Analysts critical of Sun's wireless venture

According to Gary Cooper, director of research at Butler Group, Sun felt left out of the wireless growth market, and teaming up with Zefer was a reaction to that. "Sun is not seen as a player in the wireless marketplace. It can see this type of communication is the future and it is not involved," said Cooper.

He also added that iForce faces stiff competition. "With so many established reputations and players in the wireless and mobile arena it will be difficult for them to establish themselves," he said.

Robin Duke-Woolley, senior consultant at Schema, agreed, but said it won't be possible to jump straight into the market and reap the rewards. "Sun can see the enormous move towards applications in the mobile environment but they must get to grips with it first. It is not a revolution but more of an evolution," he said.

Duke-Wooley was also criticial of Sun's US-centric approach to the market when most major wireless developments are happening in Europe. He said: "They should be looking to Europe, where mobile technology is more important than the US."

Over the next two months, Sun and Zefer will be entering into pilot programs with Global 2000 customers to discuss development. Wireless research will be conducted by the Centre for eBusiness at MIT.

Sun was unavailable for comment.