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Sun Commentary
Free Advice for Sam Palmisano on IBM's Desktop Options.
By Jonathan Schwartz
EVP, Software
Wednesday, Jan 21, 5:00 PM PT
Recently, an internal memo from IBM's CIO surfaced detailing how Chairman
and CEO Samuel J. Palmisano has "challenged the IT organization, and indeed
all of IBM, to move to a Linux based desktop before the end of 2005."
Now we all know how rumors can take on a life of their own in the press, but
nonetheless I applaud IBM's efforts to reduce costs and complexity, and
wanted to offer the benefit of Sun's experience in making the migration. So
here are a few pointers.
1. Come on in, the water's fine.
First - we're not waiting for 2005 to migrate all of Sun to a non-Microsoft
desktop. By the end of this calendar year - potentially by summer - we'll be
there. What are we seeing? Dramatic reductions in outages due to viruses,
dramatic cost savings, little/no retraining costs for Windows users making
the transition, and no problem at all reusing old PC's and laptops to run
our desktop, the Java Desktop System. We're ready for enterprise deployment.
2. Sun's Java Desktop System can save you a ton of money.
You're probably familiar with Sun's Java Desktop System - it's the most
popular Linux desktop on the market today, featuring Sun's Java Virtual
Machine, the award winning StarOffice productivity suite, Mozilla browser,
Gnome windowing environment, and support from Real Networks, Macromedia and
Adobe. With deals signed from China to the United Kingdom, we're seeing
adoption accelerate. To help IBM with your transition, we can offer a
desktop for every one of your employees - with a free right to use the
desktop at home - for $50/employee. Consider this a formal quote from Sun.
But only if you're willing to buy in volume.
3. Sun's Java Enterprise System can save you a ton of money.
Given your recent decision to put Lotus Notes on ice, and that your
WebSphere strategy has plagued you with an integration problem best
described as "Middleware is Everywhere" - we'd also like to offer you our
server system, the Java Enterprise System, at $100/employee (with a cap at
$12M). For that one yearly fee, you'll acquire the rights to deploy Sun's
award winning web services infrastructure for directory, email, calendaring,
web/portal/app server, plus clustering, running on our industry leading
Solaris operating system (on either Sparc, Opteron or Xeon). You'll have the
rights not only to deploy these products to your employees, independent of
their access network, but you'll have rights to run your business, and
expose these services to your customers, suppliers and partners. Over the
Internet. All for $12M. Just think of what you could save - we're happy to
help.
4. Where's your commitment to Linux?
Finally, although we've always been disappointed that you've refused to
resell Linux, and the market's been disappointed at your unwillingness to
indemnify your customers for its use - as Sun's been willing to do since day
1 - what's most disappointing is there appears to be no real commitment to
Linux. Are you, or aren't you, moving your desktops?
I guess I just don't understand your Linux strategy.
Again, we're happy to help. With real products, that solve real problems and
save real money.
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