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Bono Calls on Concert Goers to Support 'Make Poverty History' Campaign Using the Power of SMS
Sun Microsystems Enables Link Between Fans and the Campaign Through Their Mobile Phones 17 November 2006 - Sun Microsystems has joined forces with the Make Poverty History campaign, which is supported by Bono, to use U2's Vertigo tour as an opportunity to enlist support. Attendees of the concerts in Australia and New Zealand are being asked to join millions of others in the fight to end the cycle of poverty and devastation of HIV/AIDS by sending a text message from their mobile phone. The text message establishes a link between concert goers and the 'Make Poverty History' campaign, supporters are not being asked for money, but simply to give their names to the campaign. By donating their voices, fans are raising the pressure on political leaders to tackle poverty and killer diseases in the poorest regions of the world. There are sister campaigns in over 80 countries, and Sun has provided this support to them wherever U2 have been on their Vertigo Tour. During the concert, Bono calls on everyone to take out their mobile phones and collectively send their names to 191221. Sun Microsystems' SMS system collates the names of all participants and displays them on screens at the concert as proof that their voices have been heard. Within hours, they get a response text with details of the next steps in supporting the Make Poverty History campaign. Nearly 400,000 people have registered their support for the campaign since this initiative began at the start of the Vertigo tour. In Australia so far over 49,280 people have signed up to support this important initiative. "Teaming up with Sun Microsystems has enabled us to harness technology and take advantage of so many people being gathered together in one place," said John Connor, Co-Covenor Make Poverty History Australia. "This is campaigning in the 21st century, using cutting edge communications to allow people to join the campaign to Make Poverty History via a simple SMS." "Sun Microsystems has worked closely with DATA and Make Poverty History to deploy this solution at U2 concerts worldwide," said Jim Hassell, Managing Director of Sun Microsystems, Australia and New Zealand. "It's been a widely successful tool to enlist support for the fight against poverty and we're excited to see it rolled out locally." The SMS initiative has taken place during the current leg of U2 concerts in Australia and New Zealand:
And will continue at upcoming concerts:
The SMS system runs the Sun Java Web infrastructure Suite on Solaris 10, on Sun Fire v20z and Sun Fire v40z servers. The highly scalable solution provides venue-based services for inbound and outbound messaging, as well as routing and display services. For more information about the Make Poverty History campaigns please contact: MPH Australia - Ian Woolverton on +61 409 181 454, ianw@oxfam.org.au About DATADebt AIDS Trade Africa, is the campaigning organization co-founded by Bono. DATA aims to raise awareness about, and spark response to the crises swamping Africa: unpayable debts, uncontrolled spread of AIDS, and unfair trade rules which keep Africans poor. About Sun Microsystems, Inc.A singular vision - "The Network Is The Computer" - guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com. |
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