Sun Looks to Push TCO, IT Services

Computerworld - Faced with changing user requirements and stiff competition from rivals that offer much more extensive IT services capabilities, Sun Microsystems Inc. is moving on multiple fronts to change the image that it's a box peddler first and foremost.

Sun in the coming months plans to focus more on technologies that are aimed at reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) for users of its servers, according to company executives. For example, they said Sun next year will deliver new virtualization and grid computing technologies designed to help users take better advantage of their IT infrastructures.

In addition, Sun last week detailed plans to offer higher-level consulting services and said it wants to take more of a leadership role in helping users design and install complex systems. Until now, Sun has largely left that work to systems integrators - and to rival server vendors such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co.

The new plans follow moves made earlier this year to beef up Sun's software operations and to add new data center management and Linux-based desktop computing technologies .

Sun's attempt to expand its horizons beyond server technology is a good strategy, and one that's overdue, said David E. Lane, CIO at W. Pauley & Co., a fruit and vegetable distributor in Corby, England, that runs its back-office applications on Sun's midrange servers.

"They seem to be headed in the right direction," Lane said. "Sun's always had very, very good hardware, but they needed to have more of a focus on software and services."

The new initiatives are part of a multifaceted strategy aimed at better aligning Sun with changing market conditions and customer requirements, said Clark Masters, the vendor's executive vice president of enterprise systems.

"Two years ago, it was all about how quickly you could deploy something," Masters said. "Now all the questions [from users] are about TCO and ROI and how to drive costs out of the IT infrastructure."

Sun's efforts also reflect the company's need to reinvigorate its stalling business, said Joyce Becknell, an analyst at The Sageza Group Inc. in Mountain View, Calif. But one of the big challenges Sun will face as it tries to move up the IT value chain is the fact that IBM and HP both have far more resources to offer the kind of services Sun now wants to deliver, Becknell added.

A key element of Sun's new focus is its desire to get more involved in helping corporate users with architectural design and project planning. "You'll hear Sun talk about wanting to be more of a general contractor," Masters said.

Necessary Move

During a briefing in Burlington, Mass., Patricia Sueltz, executive vice president of the Sun Services unit, said that Sun doesn't want to usurp the roles played by systems integrators and IT consultants such as Electronic Data Systems Corp. and Accenture Ltd. Sun will still rely on partners to do most of the hands-on work, Sueltz said. But Sun Services now plans to offer users a single point of contact on projects, she added.