McNealy Promotes 'Same Old' Sun Pitch

Following a rousing performance by an ensemble of percussionists, the Sun Microsystems chairman, president and CEO took the stage banging a hand drum emblazoned with the Sun slogan "The network is the computer."

McNealy said that Sun's message to the industry is clear. "We're beating the same old drum," he told the crowd of about 3,000, a cross section of press, analysts and customers representing the 8,000 attendees at Sun's first Sun Network show.

McNealy said that "drum" is Sun's intent to provide a combination of hardware, software and services running on open standards to drive network computing, a mission that Sun has been on since its inception.

McNealy lauded recent Sun accomplishments in the last 150 days, including the launch of Solaris 9 and the subsequent sale of 3,000 licenses for the new Unix operating environment.

He also reiterated Sun's recent plan to unite all of its software divisions--including those supporting the Sun ONE middleware and tools line--into one group, as well as its effort to unite the entire sales team to sell all Sun products.

Customers can have "a one-stop conversation with Sun for all of the product lines," McNealy said. "You won't have to bring in 15 different sales [representatives."

McNealy also referred to the $5.9 billion he said Sun has in the bank, aiming his comments at industry critics who have speculated on the company's hopes for longevity amid its recent financial problems and dismal stock price, which was just under $3 at press time.

"No company ever went out of business for too much cash," McNealy said.

He did warn, however, not to ask him when the economic slump would turn around, saying only that he is sure it will.

"It has to," McNealy insisted, then paused and stared firmly at the crowd. "It has to."

Though McNealy's speech remained straightforward for the most part, it was not without his typical dry humor. In addition to outlining Sun product and organizational accomplishments, he also mentioned one "nonaccomplishment" of which he said he is proud.

"I have yet to see a Sun executive's picture at the post office," McNealy said, loosely alluding to the recent spate of executive arrests on SEC violations.

One thing McNealy did not cover in his keynote was news, though he said there would be plenty at the show this week, including the much-anticipated introduction of a desktop Linux product.

Among Wednesday morning's announcements was a press release about a new desktop client, although it was not specified in the release if it was strictly for the Linux market.

The new client combines hardware; Java Card technology; a desktop software environment based on open-source technologies Linux, Mozilla, OpenOffice, Evolution and GNOME; and a server for identity, portal and messaging capabilities.

Details on the new client were limited at press time, but Sun is expected to hold a press conference about the new offering later Wednesday.

Sun also released the Sun Interoperability Prototype based on the Liberty Alliance Specification, which was launched earlier this year.

The Java-based Interoperability Prototype, available for free to developers, allows developers to test applications for compliance with the Liberty spec. A more robust version of the technology is expected to be available in a future release of Sun's Network Identity Server.

Liberty is a network identity specification that allows users to use single sign-on for Liberty-supported portals and Web sites those users choose to link together.