HR Geek: (Product) Strategy for the Rest of Us

Margaret Lee, a colleague of mine from my time in Location Strategy, sent me a very valid question:

Okay, so I didn't listen in on the Second Life on Tuesday [Sun held an internal Second Life event with speeches by the Sun execs]. But when did everyone decide Sun was now a Software company? Everyone keeps talking about it like, of course we are a software company. Last I remember, we were a "Systems" company and we were using Software (free) to drive revenue from services. I know we're growing Open Source software, etc., but has there been a re-branding that I just missed? Wow, that was quick....

It's a core element of our strategy to drive adoption of Sun technology, and indeed much of that is tied to Software. We also seem to be buying Software companies like crazy these days. But the way we make money relies on monetizing that adoption through things like commercial support contracts, licensing, and infrastructure sales. And let's not forget that we have open sourced things outside of software (e.g. OpenSparc, OpenStorage, etc.)

Software may drive the adoption strategy, but the real value of Sun is its ability to optimize hardware and software in concert and to develop unique solutions that leverage Sun's strengths in not just software, but in processors, servers, and storage (and services!) as well.

Nope - you didn't miss it at all. In fact, I think you get it better than the "everyone" you mention (I removed the names to protect the not-so-innocent). We are a "Systems" company.

If that's changed, someone let me know and I'll do a follow-up post with my resume.