommunications provider - and ZRRT (Beijing ZRRT Communication Technology Co. Ltd.), a leading service provider in China, to sign what's being descibed officially as "a far-reaching agreement to deliver advanced mobile data, information and entertainment services to over 90 million China Unicom wireless subscribers."

The relationship builds on the existing Sun/China Unicom/ZRRT alliance announced in September 2003 to develop and deliver Java technology-based mobile applications and services in one of the world's leading wireless markets under the brand "UniJa" - Sun claims that this latest agreement "demonstrates the potential for the rapid growth of mobile data services in China and will help speed the deployment of mobile services such as Java games."

China Unicom has selected Sun's Java Technology for the Wireless Industry (JTWI) platform to develop its own solutions and create a complete end-to-end UniJa environment. Value-added service providers will in turn be able to develop a range of new, feature-rich services under the UniJa environment.

"A complete Java-ecosystem business model for carriers, handset manufacturers, value-added service providers, and application and content developers is now in place," said Wang Yingpei, General Manager, China Unicom Value-added Services. "We believe this agreement and further cooperation of Unicom, Sun and ZRRT will not only help China Unicom expand its own business but also help Chinese citizens take advantage of innovations in the communications industry."

The UniJa technology will be offered to all handset manufacturers. Millions of Java handsets are expected to become available in the China market, all conforming to the UniJa specification.

"Sun and Java will be at the heart of China's dynamic communications market," said Scott McNealy, chairman, president and CEO of Sun. "The shared vision of Sun, China Unicom and ZRRT, will result in standards-based infrastructure for secure Java-based mobile services that will deliver mobility with security to more than 90 million users."