Sun Eyeing Changes In Education Agent Program

The review comes at a time when a number of the 50 or so Sun education agents are concerned about Sun potentially taking some large educational institution accounts direct and adding Sun solution providers to the mix.

Joe Hartley, director of the U.S. education market area at Sun, said the vendor plans to unveil its new programs July 1, aiming at ensuring it has a partner model in place to be able to better serve education clients. "There are around 4,000 universities and colleges, 17,000 school districts, and 98,000 schools out there," he said. "No single company can cover them all. The only way we can serve them is to have partners."

Hartley said he was unsure of the number of education agents that will be in the new program. "We are in the process of determining the right mix of the business," he said.

Grady Crunk, executive vice president of Titusville, Fla.-based Central Data, a solution provider that received a letter from Sun May 13 terminating its education agent relationship, said his Sun contacts told him the new education program involves Sun taking big accounts, giving the education agent about 10 accounts and opening the remaining accounts to Sun solution providers. "Sure, it opens up to the channel," he said. "But what do you get? A bunch of small education accounts where Sun finds it hard to penetrate."

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Crunk, who retains his Sun reseller status, is not the only agent concerned about potential changes.

"I don't understand this," said one Sun agent about the company's education agent direction. "It doesn't make business sense. We see it heading very much in the wrong direction, and we have shared that all the way up the chain at Sun."

One solution provider noted that two of the three top universities in Florida are direct Sun accounts, while the third is working with Central Data. "If Sun takes [that account direct, it's a big concern. But Sun may give it to another VAR. Or it could take the account direct, but give other education accounts to VARs."

STEVEN BURKE contributed to this story.