Sun Means Business

Among them, Sun unveiled a new iForce logo that will be available for all Sun iForce partners to use. Sun executives also said they plan to invest more funds in promoting Sun iForce partners and their solutions and have reinstituted Sun Area Partner Councils and the national partner council.

Moreover, Sun unveiled a transition program to help iPlanet solution providers become iForce partners, now that iPlanet is a Sun division. Sun has rebranded, its Forte tools, its Solaris operating system and iPlanet under the Sun Open Net Environment (ONE) umbrella in an attempt to eliminate confusion about how Sun's software fits into its Web services strategy.

Gary Grimes, vice president of partner management and U.S. sales operations at Sun, said the company is working to improve geographic coverage and adapt its customer engagement model by drawing on partner feedback. Sun reduced its named accounts to 110 in fiscal year 2002 from 550 in 2001, and Grimes said Sun partners "are not locked out of any accounts, even the top accounts."

The current named accounts are primarily telecommunications and financial services companies, said Jon Caputo, vice president of Sun Professional Services for the Americas. Even though Sun plans to approach these customers and prospects directly, the company wants to collaborate with channel partners within those accounts, Caputo said.

In addition, Grimes said Sun soon plans to unveil a list of specific accounts in which partners will have the opportunity to "receive a wad of cash" if they generate new business. He would not give additional details.

In general, solution providers attending the partner conference said they were encouraged by Sun's message to its channel, but there are still problems Sun must address, including potential and actual conflict between partners and Sun Professional Services.

As long as Sun has Sun Professional Services engineers available to work in certain accounts, competitive concerns will arise, said Rob Mock, president of Lansing, Mich.-based solution provider Dewpoint. If they are otherwise engaged, conflict is less likely, he said. "The only cure to conflict with Sun Professional Services (PSI) is an empty bench," Mock said.

Still, Mock said he believes Sun is commited to keeping close reins on the head count for SunPSI, since that is the only way to keep its channel alive.