Sun Microsystems and KPMG Consulting today announced that they are expanding the scope of the activities under their Global Solutions Alliance to deliver a portfolio of solutions that can help clients shorten implementation schedules, reduce costs and decrease the risk of deploying enterprise applications. The first initiatives under this alliance will deliver ERP and managed services solutions for jointly targeted vertical markets, and will create a global Sun storage practice within KPMG Consulting to deliver vertical and horizontal solutions based on Sun StorEdgeTM Complete Storage Solutions.
“The Sun and KPMG Consulting alliance is a formidable combination of the right people, the right products and innovative thinking–it’s all about teaming to deliver best-in-class solutions,” said Ed Zander, president and chief operating officer, Sun Microsystems, Inc. “Our unique approach helps customers take advantage of new technologies while continuing to leverage their existing systems, rather than locking them into a single-source.”
For more than six years, Sun and KPMG Consulting have collaborated to reduce total cost of ownership and increase the return on investment for their customers in the consumer and industrial markets, public services, communications and content, high technology, and financial services industries, in addition to the healthcare market. Through their teamwork, customers have built rock-solid network infrastructures. New business offerings for mutually targeted customers will feature the SunTM Open Net Environment (Sun ONE) platform, Sun servers and storage, and leverage Sun technical consulting, training and support services.
“Our alliance draws its power from two well-matched companies who share a deep commitment to getting to market with customer-focused solutions to real business issues,” said Mike Donahue, group executive vice president and chief operating officer, KPMG Consulting. “Our strong relationship and proven ERP, managed services and storage solutions are a winning formula for customers.”
From Mid-Market to Fortune 1000 Enterprises
Sun and KPMG Consulting are collaborating to deliver proven pre-configured ERP solutions more quickly to mid-market and Fortune 1000 enterprises in manufacturing, financial services and distribution industries. KPMG Consulting’s new Rapid Return on Investment (R2iSM) Express offering expands on the KPMG Consulting R2i implementation and methodology toolkit, and is specifically designed for six- to 12-week implementations. The R2i ERP solutions have already been deployed on Sun EnterpriseTM servers at customer sites, including Toni and Guy International.
“KPMG Consulting and Sun were the right team to help us expand our infrastructure, integrate our back-office functions, and support distribution and inventory management,” Wade Peddy, chief technology officer, Toni and Guy. “By choosing these best-in-class partners, we were able to implement a solution quickly, rather than being locked into a long and costly evaluation and implementation process. We are confident the resulting solution will scale with our growth, and won’t break the bank in the process.”
KPMG Consulting Managed Services Offering
KPMG Consulting’s managed services offering can help clients address the cost pressures, process automation and security requirements that are common challenges for organizations worldwide. KPMG Consulting will host and manage client IT needs, from individual solutions to a fully pre-integrated infrastructure, on the Sun platform to help enterprises reduce their need to build complex IT operations organizations, hire and retain skilled IT resources, and manage facilities growth. KPMG Consulting is pursuing a number of opportunities with Sun for the managed services initiative, and already have projects under way with several clients.
Storage Expertise Ensures Data Continuance
KPMG Consulting will dedicate a Storage Practice initiative team to develop and deliver solutions featuring Sun StorEdgeTM Complete Storage Solutions. These new solutions will address major storage-centric customer requirements, including storage area networks (SAN) and data and storage consolidation for applications throughout the enterprise. These solutions will provide customers with service levels that are matched to application, a secure data continuance environment, and a lower total cost of ownership, while focusing on bottom-line results. KPMG Consulting’s practice will incorporate products based on Storage ONE, Sun’s storage architecture that was announced earlier this year. Based on the Sun ONE platform, Storage ONE is Sun’s architecture to provide customers with open, integrated, and automated storage management solutions.