Sun iForce Summit To Spotlight Partner Relationships

Originally planned for Sept. 18, 2001, but rescheduled after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, this year's conference comes on the heels of new Sun hardware and software products, including last week's introduction of the Sun Fire 12K midrange server, code-named Starkitty, and Sun's refresh of its storage lines in February.

That's no coincidence, said James Staten, director of strategy for the company's network storage division.

"Sun's value proposition is end-to-end infrastructure," Staten said. "At iForce, we will have smaller news and things since our recent announcements . . . mainly progress reports."

Between 500 and 700 OEMs, VARs, ISVs and master resellers are expected to attend the event, said Gary Grimes, vice president of partner management and sales operations at Sun. The company plans to discuss ways to update its channel model, which was developed in the early 1990s, he said.

"We're taking a hard look at all of our programs around the channel, certainly in the United States, and trying to figure out how we can adjust them so they offer a better business proposition and a little more relevance for our partners,and also meet our needs a little bit better than a program that was designed for the marketplace 12 years back," Grimes said.

Hank Johnson, vice president of the enterprise partner services group at Stonebridge Technologies, a Dallas-based Sun solution provider, said he won't be seeking new products at iForce but instead an affirmation of his relationship with Sun.

"I expect them to roll out more professional services offerings," he said. "Also, I'd like to see Sun talk less about Microsoft and more about Sun."

And Johnson could get his wish, at least on the the professional services end. At iForce, Sun plans to explain how it will engage the channel in services, according to Masood Jabbar, executive vice president of Sun's global sales operations.

"We'll share with our partners why working with Sun professional services is good for their businesses and good for their cash flow," he said.

Jamie Holzkamp, director of Sun systems and services at Forsythe Solutions Group, a Skokie, Ill.-based solution provider, plans to discuss the channel's evolution in one-on-one meetings with Sun at iForce.

"We want to talk about how the market is changing,Sun's go-to-market strategies and changes in their coverage model, such as the number of people they'll have facing the channel vs. those facing customers," Holzkamp said. "We've been feeding data to Sun over the past year via e-mails and surveys,not just us, but the competition and channel development partners [distributors as well."