IFLA welcomes three new Sponsors!

PRESS RELEASE: for immediate release
October 14, 1997

by IFLA Headquarters

IFLA is delighted to welcome three new Sponsors: Sun Microsystems Computer Company Inc. (USA), Dansk Data Elektronik - DDE (Denmark) and the Danish Library Centre - DBC (Denmark). All three companies are at the cutting edge of information technology and information provision and were established in the last two decades: Dansk Data Elektronik was founded in 1975, Sun Microsystems Computer Company in 1982 and the Danish Library Centre in 1991.

Both DBC and DDE generously sponsored the IFLA 97 Conference in Denmark and so IFLA is particularly pleased to have them officially on board as IFLA Sponsors for 1998. Sun Microsystems Inc. has exhibited on several occasions at the annual IFLA Conference and it was partly due to the inspirational success of IFLA 97 that they decided to join as a Patron Sponsor in 1998.

Sun Microsystems Computer Company Inc. (USA) has been described as the leading global supplier of networked computer systems and has revenues of more than seven billion dollars. Fortune recently said of Sun "No company is better qualified to seed the growth of the Internet" and its Java (TM) programming language, launched in 1995 and hailed as the first universal software designed from the ground up for Internet, regardless of the processor or operating system, has been described by Time magazine as "the hottest thing in cyberspace". Sun's company slogan is "The Network is the Computer" which means that all systems work together like one big system. According to Scott McNealy, CEO, "Sun has always seen our customers' computing needs answered by a variety of computing resources in a heterogeneous network". It is this company philosophy that so accurately mirrors IFLA's view regarding its own unique role in supporting and enhancing the international library community. http://www.sun.com

The Danish Library Centre Ltd. (DBC) has been described as "… the bibliographic and information technology infrastructure of the Danish Library System". It is a private company whose main focus is the creation and dissemination of bibliographic information to the Danish library system. Its vast array of services includes producing the Danish National Bibliography and supplying it with enhanced information, providing databases and networks with Internet access; sales of music phonogrammes, videogrammes, cd roms and talking books; and offering training courses. http://www.dbc.dk

Dansk Data Elekronik (DDE) is an international supplier of information systems based in Denmark with subsidiaries in Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and New Zealand and joint ventures in Malaysia and India. Its main activity is "…to develop, manufacture, market and support automated and integrated library management systems either using DDE's own series of Supermax servers or on a wide range of UNIX platforms". http://www.dde.dk

IFLA is very pleased to welcome such high profile companies to its network of international sponsors and looks forward to strengthening its relationship with all three companies for the overall benefit of IFLA members in particular and libraries throughout the world in general. With these three additional companies, the number of IFLA Sponsors now stands at an unprecedented 33. Information on how to join IFLA as a Sponsor, including a list of Sponsor benefits, can be obtained directly from IFLA Headquarters: Email: IFLA@ifla.org