Darkness before the dawn

By Stuart Finlayson

Executives at Sun Microsystems' SunNetwork conference, held recently in Shanghai, admitted the company has made some errors in recent times, but is now firmly focused on turning the corner.

Anil Gadre, Sun's chief marketing officer, commented: "We are all very fixated on making this company profitable on a sustained basis and growing again, so we are doing lots of things simultaneously to do that, ranging from new products to new kinds of services that we think will really interest customers. We are also working very hard on reducing costs."

Gadre said the company was "doing some things that are more vertically oriented by industry, market tipping kinds of things that can cause growth to happen faster."

He added: "And then there are these new forays with new business models, mostly in areas where we have never been as a company, so yes, there is certainly an interest here in being nimble, figuring things out quickly, gaining traction fast, changing course and operating the business in such a way that we can react to the market."

While posting consecutive quarterly losses for a prolonged spell, as Sun has, may inhibit innovation, with companies looking to play things safe for fear of suffering deeper losses, Gadre insists the picture is quite the opposite at Sun.

"The last thing you want to do in times like this is have a mentality that is getting more inward. On some level it's actually more liberating because you can experiment a little more and take a few chances."

Paul Giroux, senior director of Sun's Data Management Solution Sales division, agreed that such a narrow view is not countenanced at Sun, from the top down.

"I think Scott (McNealy – Sun CEO) and the management team have been very good about not doing that, not just putting a bet on a single thing and hoping it's the winner. We are still spending a lot on R&D. Analysts beat us up a bit over that, saying that maybe we spend too much on R&D, but Scott is singularly focused on making sure we have a portfolio of IP that will be broad enough to allow us to make multiple bets in multiple areas.

"The company will turn around. The customers want us to win, as the alternative is one systems vendor left in the marketplace that is creating IP."

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