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Customers Choose Sun(SM) Managed Services as Preferred IT Sourcing Option for Scaling Out the Network Computer

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 December 2003, 06:00 CST

BERLIN, SunNetwork 2003 Conference and Pavilion, Dec. 3

/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced new customers in a growing list for whom Sun(SM) Managed Services have helped scale out their network computing operations while allowing them to retain control over their IT resources. DaimlerChrysler Consult Graz; Petroleo Brasileiro, S.A. (Petrobras) and United Utilities have used customized Sun Managed Services engagements to help them achieve measured improvements in IT operations and reductions in risks, costs and complexities.

Launched five years ago across Europe, Sun Managed Services are deployed today in over 100 active engagements around the world, including nine out of the 10 largest global auto manufacturers, eight out of the 10 largest global telecommunications operators and six out of the 10 largest retail banks. Customers are turning to Sun Managed Services because, unlike other services providers, Sun offers a flexible IT sourcing approach. Sun can manage all or part of an IT operation to meet customers service level agreements on a short or longer term basis. Sun can continue to manage the data centers as needed or will return streamlined and optimized operations back to customers when they choose to reassume management with their own staffs, often better trained by Sun. Furthermore, Sun can team with best-in-class partners to leverage their expertise to support diverse and heterogeneous platform environments including IBM mainframe, Windows, and a variety of Linux systems across a wide spectrum of applications and industries.

"With the increasing complexity of technology, companies often find that they cannot efficiently manage their IT environments with their own in-house resources," stated Patricia C. Sueltz, executive vice president, Sun Services. "Using Sun Managed Services, customers can offload their IT operations and management pains to us and our partners, and when our customers are ready to reassume operations, they can simply tell us to go."

Major Companies Using Sun Managed Services

DaimlerChrysler Consult Graz

DaimlerChrysler Consult Graz of Austria offers IT services from its Graz-based data center to DaimlerChrysler AG worldwide. As the IT-department has been growing constantly in recent years, DaimlerChrysler Consult Graz decided to extend the IT operations and the service offering portfolio to new customers both inside and outside the company. Doing so meant additional investments in facilities, human resources, hardware and software as well as a comprehensive IT-focused reorganization of the whole Austria-based company. Sun assigned a Managed Services team to assist in the reorganization of the internal processes. Starting with a datacenter assessment, Sun Services designed ITIL framework-based processes, defined new roles within the operations team at DaimlerChrysler Consult Graz and implemented with the customer new service support and delivery processes. As a result of this engagement, DaimlerChrysler Consult Graz saw improvements in efficiency through streamlined operations as well as a reduction in operation cost.

Petrobras

Petrobras is the leading energy company in Brazil and one of the 20 largest oil companies in the world. With a large, heterogeneous data center environment, Petrobras needed help managing its army of servers and storage systems and the myriad enterprise applications supported by them. Having received proposals from leading IT consulting companies, Petrobras chose a Sun Managed Services Site Management engagement because it was a more cost-effective option, as well as the best choice to help enhance quality-of-service requirements associated with backup and restore operations while concurrently improving associated operational and administrative efficiencies. As a result of the Site Management engagement, Petrobras has seen significant operating improvements, including a reduction in backup errors from 40 percent to 0.8 percent, an improvement in administrative productivity of 150 percent and a 72 percent reduction in the amount of time required to backup its Lotus Notes applications.

United Utilities

United Utilities Service Delivery (UUSD), one of three separate business units within United Utilities plc, is responsible for the management and operation of the group's licensed water, wastewater and electricity distribution network assets in North West England. As part of a major capital investment program to deliver significant infrastructure improvements and support the delivery of two business applications, Sun was chosen to help UUSD develop a highly resilient and scalable joint platform solution, designed, configured, tested and implemented through a Managed Services engagement. Sun designed a new operational environment for them that included service level management, change, configuration, problem, release, implementation and incident management. As a result of the engagement, UUSD was able to achieve the scalability to accommodate more applications and therefore achieve a much quicker return on investment. Moreover, the inherent built-in resilience of the solution provides a very strong disaster recovery capability, and a highly reliable 24x7 solution in a very economical way.

The Sun Managed Services portfolio includes SunReady(SM) Availability Assessment services, Interim Operations Management, Site Support, Sun Sigma Services SLAs -- the process, method, and tools required for managing service levels and skilled staff contracted to cover skills or staffing gaps. For more information on Sun's Managed Services offerings, go to sun.com/service/managedservices

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer(TM)" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com/ .

NOTE: Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, SunReady and "The Network Is The Computer" are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and in other countries.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Frank Smith

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

650-786-7215

franke.smith@sun.com

Randy Schultz

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

303-272-8223

randy.schultz@sun.com

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