A conversation with 'Virtual Scott' McNealy

Google's Universal Search for Business Complexity is Good Bringing Order and Security to your Mobile Workforce: Corporate Mobility Policy and Device Management 2007 Gartner Magic Quadrant Report Psomas Achieves Global Work-Sharing and Accelerates the Mobile Worker Yankee Group: "Disaster Strikes! Is Your Business Ready? Disaster Preparedness for Mid-Sized Firms" Virtual Reality SCSI Inflection Point: The New Era of Serial Attached SCSI Virtual Reality Sign up to receive Storage Resource Alerts

February 8, 2006 (Computerworld) -- I'm having a conversation with "Virtual Scott" as I fly east from Sun Microsystems Inc.'s annual analyst conference last week, a two-day Sun fest for financial and industry analysts.
Virtual Scott is my mind's image of Scott McNealy, Sun's CEO, dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt with a Sun logo. He's smiling, witty, disarming, and an unswerving champion of all things under his Sun (sorry, I couldn't resist).
I'm going over my notes from Scott's opening address. I find his four-point strategy for 2006:

1. Get the story out


2. Drive volume


3. Execute


4. Make money

"So," I say to Virtual Scott, "this is a strategy? Let's take No. 1: Get the story out. Looks like Marketing 101 to me. Next -- drive volume. I assume you do this by getting the story out, right? So, No. 2 is really the objective of No. 1 (i.e., more Marketing 101). Now for the next two points -- execute and make money. Duh! That's Business 101. Dude ... this is a strategy?"
Virtual Scott says, "What do you guys know? You guys never get it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
During the eight years I've been going to these Sun analyst events, I've seen the real Scott McNealy go from cocky to contrite as he makes his opening remarks. This time, he was somewhere in between -- a bit cautious but clearly buoyed by the current demand for Sun servers. He was back in the saddle again but without some of the swagger of the Internet One years.
This year, I traveled west to see how Sun's acquisition of StorageTek was going. I can honestly say to Virtual Scott that I was pleasantly surprised. The Sun storage folks, who now call themselves the Data Management Group, were happy.
I noticed another difference. In previous years Sun tried to build a storage outlet by buying body parts, then stitching them together. It was a sort of Dr. Frankenstein approach to selling storage; although I think back then it was called "best of breed," right Virtual Scott? Last year, Sun bought the whole body. Now, Sun has storage (a real storage company), servers, an operating system, files systems networking, and a still-vibrant development community, all under one roof.
I'm under a nondisclosure agreement, but I can say that we will see a very different kind of storage device from Sun that wraps sheet metal around Galaxy, Solaris, QFS and storage bricks. In fact, the strongest part of this new box is its server component. We'll see it later this year.
John Webster is senior analyst and founder of research firm Data Mobility Group LLC. He is also the author of numerous articles and white papers on a wide range of topics and is the co-author of the book Inescapable Data: Harnessing the Power of Convergence (IBM Press, 2005). John can be reached at jwebster@datamobilitygroup.com.

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

"Freshly hired pilot fish gets his first assignment, and it takes only a day or two to write some quick-and-dirty..." Read more... "Sales of lower resolution televisions, such as 720p and 1080i, are outpacing true hi-def flat panels this year, which may..." Read more... Read more Storage posts or See all Blogs

IBM launches Bluehouse, a Facebook for business iPhone grabs top smart phone spot Oracle tries to step up on high-end databases More top stories...

Microsoft scales out SQL Server 2008, wants to 'democratize BI' Virtual Headaches Filters on in-flight Wi-Fi may be just the start

Health hazards for IT workers -- how that desk job wears your body down Too much junk food, too little exercise and a 24/7 tether to technology? Your body ain't happy, friend. Let us count the pains. NASA robot sends back evidence it's snowing on Mars Instruments on the surface of Mars have detected falling snow that is likely evaporating before it reaches the planet. Wall Street's collapse may be computer science's gain One positive development stemming from the collapse of Wall Street may be a boost in interest in computer science and IT careers among students who were previously interested in financial services jobs. Installing Linux apps: A few good tips Getting new software installed on Linux doesn't have to be hard, but it can differ depending on what you're installing. Windows Vista A to Z Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS. More Continuing Coverage After 9/11: Homeland Security Apple's iPhone Ask a Premier 100 IT Leader Bill Gates steps down BlackBerry Legal Battle Data Security Breaches Electronic Voting Firefox H-1B Visas HP's Boardroom Scandal Handheld Devices Hurricane Katrina Aftermath Microsoft Legal Issues Microsoft's Vista Open Source RFID Technology SCO's Linux Fight Sarbanes-Oxley Act Spam Voice Over IP Wi-Fi Windows Meta File Vulnerability Windows XP Service Pack 3 IT Careers 2010 Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready? More Special Reports Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Best in Class 2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2006 Salary Survey 2007 Best Places to Work in IT 2007 IT Forecast 2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders 40 Years of Computerworld ASPs, Take Two Best Places to Work in IT 2003 Best Places to Work in IT 2004 Best Places to Work in IT 2005 Best Places to Work in IT 2006 Business Intelligence Home Runs Business Intelligence: Smarter BI Business Intelligence: The Future of BI CRM Goes Vertical CRM: Sober CRM Career Planning Guide 2005 Careers: IT Profession 2010 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2005 Data Management: Mining for Gems Data Management: Taming Data Chaos Development: Hard-Workin' Web Sites Development: New Tools New Choices Development: The New World of Application Development Development: The Web Services Tsunami Development: Web Services Hurdles Disaster Recovery: Preparing for the Worst E-commerce Grows Up E-mail/Groupware: Big Decisions Faces of Mobile IT Forecast 2006 Global Mobile Hardware: Multiple Cores, Multiple Challenges Hardware: On-Demand Un-Hyped Hardware: The Shape of Things to Come Horizon Awards: 10 Cool Cutting Edge Technologies IT Management: Guide to Managing Vendors IT Management: Navigating Global IT IT Management: Recovery Ahead IT Management: The Future of IT IT Management: The Resourceful Project Manager Innovative Technology Awards 2004 Management: Reinventing IT Microsoft in Transition Mobile/Wireless Leaders and Laggards Mobile/Wireless: The Untethered Worker Mobile/Wireless: Tiny Gadgets, Huge Costs Network Management: Taking Control Networking: Turbulence Ahead! Networking: VoIP Goes Mainstream Operating Systems: In the Slow Lane Operating Systems: Linux Goes Global Operating Systems: Should You Nix Unix? Outsourcing: Offshore Buyer's Guide Outsourcing: Outsourcing Dangers Premier 100 IT Leaders 2004 Best in Class Premier 100 IT Leaders 2005 Best in Class ROI: Do the Math! Salary Survey 2003 Salary Survey 2004 Salary Survey 2005 Security Action Plan Security: Compliance Headaches Security: Proactive Security Security: Risk and Reward Security: Tips From Security Pros Souped-up Security Storage: Battling Complexity Storage: Cheap & Secure Data Stores Storage: Stretching Your Storage Dollars Storage: The Lean Storage Machine Storage: The New Rules of Storage Storage: The Ultimate Backup Guide Supply Chain: Missing Links Supply Chain: RFID Reality Check The Business of Security Web 2.0 Security Wireless: Wireless At Work All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone The File Data Management Zone Security Management Zone The SAS Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone Windows Protection Zone The Enterprise Search Zone Software as a Service Zone See your link here

Enabling Data Centers that Are Both Automated and Dynamic Enabling Data Centers that Are Both Automated and Dynamic View this webcast now! Go to the webcast  The Business Value of Tape Storage Download this complimentary Technology Briefing today! (Source: Dell) Reliable. Long-lived. Portable. Affordable. Energy-stingy. These and many other attributes of tape storage are virtually assuring a continued market for tape storage, a conclusion reached by IDC and many others. Combined with other storage solutions, tape is an integral part of any data archiving strategy. Download this executive briefing  Brocade and the File Area Network - A Taneja Group Solution Profile Get this white paper now! (Source: Brocade) This Taneja Group report examines how Brocade FAN solutions are creating a stateless end-to-end file and block data infrastructure. Download this white paper  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Project Portfolio Management - Boost the value of IT Core Network Services Survey: The Costs and Impacts of DNS and IP Address Management Six Project Metrics Every CIO Should Know for Application Delivery Success View more whitepapers

• IBM launches Bluehouse, a Facebook for business
• Microsoft scales out SQL Server 2008, wants to 'democratize BI'
• iPhone grabs top smart phone spot
• More top stories 

Business Continuity Zone An organization's business continuity plan helps keep critical functions running during an emergency–the power fails, a virus is unleashed on your network, a natural disaster has occurred. Even the slightest downtime or loss of data can cripple your operation. CDW can help you prevent disaster by implementing a well-planned recovery strategy. Click here to visit the Zone See All Zones

Intercept Spam & Viruses With MessageLabs MessageLabs is offering a complimentary 30 day trial of its managed Anti-virus and Anti-spam security solutions. MessageLabs guarantees complete protection against all know and unknown email threats. By providing 24 hour support, your business can increase productivity and decrease risk. Register for a complimentary trial and receive a free datasheet. Download this white paper now!

Jack Demo Have WAN acceleration solutions got your head spinning? Our Technology Demo sorts it out. See how our technology offers a comprehensive solution to the entire WAN performance issue including mobile workers' needs. Download this demo and discover how everyone, from branch office workers to executives and sales people on the go, get the same LAN-like access to their enterprise applications and data they enjoy when they're at headquarters. Go now!