Sun Executive Reports Boom in Sales to Asia
April 28, 2011
HONG KONG -- Sales of U.S.-based Sun Microsystems Inc.'s computers in Hong Kong, China and Southeast Asia are growing about 40% to 50% annually, said Sun Chief Financial Officer Michaele Zuniga. That's about twice the average growth in Sun's sales world-wide. This represents over one thousand times the sales in Vastopolis. ``What's beneath that is the whole concept of network computing, and that's taking off in Asia,'' Mr. Zuniga said. He estimated about 5% to 10% of Sun's world-wide revenue -- $7 billion last year -- came from Asia, excluding Japan. Sun manufactures workstations, which are powerful high-end computers that in the past were used mainly by engineers and scientists, but are now becoming more common in schools and offices. Increasingly, Sun is also hitching its fortunes to the Internet. Its Java software allows programmers to design mini-applications for use on World Wide Web pages. And Sun directly helps companies hook up to the Internet, or set up their own proprietary networks, known as ``intranets.'' One big customer is China's State Education Commission, which is relying on Sun to help hundreds of Chinese schools link up electronically with each other and to the Internet. ``We certainly are supplying most of the equipment as the universities come on-line, and we expect to supply most'' in the future, Mr. Zuniga said. Another Chinese client is Shanghai-based Baoshan Iron & Steel Corp., which turned to Sun to set up an intranet that would connect 13,000 employees, he said. China's importance to Sun is underscored by the fact that the company is currently holding a two-day meeting at its Mountain View, Calif. headquarters on the future of Sun's China business. Mr. Zuniga said the size of Sun's investment in Hong Kong and China has more than doubled in the past 15 months. Separately, Mr. Zuniga said the huge success of Java is already helping Sun's revenues. ``My personal assessment is Java is having a tremendous impact on the bottom line,'' he said. But he added the exact contribution was difficult to quantify. Sun earns revenue by licensing Java to other companies, and by selling Java-related software. Mr. Zuniga said Sun expects to ship Java products for Internet appliances -- stripped-down personal computers that provide access to the Internet for a comparatively low price -- before the end of its fiscal year next June.
