“Peter O’Kelly of the Patricia Seybold Group, Boston, reacted
favorably to Sun’s strategy of supplying “contextual smart
services,” which means adding software to the network that can
identify the user and deliver services and content based on that
person’s profile. … “They want to put more smarts in the network,
so regardless of where you’re coming in to an application service
— whether it’s your handheld or your PC — you’ll have access to
the same stuff in a secure and consistent way,” O’Kelly said.”
“While O’Kelly believed “smart services” differentiated Sun from
the other major players, Jonathan Eunice, principal analyst for
technology research firm Illuminata Inc., Nashua, N.H., felt
differently. “I think that’s spin,” Eunice said. “The things that
I’ve seen from Microsoft — and definitely the things that I’ve
seen from Hewlett-Packard — the other major Web services leaders,
have a lot of context and process built into their models as
well.”
“Evan Quinn, industry analyst for IDC, Framingham, Mass., said
that without any finished standards, Sun appeared to be
hesitant to describe how “smart services” would be implemented to
avoid being accused of introducing proprietary
technology.”