In a move that will see Dimension Data and Sun Microsystems expanding their market-share of the global online economy, the two companies have formed a global partnership.
"The agreement is a win/win for both our companies and for businesses as they move to the new economy," says Alan Cawood, group managing director, network services, Dimension Data. "Sun is the market leader in the enablement of dot.com, with over 80 percent of Internet backbone traffic in the United States running on Sun systems.
"To be able to maintain and service infrastructure for the online world globally, as is our strategy with global services, Dimension Data requires the strengths of the Sun offering.
"The latest IDC report* confirms Sun`s market leadership in the high-end Unix server market, with 32% market-share," says Cawood, adding that the role of the Sun platform within corporate data centres as well as fast-growing service provider, e-commerce and dot-com companies is undisputed.
"Globally, the Sun platform forms part of the mission critical environment of businesses looking to deliver e-commerce and customer relationship management (CRM) to their customer base. In an online realtime world, services need to be online and realtime - hence our partnership with Sun."
From a Sun perspective, the partnership will consolidate the core competencies the two groups offer both the South African and global markets for secure, reliable and scalable on-line managed network operations and services.
"The focus today is on delivering better network services to more people at a lower cost," says Stefano Mattiello, managing director of Sun Microsystems SA. "Businesses need to merge the predictability and control of the traditional data centre with the accessibility and energy of the Internet.
"The combination of our platform and expertise with Dimension Data`s strengths in the managed network and online services arena is a compelling offering for businesses today," says Mattiello. He adds that another plus is Dimension Data`s i-Commerce initiative. "With this, the Group is assisting companies to make the transition into interactive commerce businesses, through developing and implementing mission-critical e-commerce and CRM solutions. To be effective, these will need to run on reliable platforms, which Sun provides.
* International Data Corporation`s (IDC) first Server Tracker report for 2000
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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 power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to dot-com their businesses. With $14.2 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com.
Dimension Data Holdings
Dimension Data is a leading global network and interactive integration services Group which provides communications network services and e-commerce solutions to enterprises, telecommunications service providers and new economy companies.
Operating in over 30 countries on six continents, the Dimension Data Group is divided into the Network Services and Interactive Commerce (i-Commerce) divisions. The Group is one of the largest independent network and interactive integration services businesses world wide, offering customers truly global solutions.
The Group has achieved a compound annual growth rate of 106% in turnover and 38% in basic earnings per share in US dollars over the past three years