Advice for Sun

4:50 PM -- Because Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) has a few execs in new leadership roles, we've turned to you, gentle readers, for suggestions. In our latest poll, we've asked for and received some advice that new CEO Jonathan Schwartz and storage EVP David Yen might use to straighten things out. (See Sun Changes, Sun Takes Action Amidst Concerns, and Sun Switches Gears.)

The bad news is most of you who responded don't expect the changes will help at all. Fifty-two percent of the first 134 respondents don't think the recent executive shuffle will help the company regain its storage footing. Only 13 percent think the changes will help, and the rest aren't sure yet.

Only about one-quarter of the respondents think the executive team is the biggest threat to Sun. (At least not yet, anyway.) Lack of product innovation is considered the major liability, per 34 percent of those who responded. Lack of effective integration of StorageTek was identified as the major threat by 26 percent, with the executive team right behind at 25 percent. (See StorageTek Users Voice Support Fears.)

But enough for placing blame. What do our readers think Sun can do to make things better? Forty-four percent say Sun's primary data center focus should be on integrating services, storage, software, and servers, compared to 34 percent who think the focus should be on servers, and 16 percent who think storage should be the company's focus. (See Sun Unveils Services.)

When asked about Sun's best approach to product development, 56 percent think sizeable in-house development backed by some OEM deals is most advisable, compared to 23 percent who think the focus should be OEMs, and 14 percent in-house development alone.The good news (well, the not-bad news) is that Sun may be heading in the direction favored by the majority of readers. Executives disclosed plans to integrate servers and storage during the company's quarterly product launch this month. (See Sun Ships Little, Talks Big.) Further, Sun has spent a lot of time developing its Honeycomb clustered archiving system and identity management software.

Now if Sun could only get past the big picture stage and deliver the goods, it might make some progress.

If you haven't taken the poll, we invite you to do so. Click here.

Dave Raffo, News Editor, Byte and Switch