Oracle plans to continue Sun's roadmap practically unchanged, but it will move towards a direct channel model, said Nicky Sheridan, country manager at Oracle South Africa (SA), who believes this will improve service to customers and take away part of the "less value-added perspective of the business" from channel partners.

Oracle plans on altering Sun's supply chain from a build-to-stock model that keeps inventory on hand, to a build-to-order model that requires no distribution centers and will reduce freight and other logistics expenses, he said.

Writing for an ITWeb article, portals editor Kirsten Doyle covered Sheridan's message. When asked if moving to a direct model would mean getting rid of channel partners, Sheridan said: "Definitely not. Sun and Oracle have been partners for over 25 years and have focused on joint development of customer solutions. A number of solutions were, in fact, developed in collaboration by Oracle and Sun through their existing partnership.

"Oracle's business model is to empower the partners," he continued. "Oracle wants to continue strengthening its already complete solutions offerings and this is why [CEO] Larry Ellison bought Sun Microsystems in the first place. Partners are critical to Oracle's strategy and to delivering the highest levels of customer satisfaction.

"We work with partners to preserve and enhance investments, provide customers with choice, and drive open enterprise systems. Customers are expected to benefit from the expertise and innovation of Sun and Oracle's 20,000-plus partners around the world."

Sheridan also noted that no retrenchments are planned globally, but there will be a "natural movement" in the industry. "We will, in fact, be looking to hire more people to integrate Oracle and Sun's offerings, and ensure customers benefit from the joint value proposition we have to offer," he said.

Adding to Sheridan's thoughts, Oracle-Sun Senior Director of product strategy Nick Cock said the combined companies plan on spending $4.3 billion a year as Oracle modernizes some of Sun's product lines.

Oracle has stated that it no longer makes sense for companies to focus on a single aspect of technology, because as the industry has matured, the rate of innovation taking place in these areas has slowed, reported Doyle. The company believes it makes business sense to engineer the various pieces to work better together.

More Information

No Oracle, Sun retrenchments in SA - ItWeb article

Oracle Expects Profit from Sun Sooner Rather Than Later

Oracle's Financial Analyst Discussion (Transcript)

Oracle's Game-changing Corporate Technology Play

Oracle's Plans for Sun Products, Technologies [...read more...]

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