Sun Microsystems and Google today entered at a partnership that will tie their products more closely together.

Under the terms of the deal Sun will bundle the Google Toolbar with its Java Runtime Environment (JRE) download available on Java.com.

The JRE allows end users to run Java applications on their computers. Sun claims that the site logs about 20 million downloads a month.

The Google Toolbar adds a menu to a web browser that allows users to search the web, and offers services including translation and spell checking. 

"The Google Toolbar will be downloaded by tens of millions of people as a result of this partnership," said Google chief executive Eric Schmidt at a press conference announcing the collaboration. The additional downloads should result in new page views and advertising revenue.

Sun chief executive Scott McNealy predicted that the Solaris operating system and the OpenOffice productivity suite could also be bundled in a similar way to increase their appeal to users.

"We both just turbocharged each other," he said. "We believe that the Toolbar and JRE can do that. As we add open Solaris and OpenOffice technology to the environment, we think that this could be a big deal."

Google will pay Sun for the software bundling, but the companies did not disclose financial details.

The search provider also hinted that it could increase its investment in Sun hardware. Google already uses Sun equipment, but will further tighten its relationship.

On stage at the event, McNealy handed Schmidt one of Sun's new Galaxy servers as well as software boxes for Solaris and OpenOffice. Schmidt declined to answer questions seeking more details about Google's hardware strategy. 

Contrary to speculation prior to the event, the partnership did not involve Google offering a hosted version of OpenOffice to end users via the internet. The partnership does, however, set the stage for future collaboration and products.

Vint Cerf, the man widely known as the father of the internet after his work to create the TCP/IP protocol, told vnunet.com that it is also a strong endorsement of Java by Google.

"The Google guys said to Sun: 'Keep doing what you are doing,'" he said. Cerf joined Google earlier this month as its chief internet evangelist. 

Google recently joined the Java Community Process, a programme created by Sun to allow developers to create new APIs in the programming language.

The search company is one of the more active members in the creation of Java Specification Request 270, the next generation of Java, according to Jon Loiacono, executive vice president of Sun's software group.

He typified the collaboration as a "first starting point behind Java".