Sun spokeswoman Lisa Ganier acknowledged that two Sun executives, Chairman and CEO Scott McNealy and President and Chief Operating Officer Edward Zander, recently made erroneous claims about Sun's worldwide market and revenue gains without having all of the relevant data. They just got caught up in the moment. McNealy made his comments during several TV interviews, while Zander made similar remarks at a third-quarter update two weeks ago, Ganier said. It's not like some PR person made a mistake. He added that IBM believes the Dataquest numbers are actually low for its sales and revenue.
Analysts say the rift has deeper roots.
Tony Iams, an analyst at D.H. Brown Associates Inc. in Port Chester, N.Y., said Sun has hurt IBM in the commercial server market, where Sun has momentum. Sun has made progress in recent years by adding acquired technologies, including dynamic reconfiguration, to its servers and by executing good marketing, Iams said. This is definitely a very heated battle now. Find out at a free Windows XP launch event starting 10.25.01. Computerworld Inc. All rights reserved.