|
Q: Are you surprised at how fast the Internet is changing the way business is done? A: I like to think we were trendsetters. We always knew the PC-centric model of computing was archaic and cumbersome and costly, and that it had to change. Computing has to be more like the phone network. Q: With all the e-business activity going on -ó from Amazon.com selling books, to Ford, GM, and Chrysler teaming up to create an e-marketplace to get the best price on parts -ó what's your vision of the Net's ultimate impact on the way business is done? A: Every company, including ourselves, is scratching their heads to figure out how to survive. Whether you're a 200-year-old insurance company or a dot-com, you better think about this if you want to be around in 10 years. And it's not just about b-to-b or business-to-consumer. It's about every internal aspect of your company. Q: What's an example? A: Think about pricing. Is the standard price list going to...get replaced by auctions? For example, we sold five workstations in January on eBay, at a pretty good return -ó and we did even better in February. So we're trying to understand what this all means.... Maybe one day we'll just announce how many new servers will come off the line that week, and hold an auction...think about what the local Porsche dealer could get around here [in options-flush Silicon Valley] if they did that! Q: Sun has expressed lots of confidence in its ability to gain share in the next few years. How key is that? Do you think the Net will have settled down by then? A: I think it'll be 10 to 15 years before the dust settles. It's like the car. In 1900, it was impossible to know how it would revolutionize society. Q: What's the key challenge facing Sun? A: If the consumer is anywhere anytime, how do I connect to him anytime, anywhere -- and how do I then immediately connect up with my supply chain to get him what he wants efficiently. I don't know what it all means, but every man, woman, and child on this planet will be affected. Q: There's lots of talk these days about outsourcing various functions to Internet e-services providers. Sun was early to outsource manufacturing. What are you doing in this regard? A: There are people who think we could outsource 50% of what we do right now. I'm not sure about that. But this year for the first time every one of my division chiefs has to explain their core competencies to me. They have to defend every person -- because now there's the Web and outsourcing. Q: How concerned are you by the denial-of-service attacks that shut down Yahoo!, eBay and others? Could that slow down the development of the Net? A: People tap the phones, too. Things police themselves over time. In the future, we'll have the Internet police. I mean, credit-card fraud is now a federal crime. You do big time if you get caught. And that's how it will be for this. Q: Microsoft just announced its Windows 2000 software, which is aimed at helping Microsoft move into the high-end server market long dominated by Sun, IBM, and HP. How will Sun maintain its lead in this market against the Intel camp? A: Why are we going to beat Microsoft and Intel? Because on the Internet, most people won't care about technology. They just want things to work. I think the whole technology thing is kind of going away. I mean, why should our grandkids have to know how to boot up?... And those that do care about technology -- the ones running the big data centers -- will only care whether it delivers 99.95% uptime. Q: And is Sun focused on those people running the big data centers? Why are they so important? A: Yes, this is our $50 billion play... We don't all have power stations or TV stations or phone switches in our homes. If you believe in Web tone [the Internet equivalent of dial tone], you have to believe there's going to be a finite number of places with large collections of computers. Q: What is Sun doing to get its share of those computer centers? A: We've been amassing some of the resources to make this happen, to expand from a hardware company into an Internet company [with various acquisitions and an e-business software alliance with AOL's Netscape unit]. By 2005, with so much happening on the Net, the Web tone data center will have to be able to handle hundreds of millions of transactions a minute. That's why we're buying all this stuff. It's a freakin' hard thing to do. We think only a handful of companies will be able to do it. IBM should be able to do it. EMC will be there. Q: What about Intel? A: Intel's still trying to figure out how to make a PC. Q: What about Microsoft? A: They're not the thought leader anymore. You hear more about Cisco and Sun and others driving the Net. They understand that and they will fight change as long as they can. But the Net is a great leveling device. They've never had to build great products, and now they're going to have to. For the first time, the Net is going to make all of us win by making the best products and service. |
