Sun Microsystems has launched an aggressive software strategy, tackling an area of the supplier?s business that many experts believe has underperformed.

The Sun Java Systems Strategy will allow companies to slash the cost and complexity of their computing environments, providing a viable alternative to Microsoft and IBM, chief executive Scott McNealy told delegates at the SunNetwork conference last week.

The strategy encompasses a series of new and rebranded products that will provide organisations with a Sun software package for as little as $100 (£62) per employee (see below).

'This is a pretty momentous day for Sun,' said Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice president of the company's software group. 'These are massive changes. Epic changes.'

The Java Enterprise system, formally known as Orion, will provide all the software required to operate server environments. The Java Desktop, codenamed Mad Hatter, will do the same for the desktop, with open-source products and StarOffice 7.0 providing an alternative to Microsoft.

The Java Enterprise Studio provides developer tools, while 'mobility with security,' as Sun calls it, comes in the form of Java-based smart cards.

The prices - $100 per employee for the Java Enterprise and $50 (£31) if you buy the desktop system as well - will be the same across the world with no local variations. The company claims it will be around four times cheaper to migrate to Sun than it would be to upgrade a Microsoft environment.

'We are going to recall the cost and complexity,' said McNealy. 'I think cost and complexity is driving everybody absolutely crazy. Chief information officers want "TCO:" take the cost out, but they also need security and availability.'

Services are included in the price to help organisations migrate to the Sun environment, something the supplier hopes will prove even more alluring. But it might not be Sun actually providing the services - partners include EDS and Accenture.

Sun sees an enormous market opportunity for its low-cost, bundled software approach.

'We believe this strategy will have a positive impact on our revenue,' said Schwartz. 'If you take just our top 60 customers they have 10m employees. If you times that by $100, that's $1bn (£618m), so there's a $1bn opportunity there alone.'

The company says it will be able to win market share from competitors such as Microsoft and IBM, arguing that price alone will drive customers its way.

'Everyone is moving towards networked services and our target audience is the entire planet,' said Schwartz.

McNealy admits that organisations with no cost constraints will not be persuaded. But he thinks everyone else is going to be interested.

For Sun to succeed in the enterprise software space it will need to persuade businesses to think differently and is relying on companies being happy to rip out their existing desktop software or server middleware, and replace it with something that may be alien to them.

'There's an anthropology problem here,' McNealy told Computing. 'But StarOffice takes about 10 minutes of training and then you're there. When we did it at Sun there was a lot of squawking at first. It is a huge anthropology change.'

The company also appears to be relying on its competition not reacting. It seems unlikely that Microsoft and IBM are going to lie down and let Sun take their customers if they really believe there is a threat to their business.

Analyst Ovum says the announcement is a positive move for Sun, but says it could be too late for the company to gain a serious grip on the enterprise software sector with many people unaware that the company even owns Java.

'Sun will have to fight to regain thought leadership, particularly from IBM, and in time regain product and service leadership,' said Ovum vice president, Alan Pelz-Sharpe.

Ovum is not so convinced about efforts in the rest of the supplier: 'Unfortunately the rest of the organisation seems to still thrash around.'

Sun wants to use its new 'recall cost and complexity' message in other areas of the business, and has also announced several new servers and hardware products, with lower price tags than in the past.

Whether Sun has the muscle to make a success of this remains to be seen. The company has to convince people that commoditisation and outsourcing is not necessarily the route businesses should be taking.

If competitors react and lower their prices it will be great for users, but could leave Sun somewhat overshadowed, with a great plan that backfired.

But McNealy seems satisfied enough with being different at the moment.

'As someone that named their first kid Maverick, I never believe in doing things the way they've been done before,' he said.

Sun's Java System Strategy

Sun's new bundled software packages are:

Java Enterprise System

Consolidates the Sun One application server and middleware products such as web server, portal and directory server. Priced at $100 per employee per year for unlimited internet application access. Java Desktop System

Formerly Mad Hatter, this includes new StarOffice version 7, Mozilla browser, Ximian Evolution email and calender, RealNetworks RealONE and Macromedia Flash. Price: $100 per desktop or $50 per employee as an add-on to Java Enterprise System.

Java Enterprise Studio

An integrated Java development environment and consolidated developer toolset including plug-ins, connector builders, code samples support and runtime environment. Price: $5 per employee as an add-on to Java Enterprise System.

N1

A systems management environment which provides virtualisation and provisioning services for storage, servers and blade servers. Newly-released N1 CentreRun 4.0 aims at one-keystroke deployment for any new shared services. (Pricing not supplied).

Sun Java Mobility System

An integrated environment for delivering services to Java-enabled devices including phones and PDAs - planned for future release.

Sun Java Card System

Provides personal authentication services for secure ecommerce and service delivery on Java-based smartcards - planned for future release.