Sun Microsystems developed a virtual contact center platform using their Secure Network Access technology to reduce the costs of their global call centers. The new platform consolidated infrastructure across 14 call centers in 11 countries, improving functionality through features like global call routing. This allowed Sun to realize cost savings from operational efficiencies like reduced administration costs and facility expenses. The virtual platform provided a more flexible work environment for agents while also improving customer service.

1. Sun Microsystems, a world leader in IT hardware, software, and services supports a global pres-
ence in over 100 countries. The company needed to reduce the costs of their global call center
technology, while improving functionality. Based on the Secure Network Access Platform, Sun
has developed a virtual contact center with lower costs, higher service levels and more security
than traditional call centers.
“In 2002, Sun embarked on a project internally designated as MC2,” says Brett Berg, Global
Program Manager, Demand Creation Systems Information Technology. “The project’s primary
goal was to lower the costs of operating Sun’s global call centers through more efficient use of
labor, lower operational costs and reduced infrastructure costs.”
In addition, the new platform needed to support global routing of calls to balance peak call
volumes via a virtual pool of agents throughout the globe. The company also wanted to create a
consistent global customer experience and improve service levels by more rapidly and accurately
routing calls to the most appropriate agents, given a customer’s needs. Finally, the new call
center platform needed new multi-channel functionally capabilities, managing not just voice,
but also email, chat, and Web interactions.
Network Computing: the foundation of MC2
“For more than twenty years, Sun has had a singular vision – the Network is the Computer,”
says Berg. “It’s no wonder then, that when we decided to re-architect our call center; we looked
internally to Sun’s Secure Network Access Platform, which delivers on the promises of network
computing.”
Based on a thin client computing model, the Secure Network Access Platform employs Sun
Fire™ servers to provide application processing and storage. Ultra-thin clients, such as Sun Rays™,
process only keyboard input and screen output. Each call center agent has a Java™ card, which
authenticates users. Workers can securely access active sessions from any client on the network.
Working with business partner Genesys, Sun developed a virtual contact center, which
is physically composed of multiple facilities worldwide, but that manages customer calls and
contact center agents as though it were a single facility. The system supports more than 4,000
internal agents and 2,000 business partners, located in 14 call centers in 11 countries, spanning
13 time zones.
Customer Success Story Sun on Sun On the Web sun.com/solutions/infrastructure/secure
Company Profile
Global, multinational call center, support-
ing more than 4,000 internal agents and
2,000 partners
Business Challenges
• Reduce operational costs
• Create a consistent global customer
experience
• Support multimedia interaction channels
Business Benefits
• Lower costs through operational efficien-
cies and headcount avoidance
• Improved quality of service levels
• Greater platform reliability and security
“In just three years, we’re on track to
realize a full payback on the entire system
based solely on headcount avoidance
and operational efficiencies.” – Brett
Berg, Global Program Manager, Demand
Creation Systems Information Technology
Secure Network Access Platform Supports Global,
Virtual Multi-Channel Call Center
Sun Microsystems
Multimedia Contact Center
FPO

2. Tangible Benefits
“The cost savings of the Secure Network
Access Platform exceeded our initial expecta-
tions,” says Berg. “In just three years, we’re
on track to realize a full payback on the entire
system based solely on headcount avoidance
and operational efficiencies.”
To reduce costs, Sun has consolidated
telecom infrastructure and facilities, improved
headcount via world wide multimedia routing,
and lowered the costs of systems maintenance
and operations.
“System administration costs are less,
because we have a single point of software,”
says Berg. “From our centralized data center,
we can deploy a new application across all of
our 4,000 contact center agents. If we had a
desktop environment with PC’s, each machine
would need to be physically updated.
“The cost of moving or replacing a Sun
Ray is about one-fourth the cost of a PC.
Connecting a Sun Ray is virtually as easy as
connecting a telephone. This saves us from
having an army of field support specialists.”
The Sun contact center has also realized
strategic business benefits. For example, 95%
of calls are routed to the proper agent in less
than one minute. Misrouted calls have been
almost entirely eliminated. Call lengths have
been reduced because agents have greater
access to information. And, customer satisfac-
tion levels have increased.
Additionally, the Sun Ray ultra-thin
clients virtualize all agent positions within
each of the 14 call centers; the employees’
Java Cards have become the real desktop.
For example, after an agent finishes using a
particular station, he or she can leave and
another agent can use the location. Once the
new agent inserts his or her Java card, the
position is immediately assigned to the new
agent, including that agent’s unique phone
extension.
This degree of flexibility allows significant
real estate cost savings over a traditional “one
worker per seat” office environment. Workers
also collaborate more easily.
“Many of Sun’s clients are large enter-
prises and at times have complex technical
issues,” says Berg. “Several engineers can get
together to conference a client into a team
room. Because the team rooms are equipped
with Sun Rays, anyone can access their work
session to collaborate on the issue.”
The Secure Network Access Platform
provides a much greater degree of reliability
than a PC-based network could approach. If a
single point on the network goes down, the
entire system is redundantly configured to
provide failover.
Customer Success Story Sun on SunP2
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