Sun's Partner Bet

That's no small statement, coming from the CEO of one of the most feared and respected technology innovators in the world. But he and the Sun executive team listened to the complaints of partners,which reached a crescendo last fall,and are responding big time, delivering a strong and clear technology vision and partner commitment.

Partners at iForce repeatedly praised the renewed partnering focus, particularly in the all-important professional services segment of Sun's business. Sun has made a series of hard and fast changes that could go a long way to helping kick in a big uptick in partners' services revenue.

The vendor is now giving partners that bring a deal to the Sun Professional Services table not only the referral bonus, but also the first opportunity to deliver the services with Sun. That's a big change aimed at building trust and credibility. One Sun executive said it could increase subcontracted services work to partners 20 percent to 40 percent.

The confidence among the current partners in the new channel initiatives, the sales engagement model and the technology direction,particularly with Sun's Orion software stack and the Mad Hatter desktop suite,has never been stronger.

What's more, the programs from Sun's distribution partners have never been stronger. Last week, both Arrow Electronics' MOCA division and GE Access introduced new offerings. Arrow's MOCA division unveiled a new Sun Services business unit, an innovative offering to assist its partners in selling and supporting SunONE network identity solutions, as well as a program to financially reward partners that ramp up to Sun Strategic iForce Partner status. And GE Access announced availability of a Sun LX50 VPN/Firewall Appliance with pre-integrated Check Point software, as well as free shipping on security products.

McNealy urged partners to e-mail him directly with field sales problems or even to help close deals. He told partners that if Sun executes and "stays committed to the channel," then the profits will come to both Sun and its partners. Given the channel commitment from Sun, my bet is those profit gains are a lot closer than Sun's competitors realize.

What do you think of Sun's partner strategy? Let me know at (781) 839-1221 or via e-mail at [email protected].