Sun has announced that, in the future, key software tools will be provided free to developers and others.

It will provide its Java Enterprise System, Sun N1 Management software, and Sun developer tools for both development and deployment.

The move follows a decision earlier this year to offer customers its Solaris operating as free open source software.

Sun said it is integrating all this software along with the Solaris operating system into the Solaris Enterprise System, to form what it claims is “the only comprehensive and open infrastructure software platform available today".

It hopes the move will help stimulate sales of the company’s Java and other development tools.

Sun's president Jonathan Schwartz said: "Free is the lowest barrier to entry for acquiring a product. This is a way to get barriers to go down and revenues to go up."

“We're going to be driving for volume first and foremost, then figuring the right service to monetise that volume. This is about eliminating barriers to revenue growth.”

Sun will create a single package called the Solaris Enterprise System to include Solaris 10, the PostgreSQL open source database, the Java Enterprise System server software and tools, Sun N1-branded provisioning and management tools and Secure Desktop software.

Schwartz said the move is “the next logical step" in a five-year strategy that has transformed Sun from a largely proprietary IT system vendor into an open source-based group competing with companies like Dell and Hewlett Packard.

Sun has 3.4m Solaris users and nearly 1m Java Enterprise System subscribers.