Sun Building New Programs To Match New Products

The Palo Alto, Calif-based manufacturer announced a slew of new iForce initiatives this week at Net@Work, the annual conference of the MOCA division of Arrow Electronics.

The programs include Sun Learning Platform, a Web-based training tool that includes more than 400 courses; an enhanced ICAccess Portal; an iForce Enterprise Consolidation program that includes sales training, joint marketing and lead generation to better deliver consolidation opportunities; and a refreshed Sun Partner Marketing Program, Sun executives said.

"The last two years we have been too defensive. We are on the offense now," said Anil Gadre, chief marketing officer at Sun. "I believe we are sitting around the strongest product lines we've had in years. Everything has been refreshed in the last six months. We just introduced our new midrange products two weeks ago. Low-end is new. Storage is now something to be proud of. With Solaris 10, we are sitting on a product line that is end to end. Our biggest issue is we are sitting on a wealth of knowledge. How do we transmit that and get it partner"enabled."

New programs such as the learning portal will be key to Sun's channel success over the next year, said Greg Stroud, vice president of iForce partner sales at Sun.

"How we deliver intellectual capital for partners to deploy is critical," he said. "We also have a strong bedrock of demand. We have 20 percent to 40 percent volume increases across the board. That's due to good work in the channel. We have an invigorated channel community that is very successful today and excited about tomorrow."

The new programs are great, but the recent new product announcements were needed even more, said Bob Helmes, an account executive at GovStor, a West Sacramento, Calif.-based solution provider.

"What's more relevant to us is the way they've filled out the storage product line. The NAS box, that is an outstanding addition for us," Helmes said.