Will they miss that Sun shine?

BANGALORE, INDIA: Sun Microsystems delisted itself from the Nasdaq Stock Market on Tuesday, signalling that the much-awaited announcement of Oracle acquiring Sun Microsystems is nearing. As a company or an employer, Sun Microsystems had been a great family to be part of, and now giving it away to Oracle makes its members miss their good old days.

Speaking to CIOL, Director of Data Vision (a value added reseller for Sun Microsystem for more than four years) Ambuj Oberai, said that the acquisition is between two different companies, with complementing portfolio. From business point of view it is a great opportunity, but as a technology partner to work with, Sun had been one of the best companies to work with.

He said, “Unlike Oracle, which is a proprietor company, Sun has a huge portfolio of hardware like servers boxes. While the former is a direct, the latter is a 100 per cent channel company. Its channel community would comprise 80 per cent of system integrators, and ten per cent of value-added resellers and national distributors each.”

He shared that Sun's India business remained unaffected despite the the reports, though the falling shares of Sun in the market had been a concern. The hardware business continues to be a hit in the market with around  80-90 per cent market share and stronghold in telecom and banking verticals.

“Sun is the only company that has got its own hardware and operating system, which works as an advantage in a few tenders,” he added.

Another partner of Sun Microsystems based in Tamil Nadu mentioned that the acquisition had, no doubt, brought skepticism in the market, but continues its good business in the market. He said, “As a partner, we did not witness any major turn in the business. Instead, the clients were excited and are expecting special solution-based bundling of the two offerings.”

While the partners are excited about the days ahead, the employees of the company fear of layoffs and if not that then the expected integration with the new company.

An ex-technical employee, who recently left the company, said there is constant fear for job stability.

“As a company Sun has been a great place to work at. Great work and work-life balance, lot of new things to learn and grow. We do not know much about Oracle, so employees are just keeping the fingers crossed. Everyone would miss Sun,” he said.

Last evening, Sun Microsystems Inc. chairman Scott McNealy wrote to his company bidding good bye to the company. So far in India, the  spokesperson are waiting for the announcement to draft their plans.

Resonates, Olivier Palliere, senior ES engineer at Sun, in his blog, “I'll miss Sun as a company. It was an amazing time, and I hope the future will be as bright as our spirit.”