Sun Merges Server And Storage Business

It is no secret that in the last few years Sun has had a tough time with its server and storage business units. Especially on the storage front, the company has struggled for years to build a strong storage business.

Earlier this Monday, company CEO Jonathan Schwartz announced to the world that he intends to combine Sun’s server and storage businesses in order to better position themselves in the market and further increase Sun’s focus on storage.

“I’m radically increasing Sun’s focus on storage today,” wrote Schwartz. “Why? Because the market’s only going to grow, for as long as we’re on this earth, and I believe our talent and assets give us a big sustainable advantage - that we’re planning on exploiting. Aggressively.”

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The new group will be called Sun Systems and will work towards aligning the company’s server, storage, virtualisation and networking technologies.

Schwartz believes that convergence of computing, storage and networking will be the norm going forward. “This is what data centre managers are starting to ask for and we want to be in a position to innovate on their behalf, at the system level, beyond the boxes – across blades, racks, disk, and tape,” he said.

Sun’s new strategy entails a strong focus on being a multiplatform storage vendor similar to how its servers run multiple operating systems.

“But we’re also going to start talking at a higher level to customers that see more standardisation and integration in their future datacentres. That’s not everyone, but it’s definitely a trend we’re going to accelerate,” added Schwartz.

Sun’s move comes just two months after a Goldman Sachs survey of 100 IT execs at Fortune 500 companies concluded that the company is struggling in its servers and storage businesses and losing market share to its competitors.

Industry watchers in general seemed to have welcomed the move as they think that combining server and storage sales will better Sun’s chances of improving its systems hardware and services business.

Now whether Sun’s efforts actually translate into improving its storage business is something that we’ll have to wait and see.