Time to partner up

You won't find some of the biggest names intechnology on Washington Technology's Top100 list of federal contractors. Rather thanworking directly with government customers,technology powerhouses such as CiscoSystems Inc., Microsoft Inc. and SunMicrosystems Inc. depend on partnershipswith systems integrators for entry into thefederal market.Systems integrators are an integral part ofMicrosoft's business strategy, said CurtKolcun, vice president of Microsoft Federal."One of the things we've been focused on andcontinue to invest in is building a deeper relationshipwith systems integrators."The relationship between contractors andinformation technology companies is morecritical than ever as government projectsbecome more complex, industry experts say.Mandates, such as using open-source or commercialsolutions, also create a climate inwhich technology companies and systemsintegrators need each other to be successful.Understanding that partnerships are notnecessarily competitive is an important step inbuilding relationships between integratorsand companies selling products, said Bill Vass,president of Sun Microsystems Federal Inc."Systems integrators are really becomingaware that we don't compete with them ?we're a partner," he said.Some of Sun's competitors compete in theservices space, but Sun does not go after systemsintegration work, he said. Sun relies on systems integrators for access to federal customersbecause the company generally doesn'tsell to them directly, he added.The increased demand from governmentcustomers for open-source solutions is helpingencourage those partnerships, Vass said.Federal contractors are looking for vendorsto deliver enterprise-class, scalable, opensourceproducts, he said.Factors underlying that demand includethe cost and security profileof open source, hesaid. "Getting open sourcefor free is still a sellingpoint for a lot of customersbecause they canstart on a project right away rather thanwaiting for contracts to be negotiated forsupport," Vass said.Sun's production software ? not justdeveloper or demo versions ? is available forfree and can be downloaded immediately.Acquisition costs for open source are lowerbecause projects often start withdevelopment and tests, whichrequire licensing negotiationsfor proprietary software.With open source, anagency doesn't gothrough the supportcontract negotiationsuntil they're ready to goto production."You're not paying yoursystems integrator to sitaround and wait until you can getaccess to the real production code,"Vass said. "You can pull it down and work onit right away."Federal customers, especially in thedefense and intelligence markets, areembracing open source because of its securitybenefits, Vass said. Those customers wantto know exactly what is in the code so theycan protect against any possible attacks.Sun's work with Northrop Grumman Corp.on the Army Knowledge Online Web portal isan example of the use of open source in thefederal government."It is an open-source mail product, anopen-source calendar product, and they usean open-source database," Vass said.At Microsoft, the relationship with integratorsis so important that the company has had a programdevoted solely to that area for the pastthree years."We have invested in building out teams thatspecifically, directly support Lockheed Martin,Northrop Grumman, BAE [Systems],Raytheon and General Dynamics," Kolcun said."We support their internal use of Microsofttechnology as well as working with them inpartnership to capture new revenue opportunitieswith government customers acrossthe public sector."Microsoft invests billionsin research and development,and the intellectualproperty gained from thateffort fits in well with thework of federal contractors,Kolcun said. Systemsintegrators can use thatintellectual property todevelop government-specificapplications."We've engaged with integrators tovarying degrees relative to intellectual propertysharing on the development of new commercialtechnology like our simulation product calledMicrosoft ESP," he added.Contractors like working with a commercialproduct, and Microsoft benefits by having thoseproducts tailored to the requirements of governmentcustomers."For our simulation product, NorthropGrumman is looking at how they can integratethat into joint mission-planning systems,"Kolcun said.Microsoft Federal is interested in developingsimilar relationship with contractors for otherpieces of technology.A new focus on developing solutions ratherthan stand-alone products is another trend inthe contractor/technology company relationship,said Dawn Duross, director of Cisco'sFederal Channels group."The nature of our business at Cisco hasreally changed over the lastfew years," Duross said. "In thepast, companies would cometo us, and we would give thema quote on a router or a switch.Today, as the network hasgained importance as a platform, our role haschanged in how we work with large systemsintegrators."Cisco has made investments to deliver amore cohesive solution to address governmentagency needs. Cisco's engineers, for example,worked with engineers at General Dynamicson improving that company's Itronix Corp.'sGoBook rugged laptop computer, Duross said."We ported our Cisco unified communicationsmanager software onto the GoBook," shesaid. "It will be able to be used by programs likethe Warfighter Information Network-Tactical."Cisco has similar partnerships with otherintegrators on federal projects and continuesto look for more opportunities.Vass recommends that integrators who wantto work with Sun go to the Sun Federal Website. The site lists programs the company isinterested in capturing and where it needspartners."They can click on our solutions tab and seethe portfolio of solutions we have," Vass said. "Ifthey have any expertise in any of those solutionsand they'd like to team with us to deliverthose solutions, we're always ready to talk tothem."