Sun launches SMB initiative for complete open source solutions 18 March, 2008 By Liam Lahey

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Sun said it is delivering complete, easy-to-deploy solutions that tackle many of the technology issues commonly faced by SMBs. The offerings would help SMB customers run their systems more efficiently; manage and upgrade email; and protect data.

In essence, the initiative would see Sun pitch its' products and solutions more aggressively than in the past at the U.S. SMB marketplace over the next six months. The vendor would then weigh the effort and conceivably look to roll it out in other global regions. Meanwhile, one of the main challenges for Sun would be to dispel the perception that it is a large enterprise vendor, too expensive for smaller companies with huge IT needs to even think about.

"Sun is absolutely going to need the support of their reseller partner channel to service the SMB market. They are too large, and perceived as being too much of a 'big iron company' to reach and service that market effectively," said Michelle Warren, senior IT analyst, The Info-Tech Research Group. "A lot of vendors look to the SMB market as a way to increase their client base. It is a mighty market, though. First off, the number of potential customers is huge. Second, they can be demanding (they have specific requests, and don't want "dumb-down versions" of hardware and software).

"Open source and the Internet will help spread the message but I really think they are going to need actual people to answer the questions and concerns of the potential clients."

Sun defines an SMB as an organization with less than 1,000 employees but with a high dependency on IT.

"These are the companies that really look to IT to differentiate their product, their business model; a company with scaling IT needs as their customer base grows," explained Christine Beury, distinguished director of SMB systems marketing, Sun. "The goal of the initiative is to make it easier and affordable for small and medium businesses to benefit from and implement Sun's technologies."

Through alliances with Microsoft, Intel and AMD, Sun is able to deliver complete SMB solutions spanning servers, storage, software, services and support. Customers could choose from a range of products and platforms including Sun Fire x64 and UltraSPARC-based servers and storage; multiple operating systems including Solaris 10 OS, Windows and Linux; and industry-leading databases, including Sun's MySQL database.

Beury said the initiative's key components are Sun's broad portfolio geared towards SMBs, and an easier engagement model for the customer, and creating an online resource for SMBs.

"If you've gone to Sun's Website in the past you'd notice we hadn't had a focus on SMBs there and this is the beginning stages of that and we'll be building it out over time," she said. "Sun's product portfolio as a whole has never been stronger. And it's never been stronger specifically for SMBs."

Moreover, Sun is seeing a "ton of momentum" in its' open source strategy and in light of Sun's alliances and the MySQL acquisition, SMBs are beginning to take a closer look at the vendor. "That too is apart of this initiative: to better inform a wider audience of SMBs that now's the time to take a look at Sun."

The SMB-optimal Sun solutions are featured on Sun.com/smb and can be purchased through Sun's featured online resellers, Sun Authorized Partners, or the Sun.com store. During the initial phase of the initiative, Sun would be working with CDW as the featured online reseller, an industry leader with over 23 years experience in serving the SMB market with competitive pricing, quick sales quotes and shipping, complemented by technical planning, implementation, support services and financing options.

"The feedback [we've] received as to what the needs are of the SMB customers is that they like to have choices and certain Service Level Agreements relative to ease of doing business, velocity in the sales cycle and the procurement cycle," remarked Cheryl Turja, director of U.S. partner programs, Sun. "CDW and Sun decided to go into this initiative together because of CDW's proven track record and brand recognition in the SMB space."

Since its debut in 2006, more than 2,000 startups have applied to the Sun Startup Essentials program (www.sun.com/startups), designed for companies to accelerate their development cycle by allowing them to purchase discounted Sun products and hosting services. Sun's Try and Buy program enables businesses to test Sun's products in their own IT environments before making a purchasing decision. In the past two years, Sun has shipped more than 8,500 free trial systems, 70 percent of those to SMBs, officials said.

Of the 8,500 free trial systems shipped, Beury would only say "a majority" of those trials became a purchasing customer.

The products in the Sun SMB initiative launched would also be available for free trial through the Try and Buy program: www.sun.com/tryandbuy.