Sun Microsystems Inc on May 01, announced new data storage hardware and software offerings, broadening its focus on the fast-growing storage industry and aiming to build on its $4.1 billion acquisition of Storage Technology Corp.
Some of the products bring identity management to data storage - essentially controlling who in a company has access to what - while others aim at making data retrieval and management smarter and easier for its customers, which include financial services and telecommunications companies as well as the US government.
Since entering the storage market in the dot-com boom, Sun has struggled to build and maintain market share, analysts said. But in recent quarters, the computer maker has stabilised that business and has improved the number of Sun servers that link up with Sun storage devices, rather than those from competing vendors such as EMC Corp.
"They have definitely stumbled around trying to understand their place in the world of storage," said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst at market research firm Enterprise Strategy Group. "But they have acknowledged it's a business and have shored up their installation base."
The announcements come after Sun last week announced Scott McNealy, chief executive of Sun for 22 years, would pass the baton to his hand-picked successor Jonathan Schwartz, president and chief operating officer. Schwartz is now CEO and president, and McNealy remains a full-time Sun employee and chairman of the board.
The announcements also mark the first time that Sun has tightly linked its Solaris version of the Unix operating system with its data hardware and software, Duplessie said.
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