Sun Sales Web Gems

This is an exciting week, not just for JavaOne Attendees, but also for everyone at Sun. Today was the start of CommunityOne, which is a free and open developer conference right before JavaOne kicks off. I just headed over to see today's events and I've embedded a live feed if you want to follow along. Great press is already hitting the wires! This week is all about communities and community building, see you there.

It's always interesting to read the news related to your neighborhood. Not only do I live in the neighborhood, but it's also the location of Sun's San Francisco Office. This was an interesting read, but I've learned it's never as good as they say......and it's never as bad as they say either. There will always be a place for a unique and valuable idea! Quite frankly, I'm already excited for the news out of next year's Web 2 Expo!

Lately it has felt that Sun is constantly launching new products. Our latest launch introduced the industry's first dual-socket CMT systems based on the third-generation UltraSPARC T2 Plus processor. In fact, 5140/5240 Try & Buy users can save up to 45% if they purchase trial units before June 30!!!!!! Trade ins of all kinds get addt'l 30%!!! Ok, I'll calm down now, but I'm making progress....I almost put that in all caps...

With JavaOne and CommunityOne right around the corner stick close to sun.com/launch for some exciting new announcements. We're ultra aggressive and nimble (especially compared to our larger competitors), we're laser focused on open everything and providing this community what they need....exciting days ahead....let the launch insanity continue!

An important day at Sun, we've hired a new spokesperson! Given recent trends on blogs and the web, I wanted to let you know Sun has scored big in naming him. Commercials are in production...........and yes, this is an April Fool's Day joke (but if it were reality, I'd be psyched as it's an oldie but goodie....)

We go to a lot seminars, mixers, conferences and happy hours (my favorite). And how do you stay on top of all of the places we'll be? I present to you the Web Gems Event Calendar. Below you'll find where the Sun Internet team will be and who we'll be networking with. Feel free to email me if you'd like a free ticket, because usually we are a sponsor and I have a few hookups. Happy networking!

And the good press keeps rollin' in. We keep making good progress with some of the top web companies around today because of our innovation/R&D engine that keeps pumping out cool stuff. One thing I continue to find compelling about working here is that our products and services aren't just about hardware. Check out this interesting interview about how Sun is helping with building communities. The intersection between technology, psychology, and sociology will be the spot where trust and privacy concerns are laid to rest.

Last week I had the opportunity (thanks to Rossi and Sun's gold sponsorship--my marketing team member and blog partner here on webgems) to attend Web Ventures '08! I was impressed with the event, especially the mix of global web and VC presence. The speakers and panel discussions were great, but the breakout sessions were my favorite part. It reminded me a bit of the demos at SF New Tech Meetup. I love events like these because it's fun to get quick 15 minute overviews of a company and move on (I have the attention span of a typical sales rep). Anyway, the web companies represented at Web Ventures ranged from Facebook and Google to newer companies like education.com and triggit and pageflakes and meebo. I think Triggit won the text voting on best breakout. It was a lot of fun.

When meeting new people and introducing myself as a representative from Sun Microsystems, the overwhelming response was positive (yeah, the "Is Sun viable?" question is long gone). I've been immersed in startups for only 5 months, but over that time period alone, the feedback about what Sun is doing and the overall perception in the Web Industry about Sun seems to be growing...a high five around the mySQL acquisition is the most common response I get. Sun's R&D spend produces products like the Sun Modular Datacenter referenced in a previous post (aka blackbox), OpenSolaris, and a bunch of stuff currently popping around in Sun Labs. As you can imagine, privacy (which if interested contact your Sun Sales Rep and you'll be surprised at the ways we can help), scalability, and garnering funding (especially in the current state of the economy) were topics that most of the time was spent on. I learned alot and gained a few new contacts for my social networks, definitely check out Dow Jones' ongoing series of sessions, wireless is next up!

In my last posting I talked about how our web customers are looking to Sun for cool technologies (and I don't mean stuff that runs with less energy....although we have lots of stuff that runs at the same wattage as a light bulb). Web companies are asking us how to use our R&D efforts to meet their needs. Now, you can take this knowledge and win $250 for an hour of your time! The Sun Web Infrastructure Myth Busting Challenge is now on! And if you need help, just let me know, there's a Sun Technical Swat Team out there to help you!

So, I have to admit, in re-reading the last few posts of mine, they seem a bit dry (although the news has been big!). I've been considering how to overcome my lack of access to the inside scoop compared to one of my favorite bloggers. Since Jonathan's blog is my favorite blog of all time (I'm not kidding and I swear I'm not sucking up), I recently realized I've been part of some cool conversations.

I have lived (note: I'm not saying "spent") the last 9 years as a Sun Sales Representative. It has been a blast. After all, we have IP at all levels from a systems perspective (remember Scott McNealy years ago reminding the marketplace we are Sun MicroSYSTEMS?). I've truly enjoyed representing Sun at our customer sites advocating why we're so relevant and cool. I've worked with partners, small startups, and established enterprises. I've been in a lot of meetings (we're reporting our customer face time, since we are laser focused on how we can help customers.....so I hesitate to say I've been in too many meetings :-) In any case, I've seen and heard alot. It dawned on me, there's one topic that always seemed to catch my attention....."The Wall".

One of the last accounts I had a daily focus on was growing by leaps and bounds (and still is). They couldn't buy systems fast enough. I've been involved in some recent customer meetings for other accounts, and I've heard this is not a unique sentiment. How can customers build quick enough? Should they put systems literally anywhere they have space? I was in a customer meeting recently where they said they even considered putting these datacenter modules in international waters! (I was impressed to learn they thought through many issues including power and warming of the oceans!). customers are worried about facing hitting "The Wall" of capacity capability. At some point, servers and datacenters aren't big enough, then what? The bottom line is that as the web buildout continues, Sun's competitors must deliver some value through their products (I forgot to mention we spend ~$2B on R&D so you don't have to worry about how to leverage network infrastructure to keep cost and complexity down!) as these issues can't be solved without an engineering focus...a distribution model just won't cut it when throughput, power, support, and performance matter as you focus on your competitive edge. I'll write in more detail in the coming week or two about some specific technologies, like Sun Modular Data Center, that web companies are considering in meeting this demand. The buildout has really just begun......

More big news today! Sun announced an agreement to acquire Innotek, one of the leading developer desktop virtualization platforms. It will be part of Sun's xVM Platform. Why is this so cool? Aside from the coolness of the technology, it's another example of our focus on the open source community, virtualization, and choice.

The mySQL acquistion news was big for us here at Sun. That should go without saying given all of the great press on the deal recently. But for those of us focused on the web buildout here at Sun, it was doubly exciting. It proved what our team already knows....that Sun has become the world's strongest proponent of free and open source software. Clearly our new mySQL team members agree and are advocating the same message. We just need to continue to spread the word!

Wahoo! Our streak of strong earnings announcements continues! There are many reasons for our continued success, but I think part of the reason has to include that we're always looking for new ways to help our customers. We don't do everything perfectly (who does), but we're listening so keep the feedback coming!

Regardless of what happens in 2008, It sure was a great 2007 for companies looking for investment from VC firms! $29B+ is a 6 year high and regardless if we hit a new high or not in '08, the long term outlook for companies with a good idea -AND- a good business plan is lookin' good. That's why Sun will continue to invest in the startup community, and we'll stay focused on our open source projects!