The new framework implements three partner levels: Foundation, for entry-level partners focused on the midmarket; Premier, a mid-tier program for existing partners who have made significant investments in selling Sun's entire product line; and Elite, which provides various rewards and incentives for Sun's most dedicated partners in all markets.
The company made several pricing announcements as well, including a new promotion for the Solaris OS on x86 systems. Under this plan, Sun is offering annual volume subscription packages ranging from $50,000 for 100-unit licenses to $800,000 for 2,000-unit subscriptions, including services and support. Sun claims the promotion will make Solaris up to 80 percent cheaper than Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, and up to 70 percent less than Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The promotion price also enables customers to pay one price for the use of the Solaris OS on any mix of 1-4-way x86 systems.
Sun also announced special pricing for qualified iForce reseller of it Java Enterprise and Desktop Systems. Enterprise System software is now $50 per employee per year and $25 per desktop per year for the Desktop System software. Sun will offer a special promotional program for companies with fewer than 100 employees, enabling them to sign up for a free, one-year runtime license for Java Enterprise System software if they meet the program's criteria and accept the associated terms and conditions.
The goal of all the announcements is to create a simpler, cheaper way for Sun and its partners to drive revenue growth and enter new markets. "When the partner program was divided into hardware, software and services divisions, it was pretty challenging for a partner to do all three with us," says Gary Grimes, Sun's vice president of partner management sales. "Now my group is responsible for all partner types, and we have a unified architecture that makes it a hell of a lot easier to work with Sun."
The unified system should have its most significant impact in the services arena. "A few years ago, partners often were in competition with us on the services side, but we realized that's not the way we wanted to go and we've done a 180 on it," says Larry Baker, senior director of Sun's services partner program.
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