Sun's UK business leads the company's turnaround

Sun Microsystems' UK business outperformed the rest of the company over the last year, according to managing director Leslie Stretch.

Last month, the supplier posted its first quarter of worldwide sales growth for three years, up 4.3 per cent year-on-year.

But in the UK, revenue was up 12 per cent. In software sales, Stretch says the UK's performance was even better.

'In the UK we grew Java Enterprise System subscribers from the third to the fourth quarter much faster than Sun overall,' he told Computing.

'Worldwide it's growing 70 to 80 per cent, but we probably grew several hundred per cent because of some very big deals.'

But Stretch says there is room for improvement across the company, particularly in relationships with customer chief executives.

'I'm still frustrated,' he said.

'As an industry, I think we are failing to communicate effectively to chief executives. The industry is a lot better at interfacing with government, and our government is increasingly technology-savvy. But in the private sector it is lagging now.'

For the full interview with Leslie Stretch, see this week's issue of Computing, or visit www.computing.co.uk/analysis.

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