Sun layoffs signal new direction

Sun Microsystems made headlines last week with the announcement that it would cut up to 18% of its workforce. While much has been said about the layoffs and related departures (such as Rich Green's), there is another story here: Sun is in the midst of a massive, if possibly undirected, redefinition.

New business divisions focused on Application Platform Software and Cloud Computing and Developer Technologies demonstrate renewed commitment to software, with open source products like Glassfish, MySQL, and NetBeans at the fore. Less is being said, directly, about Java, which remains a bit of mystery from a company that recently took pains to switch its stock ticker from SUNW to JAVA.

In a discussion with Computerworld, IDC Analyst Jean Bozman noted that Jonathan Schwartz has intended for Sun to be "the category leader in open source for enterprise users." According to the Computerworld report, Bozman believes Sun officials hope to make money off of open-source technologies through technical support contracts and selling hardware to users. At the same time, the company clearly is not "getting the maximum leverage [it] could" from its open source products.

Last Friday's reorganization reflects the conviction of some shareholders, at least, that Sun Microsystems is fundamentally a software company. Whether that conviction has arrived soon enough, or has sufficient C-level backing to stick, remains to be seen.

Worth reading:

• Sun denies Bechtolsheim is leaving
• Schwartz says meltdown good for Sun
• Sun's layoffs, and who is Anil Gadre?