HP looks to poach Sun customers with freebies

Hewlett-Packard is offering users of rival Sun Microsystems' Solaris operating system $25,000 in free services and equipment as an incentive to switch to Linux-based HP systems.

HP said Friday that the so-called Linux Lifeline promotion is meant to encourage users of Sun's version of Unix to more seriously consider making the move to HP's Linux database architecture. The package includes an estimated $25,000 in services, including systems assessment, applications porting and data migration.

Jourlait, vice president of enterprise marketing programs at HP, said: "We're targeting people who feel that they're stuck with Sun Solaris proprietary Unix systems and giving them a chance to move to an open system."

Sun executives said the Linux Lifeline offer represents little more than a response to the HP Away program Sun launched earlier this year in an effort to lure customers from using Tru64, the Unix software HP gained through its acquisition of Compaq Computer.

Under the program, Sun offered trade-in deals, two weeks of free consulting and the ability to defer payment for as much as 90 days to customers willing to migrate to its technologies from HP's. Some 40 customers have already taken advantage of HP Away, according to Larry Singer, senior vice president of global market strategies at Sun.

Singer said: "We don't feel that HP is a threat to us in the Linux space. If customers want to migrate to Linux, we have some of the lowest-cost alternatives on the market."

Ted Schadler, analyst at Forrester Research, noted that database vendors have been actively courting one another's clients for years.

"This is a classic marketing ploy aimed at tipping the scales for any of the fence-sitters out there," Schadler said. "When you look at Sun's earnings warning, you have to consider that migration of customers from Unix to Linux is putting pressure on them."

Matt Hines writes for News.com