Sponsored Video: When Oracle first acquired Sun Microsystems, Mohamed Elrefai had some skepticism and plenty of questions. As VP of

November 24, 2010

2 Min Read
GTSI Sees Oracle-Sun Opportunities in Federal Government

By Sponsored Video 2_2

mohamed elrefai gtsi

Sponsored Video: When Oracle first acquired Sun Microsystems, Mohamed Elrefai had some skepticism and plenty of questions. As VP of GTSI‘s Enterprise Solutions Group, Elrefai is a key executive within Sun’s largest federal reseller. Initially, he wondered if Oracle’s sales force would take business direct. Plus Elrefai worried Oracle’s research and development (R&D) plan was too ambitious to pull off. Fast forward to the present and it sounds like Elrefai is impressed with the Oracle-Sun business combo, particularly the Oracle Exadata storage business. Here’s the update, including a FastChat Video with Elrefai.

So why did Elrefai begin to believe in the Oracle-Sun combo? “Through discussions we were able to understand we’d retain much of the channel focus while having a much larger organization [Oracle] that really drove innovation and a new paradigm in terms of computing,” says Elrefai.

Plus, Elrefai believes many Oracle rivals underestimated how quickly Oracle could get out to the Sun customer base to explain the long-term roadmap. “The sum is certainly greater than the parts as it relates to Sun and Oracle,” he adds.

Indeed, federal customers are expressing strong interest in the combined Oracle-Sun solutions, particularly the Oracle Exadata Storage and Exalogic solutions, he says.

FastChat Video

But that’s not all. Here’s the entire FastChat Video with Elrefai. It covers:

  • 0:00 – Introduction

  • 0:15 – Elrefai’s initial reaction to Oracle acquiring Sun, and why he now believes in the combo

  • 0:55 – Selling federal customers on the Oracle-Sun roadmap

  • 1:45 – Is GTSI satisfied with Oracle’s roadmap?

  • 2:40 – GTSI’s reaction to Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized

  • 3:30 – Will federal customers use stimulus money on Exadata and Exalogic solutions?

  • 5:21 – Conclusion

Elrefai certainly sounds upbeat. We’ll check in with him in a few months to see how GTSI’s relationship with Oracle is progressing in the federal market.

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