Sun Microsystems Inc will be restructuring its European operations over the next few months, according to sources close to the company, in a move that is designed to offer large customers more direct access to key engineering and development staff in Mountain View, California, as well as to top management right up to the company’s president, Scott McNealy. The move will involve the closing down of Sun’s corporate European headquarters, situated at Bagshot in Surrey in the UK, which is currently run by European vice-president Darryl Barbe and European director of business development Paul Massey. By location, Sun plans to divide European operations into three under its existing area vice-presidents: North (including the UK, Nordic countries, Belgium and Holland) under Bill Passmore; Central (Germany, Switzerland and Austria) under Helmut Krings; and South (France, Spain and Italy) under Alain Pechon. From July 1, they will report directly to Carol Bartz, vice-president of worldwide field operations at Mountain View, who in turn reports direct to McNealy. In practice, much of the de-centralisation has already taken place, with only one of Sun’s major customers still managed from the European headquarters. A similar operation is taking place in Japan and the Far East. Around 80 jobs at Bagshot are affected, but Sun hopes the change-over will be smooth, and intends to find places elsewhere for as many staff as it can. There will, for example, still be a need for some central administration services. Meanwhile, Sun is working on establishing a European presence for its subsidiary operations, which will be pan-European. SunTech is currently in the process of setting up shop in Paris, while SunExpress will also emerge in European guise over the next few months. As for SunSoft, which completed negotiations over the acquisition of Interactive Systems Corp at the beginning of the year, it is not yet clear whether or not the company will be run from Interactive Systems’ existing European facilities. Europe currently accounts for around 30% of Sun’s total turnover.
