Sueltz Determined To Make Sun Services Shine

"Junior soccer is swarm-style, where all the kids just run all over the field trying to get the ball," she says. "In Olympic soccer, you play positions and it allows you to move the ball more effectively and score more often."

In Sueltz's eyes, Sun used to act like youth soccer, swarming all over the market after deals with little or no coordination with partners. Now, she's helping to improve the embattled technology giant's services unit by playing the partner game with a more mature approach to the channel. To do so, Sueltz and her team have concentrated on going to market with solution providers by creating joint opportunities and also offering subcontracted projects to partners.

In addition, Sun Services is moving beyond its proprietary technology by taking a more heterogeneous approach to services and solutions in the channel. "These are real strategic partnerships with innovative solutions," she says. "It's not just break/fix services around SPARC and Solaris."

Sueltz says she wants to increase the number of opportunities for Sun and iForce partners by building more solutions with partners using a variety of technologies and software environments, including Microsoft's Windows; that hints at how aggressive Sueltz wants to be in growing Sun Services. "My mother said I'm not blessed with patience," Sueltz says. "I want to grow at a good clip."

Now that Sun Services is moving the ball with its teammates, Sueltz may get her wish.