AKIBIA'S PRACTICAL GUIDE TO ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Reviewing Oracle’s Changes - Has the Sun Set on Sun Systems?
It has been an interesting ride following the ups and downs of Sun over the past ten years hasn’t it? Sun went from Wall Street darling to favorite kicking post and then eventually acquisition target of not just one big company (IBM) but by two big companies (Oracle).
Now that Oracle’s acquisition is complete and their changes for Sun hardware and support have been announced it is time for customers to determine whether Sun’s products and support will work for their environments over the short and long term.
What are these changes? Oracle has collapsed not just Sun’s Product Line, they have also shrunk Solaris users’ support options as well so Sun users no longer have the multiple SLA options that they once enjoyed (prior to the acquisition).
Apparently Oracle is following the Henry Ford belief that the customer can ask for anything it wants but in the end you’ll receive what the provider can give you. Conversely, many Sun users like having options and not just options as far as which SLA level for their entire infrastructure but specific levels for each system within their environment - based on specific needs and goals of each system.
Many Sun users held off on purchasing new equipment until Oracle announced its changes. With these changes now apparent, many Sun users are starting to reassess their Sun environment to determine whether the Sun platform can be a part of their long-term goals and plans. As we speak with customers it seems clear that many users are looking to other hardware vendors for their computing needs – Oracle’s changes to a more rigid, limited-choice structure are perceived as the final catalyst.
Many customers are rightly questioning:
- Why utilize a platform that locks you into one company?
- Why use a platform that offers only one SLA from that manufacturer?
Research firms, such as Gartner (subscription required), have recently issued reports informing the readers not to lock into one provider for anything in their data center and to instead dilute the risk across multiple platforms to ensure that each provider will be competitive and viable and to also offer multiple options to their customers.
Oracle is trying to force its customers into a no-option situation – limiting their choices. The problem is, Oracle has strong competitors, in both hardware and support, which means the customer has plenty of other options. Unfortunately for Oracle it seems apparent that most customers prefer choice, and they prefer the innovation that is driven by a competitive market. This is why we are seeing, and will continue to see more Sun customers move away from the Sun product line to other OEMs. Oracle is making a bad bet as enterprise customers are used to choice, and unwilling to be locked in by a single vendor.
