We Think We Can

Paraphrasing Henry Ford, "You think you can, or you think you can't - either way, you're right." That quote struck me as the perfect summary of our fiscal year 2007 performance. We did what we said we'd do a year ago.

As you may have seen, we've announced our fourth quarter and full fiscal year results (our fiscal year ends with the school year, in June). We exceeded the commitments made a year ago, to restore Sun to 4% operating profitability in Q4, and did so by delivering our single best operational quarter since 2001. On an annual basis, we improved Sun's profitability by over a billion dollars. A billion. We grew revenue, expanded gross margins, streamlined our operating expenses - and closed the year with an 8% operating profit in Q4, more than double what some thought to be an aggressive target a year ago.

We did this while driving significant product transitions, going after new markets and product areas, and best of all, while aggressively moving the whole company to open source software (leading me to hope we can officially put to rest the question, "how will you make money?").

And we're not done - not by any stretch of the imagination. We have more streamlining to do, more commitments to meet, more customers to serve and developers to attract. But it's evident we've got the right foundation for growing Sun - with real innovation the market values, as shown by Q4's 47% gross margins, the highest on record in five years.

I'll be with a variety of external audiences most of this week - and I'll summarize their questions and comments in a few days. In the interim... to our customers, partners, and most of all, our amazing global employee base - thank you for thinking we could.

You were right.

Keep thinking that way. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Posted on 01:05PM Jul 30, 2007 | Comments[27]

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Thank You For Everything.

There are very few folks in the world of whom you could say, "without you, the internet just wouldn't work." And it just so happens, Friday, July 27, is System Administrator appreciation day - and an opportunity to find a sysadmin, without whose ranks the internet would simply not function, and shake their hand while saying, "Thank you for everything."

Being in the technology industry for nearly twenty years, I have always had the privilege of working in organizations with great system administrators - truly passionate individuals that care about users, productivity, performance and experience. At all hours of the day or night.

I also know full well that among our most fiercely loyal evangelists, those that helped us through some of our darkest days at Sun, are the individuals that administer Sun's software, storage and systems. From whom we get incredible feedback (and occasional tough love), brilliant ideas, and constant encouragement (it's their handprints you see on Sun Connection, our provisioning platforms, and BigAdmin, our sysadmin community).

So thank you. You make the world turn, and on behalf of all of Sun, we appreciate your efforts. May you be swarmed with hand shakes.

Posted on 11:00PM Jul 26, 2007 | Comments[15]

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Truly Fair Disclosure

We've got our fourth quarter (Q4) and full 2007 fiscal year earnings announcement coming up on Monday, July 30th.

I wanted to alert everyone to a change we'll be making this quarter - related to how we publish those results, and going forward, other timely information about our financial performance. It's a small, but exceptionally symbolic change.

I've asked our investor relations (known as "IR") and press relations ("PR") teams to gear up to announce our results via Sun's web site and RSS feeds. We will announce our results to the general public via Sun's IR web site before making that same information available through the third party news services that traditionally distribute such information to paying subscribers. We will simultaneously file a Form 8-K with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (for their redistribution).

Specifically, we will publish our results to this web site on July 30th at 1:00 PM (Pacific Time), which will in turn be disseminated via open syndication protocols (namely, RSS) to those who have subscribed to Sun's news feeds. 10 minutes after publication to the internet, we will distribute this information via traditional news wires for dissemination to private news agencies and distribution vehicles.

Referencing a dialog we've established with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, and its Chairman Cox, this will place, for the first time, the general investing public - those with a web browser or a cell phone - on the same footing as those with access to private subscription services. In effect, driving an open dialog directly with investors, rather than routing information through proprietary sources. Open is as open does.

I believe this change will increase the transparency of our business, fulfill our desire to disseminate information on a fair and equitable basis, and allow the network to be used for what it's intended - connecting people and information.

Again, if you're interested in the data as it's released, please check here on July 30th, 1:00 PM (PT) , and to get the latest updates directly from Sun, be sure to subscribe to our RSS feeds.

It may not seem like it, but this is a sea change in how Sun communicates with the world - and sets a path for other public companies seeking to drive greater transparency. I wonder how far off we are from ceasing to issue traditional press releases altogether... after all, no news agency could possibly suggest they reach a greater portion of the planet than the internet.

Posted on 11:09PM Jul 24, 2007 | Comments[31]

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The Internet vs. Stone Tablets

This past week, an American chief executive admitted to having posted over 1,000 comments under an assumed name in a stock market chat room. The chat room focused on a competitor he's seeking to acquire.

The aforementioned CEO has a blog. Which one reporter saw as linking us when she left me a voicemail, "As another CEO who writes a blog, I was wondering if you could comment on the situation."

What? I bet he wears shoes, too, but that doesn't mean I have any more insight in to his actions than those who go barefoot.

We all have choices in how we communicate - I use this format because it works for me, allows me to talk to a diversity of constituents (the open source community is vastly larger than the investment community - even numerically, a stock market chat room would be a relatively inefficient forum to engage the market), and a blog is more affordable than the daily global townhalls it supplants.

But I'd love it if we one day eliminated the term "blogging" from the web lexicon (and that we stopped pursuing "CEO's who blog."). CEO's who have cell phones aren't "cell-phoners," those who have email accounts arent "emailers," those who give interviews on television aren't "TV'ers" - they're all leaders using technology to communicate. Communication is central to leadership - using words, written or spoken, to articulate strategy, guide organizations, engage in dialog, and... lead. Leading two or 200,000, you can't do it without communicating. Using technology just leaves more time for everything else (I'm not saying stone tablets can't be effective, they just take way longer to distribute).

So how do I feel about what the other CEO did?

Authenticity is core to leadership, and the currency of our industry. So I doubt he advanced his agenda.

Posted on 08:49PM Jul 15, 2007 | Comments[50]

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Will We Make a Dent?

From a few weeks ago, my interview with Pat Mitchell on the convergence of traditional and new media is below (with a spirited but well meaning exchange with the general counsel of Viacom toward the end):

And for one of the most compelling perspectives I've heard on how technology is changing the developing world, try listening to Allen Hammond's response to David Kirkpatrick's question (about 4:50 in), "Will [technology] make a significant dent on global poverty by the year 2027?"

Posted on 08:52AM Jul 11, 2007 | Comments[22]

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