| By Maureen O'Gara |
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| December 17, 2008 11:59 PM EST |
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1,887 |
Sun’s unsung Services unit, while not an EDS or IBM Global Services, is a $5.2 billion-a-year business and profitable, a word that rarely appears in the same sentence with Sun.
Anyway, it’s packaged up a trio of so-called go-to-market Rapid Solutions targeted at Web 2.0 build-out, data center efficiency and high-performance computing (HPC), sorta like what IBM started doing a few years ago although we confess we’ve lost track of that effort.
The widgetry, which calls for a standardized IP architecture along with Sun hardware and software – your basic reusable artifacts along with proven methodologies and best practices – is pre-architected and pre-configured into drop-in – supposedly affordable – solutions that simplify traditional PC management.
All the stuff’s still custom so there’s no standard pricing though Sun hopes to get to that point.
As a for instance, it’s got a Web 2.0-targeting Identity Provisioning Solution that Sun VP of services marketing Amy O’Connor describes as depends on x86 Solaris, industry standard servers, the MySQL database, the Glassfish app server and Java Identity Manager.
It’s basically a single sign-on solution that promises to lower help desk costs by 35% or more and shouldn’t be thought of as a cloud solution. Sun is still waiting for its cloud people to come down off the mountain and explain the company’s cloud strategy to the rank and file.
Then there’s the Managed Virtual Desktop Solution, an on-premises service that Sun will manage remotely that’s supposed to cut TCO by ~40% “with less than one-year investment payback.” It supports Windows, Linux and Solaris desktops.
The Red Hat-based Sun Compute Cluster Solution, targeted at SMBs, offers four different base configurations.
Besides its own people, Sun Service depends on some 4,000 partners.
Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025.
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