Newsmaker: Sun's x86 strategist steers straight ahead

John Fowler holds half of Sun Microsystems' server future in his hands.

As executive vice president of the Network Systems Group, one of two server groups at the company, he leads Sun's belated but now vital push to sell servers using x86 processors. Only a small fraction of Sun's revenue comes from x86 servers, but the overall market has been growing consistently for years--and Sun craves revenue growth.

Sun's mainstay business, servers using the company's own UltraSparc processors, has been hit hard by IBM's charge into the market and the arrival of Linux. Now x86 servers are key to Sun's attempt to outflank its rivals. Sun has made some gains, ranking sixth in the x86 server market. The goal is to be No. 4 by the end of this year.

Sun's x86 push began in 2002 with undistinguished Intel-based machines running the Linux operating system. It picked up some steam in 2004 when Sun released its first servers based on Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron. But the systems were designed outside of Sun and lacked certain features, such as redundant power supplies, that were demanded by businesses. In October, Sun began selling its own Opteron servers designs, code named Galaxy and designed by Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim.

I'm not a basher. I may talk like a wild man, but inside the team we take a different approach.

Fowler, 45, is a somewhat unlikely pick for a hardware executive. His background is in software, including two years as Sun's software chief technology officer. When Sun's software chief, Jonathan Schwartz, was elevated to president in 2004, he named Fowler to the x86 server post.

Fowler discussed a range of subjects with CNET News.com, including his belief that Opteron will lead Xeon for years.

Q: How is 2006 going to be different than last year for Sun?
Fowler: I won't be explaining AMD anymore. We spent a lot of energy in 2005 explaining what it was about. In the enterprise part of the customer base, they've gotten that message. The second thing I won't be doing is answering the question, "You guys are in the x86 business?" Or, "Are you serious?" Customers have gotten their hands around the idea that this is something we're really doing.

But only a few months ago (Sun President) Jonathan Schwartz and others were saying customers still didn't know about your x86 servers.
Fowler: The Galaxy launch was huge. We measure penetration into customer accounts and awareness factors. We're getting there. In SMB (small and medium businesses), in particular, we're not well known. That's part of a longer-term thing to work on. But in core Fortune 200 we're known.

More Newsmakers

Sun has tried this before

They talk up x86 products.... but then go to spending money on Sparc.

It's the boy that criedt wolf, no customers belive them.
Plenty of reliable Opteron vendors out there.
Too bad.

Plus their disk channel controlers are a joke (RAID memory) are a joke compared to HP, Dell.

.V

[shreeg]

Bad Rap

One does not see any such thing in this interview as you mention. In fact, John Fowler seems to have his head on his shoulders talks straight. He clearly acknowledges that there is a change in Sun in terms of x86 and Sparc servers coexisting providing choice to customers.
If their products were a joke, they would not have customers. Their revenues and server shipments have been growing in the last several quarters and show that they have good customers. I have been following this company's rise, fall, and now their resurgence and I think they are doing well to address their customers.
Give them credit where its due, and file priority escalations with them if you find problems with their products.

[andrew243]

Sun has not tried this before

Except for a very brief flirtation with Intel when Sun produced the Sun 386i workstation Sun has never up to now developed their own x86 systems.

Things have now changed, the X2100-X4XXX servers are Sun designs so are the 8 socket rack mounts and Blade servers.

The X series systems are very decent looking servers and if the 8 socket systems and the blades are similar then Sun will have a very competitive end to end x86 server range all designed in house.

This is a possition that Sun have never been in before

[airbns]

Something's not right with you.

How can someone make a comment as specific as Sun's disk channel controllers and not know anything at all about Sun's product roadmap?

Unless perhaps your comments are based on information a couple of years old. Perhaps they reflect your having ceased to pay attention to what they've been up to for the last two years.

Or unless there's an agenda, maybe?

Sun has tried this before

They talk up x86 products.... but then go to spending money on Sparc.

It's the boy that criedt wolf, no customers belive them.
Plenty of reliable Opteron vendors out there.
Too bad.

Plus their disk channel controlers are a joke (RAID memory) are a joke compared to HP, Dell.

.V

[shreeg]

Bad Rap

One does not see any such thing in this interview as you mention. In fact, John Fowler seems to have his head on his shoulders talks straight. He clearly acknowledges that there is a change in Sun in terms of x86 and Sparc servers coexisting providing choice to customers.
If their products were a joke, they would not have customers. Their revenues and server shipments have been growing in the last several quarters and show that they have good customers. I have been following this company's rise, fall, and now their resurgence and I think they are doing well to address their customers.
Give them credit where its due, and file priority escalations with them if you find problems with their products.

[andrew243]

Sun has not tried this before

Except for a very brief flirtation with Intel when Sun produced the Sun 386i workstation Sun has never up to now developed their own x86 systems.

Things have now changed, the X2100-X4XXX servers are Sun designs so are the 8 socket rack mounts and Blade servers.

The X series systems are very decent looking servers and if the 8 socket systems and the blades are similar then Sun will have a very competitive end to end x86 server range all designed in house.

This is a possition that Sun have never been in before

[airbns]

Something's not right with you.

How can someone make a comment as specific as Sun's disk channel controllers and not know anything at all about Sun's product roadmap?

Unless perhaps your comments are based on information a couple of years old. Perhaps they reflect your having ceased to pay attention to what they've been up to for the last two years.

Or unless there's an agenda, maybe?

[chassoto--2008]

He's right about one thing

Virtualization is going to change the computing landscape. We're
not that big, and we're already dumping racks full of 1U servers in
favor of MP blade servers running VMware. Sun, just like HP and
IBM, produce solutions that would work very well in this space.
Despite being late to the game, if they actively pursue partnerships
with the likes of VMware, they will assure a place for their Opteron
offerings, all the way up to the 8-socket lines.

[chassoto--2008]

He's right about one thing

Virtualization is going to change the computing landscape. We're
not that big, and we're already dumping racks full of 1U servers in
favor of MP blade servers running VMware. Sun, just like HP and
IBM, produce solutions that would work very well in this space.
Despite being late to the game, if they actively pursue partnerships
with the likes of VMware, they will assure a place for their Opteron
offerings, all the way up to the 8-socket lines.