Sun touts 'low cost computing'

BANGALORE: Small business is big business in India and with resources being a

major constraint for SMEs, pricing and support are the deciding factors that

will make them look at branded products. In this regard, Sun Microsystems has

lined up several strategies to tap the SME segment. CIOL catches up with

K.P.Unnikrishan, Country Head-Marketing, Sun Microsystems to unravel those

strategies.

What's the strategy behind big players like Sun, IBM entering the SMB market?

Is it because the enterprise market is kind of saturated and SMBs are now

looking more focused on IT?



I don’t think it has much to do with the enterprise market being saturated
because it is not. The focus on SMBs is being driven by the fact that the

segment is witnessing growth and they are increasingly looking at adopting

information technology on a large scale. However this is not a new phenomenon,

we have been seeing this trend of IT adoption amongst the SMBs over the last

couple of years and today the momentum is certainly picking up.



There is a large SMB market in this country. These organizations are
increasingly working with larger enterprises and hence it is important that

their IT set up scales up to meet the demands set by their larger customers.

This is one of the prime reasons for a spurt in IT spends in this market.

What kind of opportunities does the company see in the SMB market?



We believe that there is a huge market waiting out there to be tapped and we are
razor focused on addressing it. As budgets tighten across the board, affordable

servers are becoming more popular and prevalent than ever before. Low-cost

machines are spreading through the enterprise--empowering workgroups, driving

specialized, dedicated applications such as databases and firewalls.



As far as Sun Microsystems is concerned we are delivering on our commitment to
low-cost computing by providing the best of enterprise value to SMB customers.

We ensure that customers have access to worldwide services and support; the

reliability, availability and serviceability of sophisticated enterprise-class

solutions; and the security and peace of mind of mission-critical technologies

that we offer.



The corner stone of our approach lies in our unrelenting focus on reducing
complexity and cost of computing which is music to the ear of an SMB customer

unlike some of our large competitors whose strategy is centered around injecting

complexity into the system or maintaining proprietary approaches.

What are your strategies to address this segment?



At Sun Microsystems, we are lining up our world-class systems, talent,
R&D resources and global network of partners to engineer cost and complexity

out. We are not looking at busloads of people to address these issues unlike

some of our larger competitors and that is the fundamental difference in

strategy. We are striving for lower cost of network computing, low cost

structure and finally lower total cost of operations and overall lower cost.



With the new Sun Fire V60x and Sun Fire V65x servers, Sun brings its
long-standing technology leadership to the x86 server market. These fast,

high-throughput x86 servers deliver a powerful Sun platform for an SMB and they

do it at market-beating prices.



By being able to run either the Solaris Operating System (Solaris OS) or
standard Linux distributions, the Sun Fire V60x and V65x servers deliver the

flexibility that an SMB customer would crave for with a healthy dose of

investment protection. Their management and security features also maintain

Sun's high standards.

What is the value proposition that Sun Micro is offering to the SMB segment?



In line with the business benefits offered, Sun Microsystems is focused on
targeting the SMB segment by meeting the challenge and taking cost out from all

angles, thereby providing uncompromising choice, innovation and value. Low-cost

network compute elements: SPARC and x86 systems, Solaris OS, Linux and Storage;

Low-cost solutions/deployment: Sun ONE, iForce, Java, Reference Architectures;

Lower total cost of operations: Project Orion, N1.



The business benefits offered by Sun include, taking the cost out in the
acquisition of hardware, operating system and layered software. We provide

solutions that offer development, integration and deployment.

What kind of trend do you foresee in another two-five years?



It is estimated that in India at present, over 40 percent of the total IT spends
is from the SME segment. The Indian SMB segment is currently going through a

transformation in terms of technology. Whether they are core manufacturers or

distributors, they need to automate their core business processes in order to

contain cost escalation and improve manufacturing capabilities. In India there

are hundreds of manufacturing units, which post revenues of more that Rs 50

crore and above.



Thus small business is big business in India and with resources being a major
constraint for SMEs, pricing and support are the deciding factors that will make

them look at branded products. In the future small businesses will be the

cornerstone of the economy and we are committed to delivering products covering

hardware, software and services at most competitive prices.