Sun to Reorganize Into Business Units

Sun Microsystems Inc. said it will eliminate its individual operating companies and reorganize them into business units in an effort to better address the corporate and consumer markets. It also said it’s forming two divisions focused on the network storage market and the consumer software market. The network storage unit will focus on selling customers hardware and software products to store their data, a market expected to reach $36 billion by 2001. The consumer software unit will sell software and Java technology for appliances such as set-top boxes and telephones. The Palo Alto-based company, which makes workstations and large computers called servers that run corporate networks, has been pushing into other areas such as software with its Java computer-programming language. The reorganization will let the company focus on new areas that have opened up as it expands its product line and make it easier for customers to buy various products from Sun. Chief Operating Officer Ed Zander warned that the company may trim some of its work force or reassign some employees as part of the reorganization. Sun shares fell 13 cents to close at $40.81 on Nasdaq.