Webinar with Scott McNealy and Jonathan Schwartz, and IDC analyst Stephen Graham: Get the Advantage: Success for Tomorrow's ISV

If there's ever been a time to consider the role of partnerships in your business goals, this is it. The next year promises to be a milestone for ISVs-more opportunities, higher potential business growth and more new business models than ever before. Forming the right partnerships will be essential to capturing all the evolving marketplace has to offer.

At this Webinar, you'll learn what challenges tomorrow's ISVs will face, and what new approaches will set them apart. You'll also see how a partnership with Sun can help you capture high-growth opportunities and position your business for success in a rapidly evolving landscape.

• Market characteristics and key success factors of high-growth and emerging markets
• Business model trends and issues, including Software as a Service (SaaS), partner networks, intellectual property, open source and the Software Broker Model
• Industry mega-trends
• Sun's most recent product and technology announcements, relevancy and opportunity for ISV partners
• What every ISV should know about Sun's future plans and how they will help drive incremental revenue
• ISV case studies—how ISVs of all sizes, from around the world, have realized business benefits from partnering with Sun

• Why more than 5100 ISV applications are running on the Solaris 10™ Operating System
• What Sun's market clout really means—more than 3 billion devices now running Java, and Sun StorageTek now manages 36 percent of the world's data
• Significantly increased Partner program benefits -comprehensive support, from technology adoption to marketing

About the speakers

Stephen leads a team of researchers responsible for investigating business issues critical to the success of software vendor ecosystems—including distribution channels, strategic alliances, developer partnering, pricing and licensing, and delivery strategies, such as software as a service. His team provides advice and counsel to firms around the world—from large multinationals to small startups. He is based in Toronto, Canada.

Over the course of his career at IDC, Mr. Graham has led several landmark studies, including The Financial Impact of Data Warehousing; The Financial Impact of ASPs; The Financial Impact of Business Analytics; Marketing Vehicles; and Capturing Mindshare Through Influence Relationships. He has also authored award-winning research on pricing/licensing and the impact of third-party influence on software sales. Mr. Graham pioneered IDC’s quantitative segmentation approach, since adopted by many of the world’s largest software vendors as their standard partner segmentation approach.

Stephen Graham holds an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University and an honors Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Waterloo.

Jonathan became Sun's CEO in 2006, succeeding the Company's co-founder and current Chairman of the Board of Directors, Scott McNealy.

Schwartz was promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer in 2004 and managed all operational functions at Sun—from product development and worldwide marketing to global sales and manufacturing. An inveterate blogger, Schwartz has led Sun's drive toward transparency and openness in everything the organization stands for.

Schwartz has been a leader behind many of Sun's open source and standard setting initiatives—from the open sourcing of Sun's flagship Solaris operating system to the Liberty Alliance, a cross-industry effort to drive royalty-free standards for secure network identity. He has been an outspoken advocate for the network as a utility with more than just value for the computing industry, but as a tool for economic, social and political progress. From 2002 to 2004, Schwartz served as Sun's Executive Vice President for Software and revolutionized the Company's software strategy with the introduction of Java Enterprise System and launch of the Java Desktop System.

Schwartz received degrees in economics and mathematics from Wesleyan University.

Scott McNealy co-founded Sun in 1982 and led its ascent to the global supplier of network computing solutions. Since taking the reins as CEO in 1984, McNealy has steered Sun to constant growth and innovation. His vision and business acumen have made him one of the most influential and widely quoted leaders in the complex, fluid and fast-moving IT industry. Throughout his career, McNealy has trained his focus on maintaining and growing Sun's reputation as a constant innovator and strong competitor.

McNealy's ideas about computing often predate industry trends. For more than a decade, he has been advancing Sun's slogan, The Network Is The Computer—a succinct statement of the company's vision of seamless connectivity.

McNealy, an amateur ice hockey player, shies away from controversial issues in the computer world about as much as he avoids a defenseman's check in the rink. His tenacity and willingness to address tough issues head-on have earned him both respect and admiration. Whether he's testifying before Congress or speaking out in favor of the U.S. government's antitrust lawsuits, McNealy can be found fighting for choice. As he often says, "Without choice, there is no competition. Without competition, there is no innovation. And without innovation, you are left with very little."

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