Announcement Summary
Certain options to SunSpectrum Service Plans are being transitioned. Phone Support for Unbundled Software Products available through SunSpectrum and the related Software Enhancement Option (-LIC) will be replaced with Sun Software
Support Service Plans. Support for Solaris Operating System, Bundled, and Embedded SW within SunSpectrum remains unchanged.
Certain Additional Fee Service Options, also known as uplifts, will also be transitioned to standard service
levels at this time. The most common options affected are:
- SunSpectrum Gold Two-Hour On-Site Response
- SunSpectrum Silver 24/7 Online and Telephone Support
- SunSpectrum Silver 24/7 On-Site Support
- SunSpectrum Silver Two-Hour On-Site Response
- SunSpectrum Bronze 24/7 Online and Telephone Support
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Key Dates
Last Order Date: April 15, 2005 *
End of Service Life Date: Varies based on contract duration
* The SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option for Sun Cluster will transition at announcement of the next Sun Cluster update.
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Intended Audience(s)
SunSpectrum Service Plan customer base using any of the following options: the phone support feature for unbundled software products, or the SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option, or affected SunSpectrum Additional Fee Services. Back to top
Recommended Product Replacements or Migration Plans
Current SunSpectrum Software Enhancement customers will transition to the appropriate level of Sun Software Support services at renewal of their support contracts. Customers currently purchasing the Additional Fee Services
can choose from the standard SunSpectrum service levels and remaining additional fee service. Sun Services will accept purchase orders until Last Order Date and honor existing support contracts until contract renewal. Back to top
Questions and Answers
Q. What is Sun Services announcing?
A. Sun Services decided to transition the unbundled software phone support deliverable of SunSpectrum Service Plans,
the related SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option, and the Additional Fee Services (Uplifts) to Sun Software
Support services and standard SunSpectrum service levels respectively to simplify its foundational support services
portfolio.
Q. What exactly is meant by Additional Fee Services?
A. Sun uses an uplift to represent additional service added to a SunSpectrum level of service. For example, a
customer may want a Gold plan for their V890 but would also like 7x24 On-Site Support (which is not standard at the
Gold service level). The customer is charged a percentage uplfit for this additional service.
Q. How does the SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option relate to the unbundled software phone support
deliverable of SunSpectrum Service Plans?
A. The SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option provides the entitlement to software updates and upgrades and is
complementary to the unbundled software phone support deliverable of SunSpectrum Service Plans.
Q. Why is Sun Services transitioning the unbundled software phone support deliverable of SunSpectrum Service
Plans?
A. Sun Services is phasing out the pho* The SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option for Sun Cluster will transition
at announcement of the next Sun Cluster update.ne support feature for unbundled software in SunSpectrum to simplify
its software support portfolio. By now software support for all unbundled software products is available through Sun
Software Support services.
Q. Why is Sun Services transitioning the SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option?
A. The SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option is complementary to the phone support for unbundled software
deliverable of SunSpectrum Service Plans. With the transitioning of this phone support the SunSpectrum Software
Enhancement Option is obsolete.
Q. Why is Sun Services transitioning the Additional Fee Option to SunSpectrum Service Plans?
A. The Additional Fee Services added a significant amount of complexity to Sun's portfolio. The elimination of these
underutilized options will greatly simplify the portfolio and significantly improve the quoting and booking
processes.
Q. What software support remains in SunSpectrum?
A. SunSpectrum still provides full system support by including support and maintenance for the Solaris Operating
System as well as bundled and embedded software products (usually drivers and firmware).
Q. What is the transition path for customers using the phone support feature of SunSpectrum support contracts
for systems and/or using the SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option?
A. Customers can transition to Sun Software Support services. Please see
http://www.sun.com/service/support/software/
for detailed information about Sun Software Support services.
Q. What will the transition of the different level of services look like?
A. Sun Services recommends to transition -LIC parts linked to Gold (SGLD) and Platinum (SPLT) level of service to
Sun
Software Premium Support and -LIC parts linked to Silver (SSLV) and Bronze (SBRN) level of service to Sun Software
Standard Support.
The migration path for the affected additional fee services will be to the closest standard service level that
doesn't reduce a customer's coverage. At renewal Sun will automatically prepare a quote with the service level most
closely approximating the current service and provide it to the customer. For example, a customer with Silver with
the 24/7 Phone Support option would be offered Gold.
Q. What does the transition phase look like?
A. Sun Services is already phasing out the SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option for selected software products as
new versions of these software products are announced and, in these cases, the SunSpectrum Software Enhancement
Option will no longer be offered for the new versions. This announcement is about the general EOL of this support
offering and affects all remaining software product and parts. This includes software products that haven't rev'd
recently, older product versions, or software products that are in sustaining mode (that are not being further
developed and hence no new version is expected).
Sun Services will honor quotes until Last Order Date (LOD) and existing support contracts. At renewal after the
LOD the customer will be asked to transition to Sun Software Support services.
At renewal of contracts with affected Additional Fee Options, Sun will automatically prepare a quote with the
service level most closely approximating the current service and provide it to the customer. For example, a customer
with Silver with the 24/7 Phone Support option would be offered Gold.
Q. What is the transition plan/timeline?
A. The EOL announce date is January 11th, 2005. Last Order Date is April 15th, 2005. As Sun Services honors existing
contracts these will be transitioned at the contract renewal date.
Q. For which current software products is the unbundled phone support and the SunSpectrum Software Enhancement
Option available?
A. The following products are currently listed on Sun Services price lists in the SunSpectrum Enhancement Option
section:
- Forte(TM) Devloper
- Micro Focus COBOL
- Micro Focus Server Express(TM)
- Netra(TM) Network Resilience and Reflective Memory
- Solaris(TM) Availability Manager
- Solaris Bandwidth Manager
- Solstice(TM) CMIP
- Solstice Enterprise Manager
- Solstice Frame Relay
- Solstice FTAM
- Solstice GDMO Builder
- Solstice OSI
- Solstice Site/SunNet/Domain Manager
- Solstice TMN
- Solstice X.25
- Sun Cluster*
- Sun HPC ClusterTools(TM)
- Sun Management Center
- Sun ONE Grid Engine
- Sun ONE Studio 4, Enterprise Edition for Java
- Sun ONE Studio 7, Enterprise Edition and Compiler Collection**
- Sun ONE Studio 8, Compiler Collection**
- Sun Ray(TM) Server Software
- SunScreen(TM)
- Sun StorEdge(TM) Component Manager
- Sun StorEdge Enterprise Backup Software**
- Sun StorEdge Instant Image
- Sun StorEdge Network Data Replicator
- Sun StorEdge Resource Management Suite
- Sun Trunking(TM) Software
- System Reliability Manager
* The SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option for Sun Cluster will transition at announcement of the next Sun
Cluster update.
** The SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option for Sun Studio and Sun StorEdge Enterprise Backup software was
already transitioned with the announcement of the latest upgrade/update. Additionally there are dozens of EOL'd
products still under contract.
Q. What parts are the affected by this announcement?
A. You can identify the affected parts by their suffix -LIC. These '-LIC' parts are booked on contracts against the
SunSpectrum Bronze (SBRN), Silver (SSLV), Gold (SGLD), and Platinum (SPLT) levels of service:
Note: There are also '-LIC' parts that are booked against the already transitioned Software Only (SWON) level of
service. As this level of service was transitioned with the announcement of the Sun Software Support offerings the
affected parts are already in transition. By now ALL '-LIC' parts are in transition independent of the level of
service they are booked against.
Since the Additional Fee Services are contracted utilizing Term Codes, there are no parts to be displayed. These
terms are usually called uplifts and are shown as discrete lines on a service contract. Specific customer questions
should be referred to an authorized Sun Sales Representative.
Q. Why did Sun have two different software support offerings?
A. Both the unbundled phone support and the SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option were originally introduced to
provide SunSpectrum support customers with a single, yet comprehensive, support coverage for the system and related
software. After Sun acquired the iPlanet software products it became necessary to merge the then different support
offerings. So S4 was introduced. Meanwhile the unbundled phone support and the SunSpectrum Software Enhancement
Option are available for only a low percentage of Sun's current software products.
Q. Will there be a price change?
A. Yes, for most of the affected products the transition to Sun Software Support services is related with a price
increase. The SunSpectrum Software Enhancement Option support customers enjoyed stable pricing for many years.
For the affected Additional Fee Service, the price impact will vary by region and specific uplift. In some cases the
price will increase slightly, while in others it will decrease.
Q. How are customers informed about this announcement?
A. Customers will be notified via two complementary channels:
InfoExpress/BigAdmin newsletter Mailing or physical mail
Q. Who at customers will be notified through the mailing?
A. All commercial and SW contacts of the affected support contracts.
Q. Which additional fee services will be eliminated and will any Additional Fee Services remain?
A. The effect to the standard additional fee services is summarized in the following table:
SunSpectrum Gold 24/7 On-Site Support No SunSpectrum Gold Two-hour On-Site Response Yes SunSpectrum Silver 24/7 Online and Telephone Support Yes SunSpectrum Silver 24/7 On-Site Support Yes SunSpectrum Bronze 24/7 Online and Telephone Support Yes
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