Sun officials said the company isn't about to upset StorageTek customers -- some of whom may still be wary about the outcome of the acquisition. Among those customers is Erv Kuhnke, a consultant with B2C Inc. an Alexandria, Va.-based government IT consulting firm. He attended the event, in part, to learn more about Sun's StorageTek integration.

'I'm a little concerned about it,' Kuhnke said about Sun's integration plans. StorageTek, he noted, 'has always had excellent service.'

The idea of layoffs or other cutbacks at Sun continued to hang in the air. New CEO Jonathan Schwartz, appointed to the post last week, said at the time that some 'pruning' is possible.

Scott McNealy, who gave up his CEO role but still serves as board chairman, said that Sun has opportunities 'to get costs synergies' with its integration of StorageTek, including combining 160 redundant field sales and support offices. 'That will actually have a positive effect' by allowing Sun to price more aggressively and improve product integration.

'I'm not sure that necessarily taking ' as Jonathan called it taking a pruning effort to expenses ' necessarily means a reduction in the actual headcount,' said McNealy.