* Sun Services combines with SevenSpace to enhance remote servicing offering
I have had a number of conversations with Sun Services over the past few months regarding its goal to increase the levels of service the Sun division provides its customers. Sun Services says it wants to move to the “next level” of service delivery. Of course, everyone in the industry needs to do this but Sun has even more reason to: It is often viewed as the outsourcing “underdog” and it needs to differentiate from the pack.
So what does “the next level” really mean? If you’re Sun, it means two things: figuring out how to deliver higher service levels to its customers at the lowest cost, and supporting more than just Sun technologies. Essentially, Sun needs to drive its service levels “up the stack” to guarantee services at the application or even the end-user level, regardless of the platform that they’re based on.
Interestingly, one of the industry’s best-kept secrets is that Sun Services has actually been supporting many non-Sun platforms, including Windows, for quite some time. Unfortunately for Sun, only its customers seem to know this (I certainly did not until only recently).
These initiatives are crucial to extend Sun Services’ overall market reach, and to provide additional profit pools that could benefit Sun as a whole. To that end, Sun has been investigating strategic acquisitions.
On Nov. 29, Sun announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire SevenSpace, a privately-held company in Ashburn, Va. SevenSpace will broaden Sun’s Managed Services offerings to include heterogeneous environments, adding support for HP’s legacy HP-UX and IBM’s AIX systems, along with Microsoft Windows and Red Hat Linux.
“It is growing more evident by the day that ‘one size fits all’ outsourcing is history, replaced by managed services that improve service levels at reduced costs while allowing customers to maintain control of their competitive advantage,” said Marissa Peterson, executive vice president, Sun Services, worldwide operations and chief customer advocate, in a statement.
“Sun is focused on addressing these requirements for all platforms, not simply Sun’s. The acquisition of SevenSpace reinforces that commitment, and builds upon Sun’s remote servicing expertise to extend to a world of new customers,” the statement continued.
Remote servicing is a key advantage to outsourcers. This allows a service provider to support machines and users without having a person on-site – a key factor in keeping costs down.
Founded in 2000, SevenSpace currently has more than 100 employees servicing 145 customers, including CVS/Pharmacy, Relizon, Biotage, The Carlyle Group, and New Jersey Transit. The company also has strategic partnerships with Accenture, Verio, Forsythe, Inflow, and BearingPoint. This combination is a definite value-add for Sun Services, bringing a new set of customers and partnerships to the mix (not to mention revenue).
SevenSpace wisely provides full and partial outsourcing services and has developed a significant set of management capabilities, allowing the company to manage and guarantee service levels across the entire application stack. The company provides a comprehensive management portal, aptly named SpyGlass.
SevenSpace has an impressive portfolio of supported technologies, including BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere, iPlanet, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, WebMethods, Tibco, MQ Series, and Broadvision – all of which will be great additions to existing Sun Services offerings.
At the end of the day, the reason that enterprises outsource to companies like SevenSpace is reduction in costs and increases in service levels. SevenSpace claims that it can run IT up to 60% cheaper than enterprises can do it themselves, and it applies management technologies that allow SevenSpace to provide comprehensive service-level agreements to its customers. The company has invested in the IT Infrastructure Library, basing its processes on ITIL best practices.
In addition to providing additional customers and technologies to Sun, SevenSpace will help to provide key elements of Sun’s Connected Customer Infrastructure (SCCI), which aims to give customers a higher-level view of their IT environment while taking the administrative burden off of their shoulders. The next generation of SCCI, known as Sun Connected Service Center, will potentially leverage a number of SevenSpace technologies, although specific details are still sketchy.
Although terms of the transaction were not disclosed, pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Sun will acquire SevenSpace in an all cash transaction. The acquisition is expected to close by the third quarter of Sun’s 2005 fiscal year, ending March 27, 2005.
It seems to me that the SevenSpace acquisition was a wise move for Sun. The combination of services, customers, and employees from SevenSpace and Sun Services will benefit Sun’s desire to grow its services business, and help contribute extra revenue to Sun’s business.
I welcome your ideas, suggestions and comments on the subject of outsourcing; my e-mail address is below. Thanks for reading.
