Sun Visionary Says Uptime Is Job No. 1

Though candid about the work ahead, McNealy can't help but take a minute to delight in the progress Sun Microsystems has made. He's proud of the company's recent quarterly earnings, but he can also look beyond his battle for supremacy with Microsoft, IBM and others to the human accomplishments computers have helped to achieve.

One final item to note: McNealy's friendship with fellow VARBusiness Visionary Jack Welch, CEO of GE, is doing more than getting McNealy out on the golf course. It's bearing fruit in Sun's California headquarters, where McNealy says his company has adopted some of the management techniques used by Welch. That could wind up making Sun shine even brighter on Wall Street.

VARBusiness: What is the most pressing item on your agenda today?

McNealy: The only things that really matter are uptime, uptime, uptime and uptime. It's a tough challenge, but we've got to move beyond 'five-nines' reliability and build a never-say-die network. Our goal is to make Webtone more reliable than dial tone--and we're getting there. We're getting there with remote-monitoring and load-balancing capabilities, with built-in redundancy and fault tolerance, with everything we can think of so that you never get a busy signal on the Net.

VB: What will you remember the year 2000 for most?

McNealy: When we announced earnings at the end of fiscal 2000, all the analysts on the call were reaching for superlatives. If I were to list their Top 10 descriptions of Sun's performance, it would go something like this:

VB: What's the smartest thing you've done in the past six months?

McNealy: Introduced an internal initiative called Sun Sigma. It sets a standard of excellence I want to see ingrained in everything we do here at Sun. This thing is a whole lot more than just quality checks in manufacturing or software development. Sun Sigma will touch every process in the company. Built around the Six Sigma principles GE has used so successfully, it's all about systematically eliminating defects and delighting customers. I see it as absolutely vital, because there are enormous challenges and opportunities ahead, and we need to be ready.

VB: What one thing would you have done differently this year?

McNealy: One thing I tried to do, and wish I'd done better, was turn my speaking schedule outside-in. Instead of going to so many shows and conferences, I'd really like to spend more time talking to the folks inside Sun. It's your employees who make your company successful, after all.

VB: What do you consider the single most important development of 2000?

McNealy: Completion of the Human Genome. Think about it. That's huge. The data is there, [and now] the secret code has been laid out. As scientists sift through it, they'll be able to figure out ways to cure things like cancer and all kinds of hereditary diseases. I mean, the stage is set for a whole new era of discovery. It's very gratifying to think that our computers will play a role in analyzing the data.