Sun hoped the move would invigorate its channel partners, who would no longer have to worry about competing with Sun for their business, Wagner said at the time. Sun does about two-thirds of its business through the channel, he said then.

Such a move carries some risk, however.

"Sun doesn't have as many exclusive channel partners as HP and IBM," Olds said. "Partners that aren't exclusive to Sun will pitch its products right up to the point when the customer asks them for something else, then they'll turn on a dime and sell them whatever they want. The difference with the Sun guys is that they would keep on pitching Sun products."

Sun's sales force may have been anticipating the job cuts and, as a result, "has been particularly ineffective in the current quarter," Wedge Partners said. "We understand that Sun has had a very weak (fiscal third quarter)," the company said.

Sun's third quarter ends Tuesday and the company is due to report its financial results April 28.