Sun comes out for UK compliance

Sun Microsystems has launched a compliance programme which aims to help UK businesses cope with newly passed regulatory and legislative requirements.

The Unix giant said that it will work with a range of consultancy partners to help customers prepare for the introduction of compliance legislation, including the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004.

Sun's programme is designed to assess the impact of compliance legislation, help identify regulatory and legislative requirements, and develop appropriate compliance policies.

Once the policies have been developed, Sun will provide systems and services to facilitate the implementations.

Partners include consulting and IT services firm Capgemini, services company Anite Finance, pan-European IT integrator SCC, business process management vendor BlueSpace, email compliance systems provider Cryoserver, and security products and services vendor Security & Standards.

Software from third-party vendors has undergone testing to ensure that it meets forensic standards for litigation compliance, according to Sun.

The firm added that it has conferred with Stephen Mason, barrister and author of Networked Communications and Compliance with the Law, on how best to advise customers on compliance requirements.

Nigel Hopgood, head of compliance at Sun UK, said: "In today's business world compliance is about much more than the storage, archival and retrieval of data.

"The data that is kept needs to be transparent and auditable, and firms must be able to protect, encrypt and audit access to that data.

"Identity is crucial for transparency as it protects the rights of the individual. Firms need to understand the risks they face and create a compliance policy that helps mitigate this risk."