Taking the Plunge

It's been about six months since I returned to Sun after an 18-month stint at MontaVista Software, a great company that focuses on Linux in the embedded space – and that, by the way, does a lot of work with Java, and with Sun on ATCA/Opteron telecom boxes. I came back because I liked the new directions Sun was taking – including the launch and ongoing advancement of Solaris 10, the move toward open sourcing Sun's complete software portfolio, Sun's x86/x64 systems and innovations in the existing Ultra SPARC IV+ processors and Ultra SPARC T1 multi-threaded computing – and I wanted to be a part of it all. Sun is back on top in a number of areas, and Sun software is getting a lot of kudos for Identity, OpenOffice, the open source version of StarOffice, Java Studio tools, and Mobility. Obviously, I'm a big believer in open source. So when I was offered the chance to head up marketing for Sun's software, it was too good to pass up.

A lot has happened in the time I've been here. And people have asked when I'll start blogging (yes, James I'm talking about you). What I hope to do with this blog is offer insight into what's going on at Sun, get discussions going (I really do want feedback!), explore trends that I see as I'm out talking with customers and industry experts, and point you to information I find interesting, fun or just plain wrong (and yes, it's out there).

I'm really glad to be back. There's lot of buzz about Web 2.0, SaaS and where all this is heading. Whatever you call it, the bottom line is that this is a time of really pushing the edge. I'm excited about what Sun has been doing in this space for some time and even more excited about what the greater community is making happen as the software evolution continues.

Here's a quick plug: Check out the awards and recognition for DTrace and the UltraSPARC T1 “eco-friendly” processor in The Wall Street Journal's Technology Innovation Awards. With DTrace, customers can root out and quickly identify software problems – during development or in full production. And that can save a heckuva lot of time and money. Congrats to the Solaris team!

Posted at 09:08PM Sep 14, 2006 by Peder Ulander in Sun  |  Comments[5]