I'm often asked by
resellers whether they can are eligible to be added to the
worldwide
SPARC reseller directories on the
SPARC Product Directory
even if they aren't official Sun resellers (or iForce partners, SunBeams or
whatever Sun is
going to call them next.)
Of course my answer is always "yes
of course". If a company is actively marketing SPARC systems, that
increases customer choice. And whatever else may be on the agenda the primary
role of a directory publisher, like this one, has to be - to support a
competitive market.
If all of you were happy to buy only those
products made (or resold) by Sun Microsystems, and only from the companies that
Sun has decided you can buy from, based on where you happen to be, or some
other demographic which Sun decides is important, you'd have a very restricted
choice.
There was a time your Sun rep would be saying "Sorry? You
want a Sun server in a
compactPCI
card? That sounds interesting. Come back in a few years time and we'll see if
there's enough demand." Instead you bought it first from Force Computers,
and then waited a year or so to get a similar product from Sun. The same goes
for SPARC portables, parallel processing and other desirable functions, all of
which were
introduced first by
3rd parties. Independent Sun VARs were the first companies to innovate Sun
workstations in the early 1990s by supplying double speed processors, faster
processors and board level upgrades. Without that competitive pressure the
market would have plodded along at a much slower pace, because not everyone can
afford to scrap older systems and start again.
The other thing which
the Sun rep, in a "controlled" market would like to do, is determine
the price you're going to pay for that Sun server.
One of the
most important roles of the Independent Sun VARs has been to increase price
competition within the Sun user base. As a buyer you benefit from that influence
even if your order goes to an official Sun VAR. The official Sun VARs are
looking over their shoulder all the time to see what's happening in the "gray"
market. They can't afford to ignore it. The "gray" market also suits
Sun and its distributors when they want to dump excess inventory. Where do you
think that the product comes from in the first place? It comes out of Sun's
factories.
And what about technical support? You can get the same
warranty, upgrades and service
options that you can from the SunBlest partner, but often with a faster
delivery or a lower price.
Aren't these "gray" Sun VARs
fly-by-night outfits? How can you be sure they're solid?
How can you
be sure that Sun Microsystems itself is solid? Recently it's been looking a
bit tired and flaky. Things are getting better there now. But it's hard to tell
how solid any company is from the outside. Remember ENRON? That was a safe bet -
it would seem - if you were a qualified accountant.
The reality is
that many of these "gray" companies have been selling Sun a lot
longer than the newest iForce partners which you hear about from time to time in
Sun's press releases. ...And then never hear from again because often they're
not really resellers at all, they're just organisations which use a lot of Sun
servers and want to get a better price. (But that's another story.) Many of
these "gray" Sun VARs have been selling Sun for 10 years or more. Some
of these companies are as old (or even older) than Sun itself.
Let's
face it. Any company which actively markets Sun in these days of Sun's faded
glory is not doing it as a "get rich quick" scheme. They're doing it
because they love the product, work hard to satisfy their customers, and provide
a service which is different from and sometimes better than you will get from
Sun's own appointed. And the independents have the scars to prove it.
Finally,
the biggest source of Sun products will always be the official Sun resellers.
But without the Independent Sun VARs - it wouldn't be a real market. So check
out their stalls from time to time. You might spot a bargain. |
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| SPARC History |
Spellabyte and
Terrorbyte loved sitting around
the campfire, discussing the good old days
of
SPARC computing. | |
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Squeak! -
Animal Brands and Metaphors in the Storage Market
Animal
marketing metaphors are popular in service industries, but you'd be surprised
how many companies have used animals in their marketing of data storage
products and services.
The storage market was worth over $150 billion
in 2005, and as it gets bigger - more companies will turn to animal brands to
help differentiate their otherwise bland products and lend them artificial
(or deserving) characters and virtues.
The idea behind this type of
marketing is to suggest positive connotations so it's unlikely that anyone will
choose to associate their products with gremlins. But you may be surprised by
the population of the storage ark.
This reference articles lists all
known companies who have furry marketing brands, and also includes some which
are slimy, scaly and scary too. ...read the article,
Mice in storage |
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Sun/SPARC Resellers in
the USA
Sun/SPARC Resellers in
the UK