Sun Partners Unsure Of Market Potential For New Portal Server

Although solution providers say the Sun ONE Portal Server is one of the stronger products in the former iPlanet portfolio, they also say that Sun is still having a tough time selling its integrated software plan to customers.

"People are still saying, 'That's a nice portal you have there, it's an adequate app server, but I'm still going to buy best of breed,' " said Mike Landry, director of technical services for Toronto-based solution provider Burntsand.

Nevertheless, Sun is expected to describe more new products that are part of the Sun ONE mission at a press conference scheduled for June 19. Those releases will include an integrated Web services development platform comprised of the application server, portal server and directory server.

A key new feature of Sun ONE Portal Server 6.0 is identity management, which gives solution providers the ability to manage users and deliver multiple portals in an enterprise without compromising security, said John Fanelli, a Sun product marketing director.

The new release, which is slated to be generally available in August, also will run on competitors' Java 2, Enterprise Edition (J2EE)-based application servers and platforms, Fanelli said.

The portal will first be available on the Sun ONE Web Server. In December, versions for the Sun ONE, BEA WebLogic and IBM WebSphere application servers are scheduled to ship, while Linux and Windows versions of the product are expected to follow in early 2003, he said.

Fanelli would not disclose pricing for Sun ONE Portal Server 6.0 but said current pricing for the portal is $25,000 per CPU.

Sun rebranded its iPlanet software and Forte tools under the Sun ONE name in April.

Grady Crunk, executive vice president of Titusville, Fla.-based solution provider Central Data, said Sun's software message has been inconsistent, perhaps in part because of the brand consolidation.

"Customers are confused, people like us are confused, sales reps are confused, direct reps are confused," Crunk said. "They don't have a sales force that can sell this stuff [yet."