Sun ONE Strategy Pay Off With High Partner Satisfaction

un Microsystems' efforts over the past year to elevate the stature of its Unix operating system and strengthen its relationship with partners have paid off nicely.

In the annual Channel Champions solution provider satisfaction survey, Sun, Palo Alto, Calif., received the highest overall average rating in the operating systems and server software infrastructure category.

About 100 solution providers rated each company in the survey, for which about 505 interviews overall were conducted between November and mid-January. Only solution providers familiar with a vendor's products and programs were asked to rate that company, although qualified solution providers could rate multiple vendors.

Solution providers rated the vendors on 12 criteria. Sun's overall score of 73 came in ahead of Red Hat (69.8), IBM (69.1), Novell (67.9) and Microsoft (66.8).

Sun fared well on the channel criteria, edging past the field in five of seven areas, an indication that it has made progress over the past year in mending its sometimes rocky relationship with partners. However, its strong showing on technical criteria is what catapulted it into first place.

Sun earned top marks on four of the five technical criteria, beating Novell by 4.5 points in product reliability, Red Hat by 4.4 points in internet services and IBM by 3 points in scalability. It was in a near dead heat with Novell in the area of directory capability. Not surprisingly, Red Hat gave all the vendors a sound beating on price/performance.

One solution provider said that the availability of Trusted Solaris,a highly secure version of the robust Unix operating system,was a significant advantage in a year in which security concerns dominated the operating system category.

"Its Trusted Solaris security-enhanced operating environment has provided the foundation for us to create an entire suite of secure information sharing for our defense, intelligence and law enforcement customers," said Dow A. Williamson, vice president of marketing for Trusted Computer Solutions, Herndon, Va. "As secure information-sharing requirements become more prevalent, Sun will continue to provide partners like us with a secure platform upon which to deliver solutions."

Additionally, one Sun consultant said Sun's high rating this year can be attributed to the company's efforts to gather more input from channel partners in the development and marketing of Solaris and its Sun ONE software stack. "Sun began to involve their partners earlier in the product development cycle and reference partners in every product rollout presentation, improved presales and post-sales support, improved lead generation and closing mechanisms, and improved post-sale technical support," said Edward M. Broderick, a principal at the Robert Frances Group, Wappingers Falls, N.Y.

Of note, Sun prevailed equally well among small and large solution providers. In contrast, Red Hat was No. 2 among solution providers with less than $5 million in annual sales, but came in last among large solution providers. Those with $5 million or more in annual sales rated Novell No. 2, followed closely by Microsoft and IBM.

One Sun partner said efforts by Sun to elevate the strategic positioning of its Unix Solaris operating system and its Unix software partners in the past year accounted for the high rating.

"Solaris is becoming more important to Sun's business because their entire strategy is based on the Unix OS and N1, and more features are getting put into the OS," said Marc Maselli, president and CEO of Back Bay Technologies, Boston.

"It's a good strategy because it's a differentiator vs. HP and IBM as a robust enterprise operating system. And Sun is putting more emphasis on the channel and trying to score with partners," Maselli said.

One Sun official agreed that the company's increased emphasis on its entire software stack and enhanced channel programs have paid off.

"The breadth and depth as well as the open-standards-based nature of the entire Sun ONE portfolio holds strong appeal for resellers, enabling them to make money selling either the whole suite or a wide range of products that solve customer business issues today and to help them build a solid IT foundation for future business," said Barry Jones, director of channel marketing, Sun Software, at Sun Microsystems.