'Java touches nearly everyone - everyone - who touches the Internet,' blogged Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz last week. 'Hundreds of millions of users see Java, and its ubiquitous logo, every day. On PCs, mobile phones, game consoles - you name it, wherever the network travels, the odds are good Java's powering a portion of the experience.' Today, just as Schwartz revealed, Sun embraced that reality by changing its trading symbol, from SUNW to JAVA.

Schwartz set the historical and market context for the historic change in his blog as follows:

The result, he says, is that  " the number of people who know Java swamps the number of people who know Sun."

Or SUNW, the symbol under which Sun Microsystems, Inc. equity was traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

This is how Schwartz phrases the rationale for his decision:

"SUNW certainly has some nostalgic value - it stands for "Stanford University Network Workstation," and heralds back to Sun's cherished roots (in academia). Granted, lots of folks on Wall Street know SUNW, given its status as among the most highly traded stocks in the world (the SUNW symbol shows up daily in the listings of most highly traded securities).

But SUNW represents the past, and its not without a nostalgic nod that we've decided to look ahead. JAVA is a technology whose value is near infinite to the internet, and a brand that's inseparably a part of Sun (and our profitability). And so next week, we're going to embrace that reality by changing our trading symbol, from SUNW to JAVA.

This is a big change for us, capitalizing on the extraordinary affinity our teams have invested to build, introducing Sun to new investors, developers and consumers. Most know Java, few know Sun - we can bring the two one step closer.

To be very clear, this isn't about changing the company name or focus - we are Sun, we are a systems company, and we will always be a derivative of the students that created us, Stanford University Network is here to stay. But we are no longer simply a workstation company, nor a company whose products can be limited by one category - and Java does a better job of capturing exactly that sentiment than any other four letter symbol. Java means limitless opportunity - for our software, systems, storage, service and microelectronics businesses. And for the open source communities we shepherd. What a perfect ticker."