I don’t consider myself an academic, but I did manage a “Desmond” honours degree in Microelectronics and Computing from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. It was there that I first fell in love with BSD UNIX (on a VAX 11/750), and there that I saw my first Sun workstation (a 2/120, although I was never allowed to use it).

I have since maintained an active interest in the education market, because I feel it is a natural recruiting ground for future Sun employees and customers. Indeed, I have recruited at least three people into Sun from Aberystwyth alone. Over the years I have worked with the Universities of Aberystwyth, Bangor, Bradford, Dundee, Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford, St Andrews, Salford, Warwick and York, most recently on Sysadmin day conferences in Aberystwyth and Manchester.