Six Issues That Sun Resellers Want Oracle To Address

Sun Microsystems’ solution providers had a lot of questions for Oracle at the recent Avnet Technology Solutions Partner Summit in Colorado. Unfortunately, Oracle (which is still finalizing the channel program for Sun VARs) didn’t have a lot of answers. Here’s a look at what six VARs want Oracle to address.

“We are a services company. We sell product after the fact. And I hope through this [integration] they will open up service delivery to partners.”

“I’ve been selling Oracle for about four years and I used to be a Sun reseller. I want to get back in [with Sun] but I’m getting mixed messages when they talk to us. The roadmap into Oracle is not clear and I’m hoping Avnet can work with us.”

“I’d like them to get the word out that we’re better and badder. Sun has great products and a long history of channel partnerships. Get it out there. Let everyone know that we’re back.”

“There’s a couple of issues but the most important is service renewals. All the rest we can deal with. They’re stripping that chunk of margins away. We administer Sun services and Oracle is taking it all. For a small company, that’s pretty meaningful.”

“Communication, as in lack of. And the lack of a sense of urgency. They need to think more about the customer. The customer is us, and also our customers. Also, delivery has become an issue. Four to six weeks is not good. It’s pretty much across the board [in terms of products affected].”

“One issue I’d like to see addressed is clarity on market verticals. Where is the pricing model? We specialize in higher education and Sun had standardized pricing [discounts]. With Oracle, there’s no more standards. You send in a [request] and they might approve it.”