Sun Microsystems' global head of sales and services, Don Grantham, has resigned
from the company and is now senior vice president and chief sales officer at
rival Hewlett-Packard.

Grantham will report to Ann Livermore, executive vice president HP's Technology
Solutions Group. He takes over for Andy Mattes, who is now general manager of
HP's outsourcing arm.

At Sun, Grantham is being replaced by Peter Ryan, previously senior vice president
of Sun's Americas sales region, who will report to Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz.

In a blog post,
Sun CEO Schwartz referred to Grantham's departure in seemingly jocular terms.
"Don's leaving Sun to help HP secure a Solaris license before their EDS
transaction closes," he wrote in part, referring to HP's pending US$13.9
billion deal to buy the giant systems integrator.

Sun could not immediately be reached for comment.

Grantham's departure is part of a broader shakeup at Sun. The company said
Monday it is forming a new Emerging Markets sales territory, with the goal of
increasing business in southern and eastern Europe, India, China and Latin America.
It will be led by Denis Heraud, now head of the company's Asia-Pacific division.

Sun posted an overall loss in its recent third quarter results, but showed
strong year-over-year growth in those regions.

"Bluntly put, we're elevating our focus on developing economies because
that's where free software, and Sun's businesses, are growing fastest,"
Schwartz wrote on his blog.

IDG News Service

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