Sun Takes Action Amidst Concerns

New Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz is intent on overhauling the vendor's storage story, making major managerial changes just weeks after taking the company's reins from Scott McNealy. (See Sun Switches Gears and Sun's McNealy Steps Down.) But users are still looking for the vendor to add flesh to the bones of its long-term storage strategy.

David Yen, the former executive vice president of Sun's scalable systems group, will now become executive VP of the vendor's storage group as Mark Canepa, the firm's former storage supremo, leaves the company. (See Sun Names Storage Boss.) John Fowler, previously executive vice president of x64 systems, will oversee both Sun's x64 and Sparc technologies.

"This tells me that Schwartz sees storage as an opportunity," says Greg Schulz, senior analyst at the StorageIO Group. "He's acting very, very, decisively. It appears that he wants to establish himself from the get-go as someone who takes action."

Sun, despite spending $4.1 billion on StorageTek last year, has not done a very good job of explaining its storage strategy up to now, says Schulz. (See Sun Closes on StorageTek , 2005 Top Ten: M&A, and The Power of Two.) "It's time for Sun to start articulating what they are going to do," he says. "They need to reassure [customers] about what is it that they are doing, why are they doing it, and when are they going to do it."

Users are still looking for more details on how StorageTek fits into Sun's grand plan. "I am not sure that I have seen an up-to-date roadmap," says an IT manager from a U.K. firm in the finance sector, who asked not to be named. "The StorageTek sales guys seem to be comfortable with their own products, but we would like more information on how those integrate with the Sun product roadmap."This user would like to know, for example, how Sun plans to integrate its storage and server product lines. He also is keen for Sun to help him deal with heat, space, and power challenges in his data center. (See Data Center Heat Wave, Vegas Blade Warning, and It's All Cool.) "It would be nice if they come up with some overall solutions," he adds.

Another customer is optimistic that Sun will deliver the information needed. "I have met Fowler and Yen, and they are very capable," he says. "I see this as the first step to merging the StorageTek and the Sun server product lines," says Neal Tisdale, vice president of software development at energy consulting firm NewEnergy Associates.

Tisdale explains that, because both execs have worked closely together in the past, it is inevitable that Sun's storage and server divisions will become more closely aligned. The decision to tie together the firm's x64 and Sparc technologies under one person is a logical first step in this process, he adds. "X64 and Sparc have a lot of the same subsystems, such as power supplies, onboard controllers, and chassis," Tisdale says.

Nonetheless, Sun still has plenty of work to do. The vendor has been steadily losing ground to vendors such as EMC, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Network Appliance, and the firm's recent quarterly product launch contained just a handful of storage announcements. (See Sun Sets on StorageTek, Will Sun Seize the Day?, and Sun Unveils Services.)

There are also specific gaps that need to be plugged. Despite user demands, Sun, for example, is yet to launch VSM Open, a tape management product for open systems that was already late when the StorageTek acquisition took place. (See StorageTek Users Voice Support Fears.)Recent events have also conspired to increase the pressure on Sun. Earlier this month, two of the vendor's main rivals in the tape drive space joined forces to double their market share. (See Quantum Takes Tape Rival ADIC.)

James Rogers, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch

Organizations mentioned in this article: