The Official Site for Breaking News and the Latest Information from Sun On The Record

In adding to its recent mid-market push in Europe, Sun just announced its first major initiative - a telecoverage model - in the Emerging Markets (EM) region. The model will go live in 139 countries across the EM region and help reach out to high growth SMBs, startups and Web 2.0 through our local partners and further Sun's mid-market initiative.

This telecoverage model has been used in India for the past 6 years and has proven success. Rolling it out in the EM region, "will help optimize sales reach of the Sun brand into sectors and regions that would have otherwise been difficult to tap as well as drive our volume products and solutions to new markets and customer segments," said Anil Valluri, VP and Managing Director, India GEM, Sun Microsystems.

This telecoverage model enables Sun to focus resources and attention to open more opportunities with governments, businesses and developers that are interested in Sun's approach to sustainable network computing, open source software and innovative technologies in growing markets like India, Greater China, Latin America, South and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.

At last week's Insight Partner Forum in Phoenix, Sun received the prestigious "Top Partner Alignment" award. The award recognizes those partners best aligned with Insight's priorities. Sun was selected based on a number of criteria including partner investment, initiatives, involvement, synergy, creativity, and growth in the following areas: warranties and integration; field engagement; service, product and category training; and services infrastructure.

Here's Sun's Douglas Fulmer (second from left) accepting the award on behalf of Sun along with Insight's Dave Casillo, Gene Hanchar and Mark McGrath.

"Sun Microsystems is highly invested in our partnership with Insight and is proud to have received the Insight 2008 Top Partner Alignment Award," said Tom Wagner, vice president, North America Partner Sales. "Sun is working diligently to empower our partners by enhancing business propositions and dramatically simplifying the ways we work with them. Insight plays a pivotal role in our plans to expand into new markets and grow our existing customer base. This award highlights our synergies with Insight."

As you may have seen, Microsoft today released Windows Essential Business Server 2008, a new bundled software package that includes Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007 and other software that midsized businesses require.

Expanding its portfolio of mid-market solutions, Sun introduced the Sun for Windows Essential Business Server Solution, a pre-configured, competitively priced server and storage solution that makes it easy to get EBS up and running.

Usually, EBS runs on 3 separate servers, but the Sun EBS Solution takes advantage of the software’s virtualization capabilities to run on just 1 system (Sun’s x4150 or x4250 server with attached J4200 storage). This saves on space and up-front costs – not to mention the resources it takes to power, cool and manage more servers – and can mean real savings for customers. For example, a company using a medium configuration of the Sun EBS solution (for 100-200 users) can save more than 80% in power and cooling expenses and 29% in total spend over 3 years vs. competitive solutions for EBS.

Sun expects EBS to present a great opportunity for its channel partners with Microsoft and Sun expertise. Companies interested in checking out the Sun solution can do so for free through Sun's Try and Buy program.

Piggy backing off the successful mid-market launch in the US earlier this year, Sun recently announced a new initiative targeting the European mid-market where customers in countries such as Italy, Spain and the Netherlands can learn more about Sun's solutions for mid-sized companies – like the Sun Infrastructure Solution for Microsoft Exchange. Sun is offering complete solutions, based on its x86 product family and storage offerings, and leveraging its extensive partner network in the region – to provide customers with enterprise-class products without the associated costs and complexities.

Check out how Sun customer, Yuntaa, a Belgian-based Web 2.0 company is using Sun solutions to help grow their business.

Earlier this week, Sun announced the expansion of its software channel program, enabling partners to capitalize on the growing success of Sun's open source powerhouses like GlassFish, MySQL, OpenSolaris and xVM VirtualBox to create new revenue opportunities.  

As part of this broader initiative, Sun announced significant enhancements to the Sun Partner Advantage Program with the introduction of the Open Access Channel Program and a set of new Software Specialties.  To listen to Sun’s Bill Cate and Lisa Marselli talk about the news on Sun’s BlogTalkRadio channel click here

Software Specialties
Designed to provide increased revenue opportunities to integration and consulting partners that invest in our software.  Program enable partners to expand their integration services expertise for high value services-rich deployments, grow top line revenue and margins and differentiate themselves from their competitors by providing customers more value with comprehensive solutions. Six specialties – identity management, SOA, MySQL, xVM Ops Center, xVM Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and open storage - are being rolled out.

Open Access Channel Program
Gives resellers a simple, no barrier to entry option for gaining access to Sun's software portfolio.  New resellers can grow their businesses by expanding their product portfolios to include Sun software solutions.  Distributors can grow their businesses by recruiting and cultivating new partner relationships focused on selling Sun software with little investment and risk.

To learn more about becoming a Sun Partner - click here

At this week's XChange 08 conference, Sun’s Director of U.S. Partner Programs Cheryl Turja was named one of the most powerful women in the channel by VARBusiness magazine. Cheryl joins Sun's Cheryl Cook who won the award in 2007.

Check out the article here and her profile below.

Congratulations, Cheryl!

CHERYL A. TURJA Director, U.S. Partner Programs Sun Microsystems Inc. Menlo Park, Calif. Years In Position: 1 Years In Channel: 6 www.sun.com Hope To Accomplish: Turja is committed to leading and participating on the team that is building a competitive business proposition for Sun partners by creating programs that reward for value and investment. She also aims to capture and retain partner mind share predisposing partners to sell Sun first. In addition, Turja aims to drive partners to engage and align with Sun's offerings. Mentor: Turja says there are many individuals she admires but she is most motivated by those who go after their personal and professional dreams with "vigor and balance" and see the "preparation and adventure of pursuing the course to be just as exciting and important as the end result." Executives You Admire: Tom Wagner, vice president Americas, channel sales, because of his commitment and loyalty to those on the channel team. She also admires Tim Lieto, who once led Sun's Americas sales organization, because of his commitment to always do the right thing and not be afraid to "march to the beat of a different drummer."

Last week, Sun went live with 2 significant changes to its North American Channel Program that will better position partners of all sizes to drive growth. Channel partners are critical to Sun’s overall business strategy with the channel driving roughly 70% of Sun’s global revenue.  

According to Sun's Vice President of North American Partner Sales, Tom Wagner, the pathway to growth is through our partners.  Click here to hear Tom discuss the new Partner First and the National Coverage models and why they are so beneficial to partners.

Partner First Sales Model – Sun is moving to a 100% channel-led sales model outside of the company's top 300 named accounts, opening up thousands of accounts for partners.

National Coverage Model – Provides partners with a single window into Sun, a Sun contact that can better focus on their needs and help grow their business on a national scale.

For more information go to www.sun.com/partners

Here are some photos from the official opening of the Sun/Microsoft Interoperability Center on Microsoft's Redmond campus. 

Lisa Sieker, marketing vice president for Sun's Systems group, and Bob Kelly, corporate vice president of infrastructure server marketing at Microsoft, cut the ribbon to officially open the Center.

 

 

                                                                 

Keep reading below for an interview with Joe Heel, SVP of Sun's Global Storage Practice, to get his thoughts on the new Center, in addition to the Sun Infrastructure Solution for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

Sun recently completed a survey of its ISV community about their use of the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) in their solutions. The survey identified the most important features and common partner solutions running on the Solaris 10 OS. Partners from countries including the U.S., China, Germany, Italy and Australia participated in the survey.  Some of the key findings include:

 Partners find performance and availability as the most important considerations when choosing an operating system. These aspects directly impact the strength of their own technology offerings.

- Over 80 percent of respondents named performance, availability and security as the most important capabilities when choosing the Solaris 10 OS

- Over 70 percent of respondents also said that networking, data management, interoperability, platform choice and support & services were important in their choice of the Solaris 10 OS

The most commonly offered partner solutions running on the Solaris 10 OS are products that require high availability and uptime.

- The Solaris 10 OS is most often used for Web-based services, data management, application services delivery and infrastructure/data center management

The vast majority of partners are having a positive experience with the Solaris 10 OS and believe it provides value to their businesses.
- 87 percent of participants said that the Solaris 10 OS is a critical or important part of their business
- 91 percent reported having a positive experience with the Solaris 10 OS
- 88 percent deployed the Solaris 10 OS with little to no difficulty

One example of a Sun ISV who has found success with the Solaris 10 OS is Sapotek, a Web 2.0 company providing a free, online desktop. After switching from Linux, the company experienced a six-fold increase in server performance, 99.99% availability and a 50% reduction in hosting costs. A full case study with more information is available here.

More information on the survey and results are available upon request!

At the annual NRF Conference in New York City this week, Sun and retail tech giant JDA will unveil a joint solution that helps retailers and manufacturers make operations more cost efficient.

JDA is offering the JDA Enterprise Planning Suite running on the power efficient Sun Blade 6000 system – providing a single, integrated box for financial, merchandise, channel and key item planning. This enables users to better manage inventory from one source and conserve data center resources without increasing administration and complexity. Customers can manage a variety of platforms, operating systems and applications on the single solution.
 

The JDA Enterprise Planning Suite consists of Windows and Solaris applications that retailers use to better plan operations across the supply chain so they are in line with business goals. By offering their suite on the Sun Blade 6000 system, JDA helps retailers reduce their hardware footprint, and lower support costs and power usage.

Visit www.sun.com/jda to learn more.

Sun Unveils New Program for ISVs to Enhance Sales Collaboration

This week, Sun unveiled a new program that reaffirms its commitment to strengthening relationships with its vibrant ISV community and increasing opportunities for them to drive more sales.  Sun Sales Connect provides partners with new resources and services for better collaborating and coordinating on sales opportunities with Sun and its extended sales community.  Sales Connect gives ISVs who are members of the Sun Partner Advantage Program (SPA) (http://www.sun.com/partners/overview.html) more avenues for increasing sales pipelines and uncovering joint business with Sun and also channel partners.   

Services offered as part of Sales Connect support and enhance Readiness, Awareness, Collaboration and Engagement activities with our ISV partners and include the following:

* Sales Readiness Service Bureau – streamlines creation of sales materials and message alignment  for  joint Sun/ISV sales solutions

* Field Awareness Service – elevates visibility of ISV solutions  and builds field momentum with the extended Sun sales community

* Sales Exchange events – Sun-sponsored account mapping and pipeline planning events to jumpstart sales collaboration between ISV  partners, channel partners and Sun sales teams

* Sales Concierge – Efficient way for ISVs to connect with Sun sales support

* Industry Engagement Track – Enables Sun and ISVs to jointly build out sales pipelines in specific accounts and industries

The program is now available to SPA members in North America.  It will be rolled out to parts of Europe and Asia in 2008.  Various levels of members are eligible for different services.  SPA members can click here [http://partneradvantage.sun.com/partners/promote/]  to see if they are eligible for the programs.

Check out this video clip for AMD's analyst day, which includes some statements from Sun's Andy Bechtolsheim and John Gage.

Bill Cate, Sun's Senior Director of Global Channel Planning and Programs recently hosted a chalktalk at Sun's San Francisco office with Bill Cook, CEO of Greenplum.  Bill Cate gave a look into the latest and greatest with Sun's Channel program highlighting the recent global SPA (Sun Partner Advantage) Program roll-out completion.  Bill Cook discussed his experiences working with Sun.  For a look into this discussion, click here.

So now you know why Andy is in Dresden this week...

 

He unveiled the Sun Constellation System at the International Supercomputing Conference at 6:00pmCET today. The preview of the system was timed to coincide with the official pre-show tour by journalists, local politicians and dignitaries. We expected the official group to visit the Sun booth for about five minutes but there was so much interest that it was at least half an hour before it moved on. In conversations with the Sun folks, these VIPs seemed particularly excited about what can be achieved using the incredible processing power provided by the Sun Constellation System. To give just two examples: pharmaceutical companies can use it to shorten drug development times, leading to faster discovery of new cures; and car manufacturers can use it to simulate multiple crash scenarios, leading to safer vehicles.