Sun Spotlights Its 2004 Channel Roadmap

This year's summit comes on the heels of a rocky week in which Sun was buffeted by a dismal earnings report, corporate restructuring, and rumors—which proved unfounded—that it was abandoning its Ultra SPARC line.

The Summit opens tonight with keynotes from Sun chairman and CEO Scott McNealy and the company's new president and chief operating officer, Jonathan Schwartz.

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Topping the agenda will be a review of Sun's new channel programs. The company is expected to announce it is rolling two of its Sun Services programs-- Authorized Sales and Referral Program (ASRP) and ASRP Plus—into its premier Sun iForce program this week at the company's iForce Summitt in San Diego.

The move is one in a number of recent efforts by Sun to reduce channel conflict and direct more projects to its integration partners and resellers. Currently, Sun sub-contracts about 25 percent of Sun projects to partners. Channel executives have indicated they want to raise that percentage.

The re-organization of its channel programs, reported earlier this year by CRN, is one in a series of announcements expected during the four-day event which opens tonight at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego. The company is also expected to announce a new Java Enterprise System promotion for resellers.

A solutions showcase feature will feature a variety of Sun technologies, including the SPARC and x86-based servers, ESP server and the N1 Provisioning Server 3.1 blades edition, Java web services, StarOffice 7 and Sun clustering solutions, as well as exhibits from more than 25 partners.

Tuesday's agenda features networking and break-out sessions. iForce Partner Excellence Awards Reception and partners wrap up the Summit on Thursday with a golf tournament.