As a public service to everyone on the list I wanted to put out the latest
information on IA-64 and the HP 3000.  Some of these issues may come up at
IPROF but for those of us not going this may answer some current questions.
These statements are current as of the time they were written and may have
already changed within HP but something is better than nothing.  This memo
is in response to questions raised at a recent Rocky Mountain Regional
Users Group (RMRUG) meeting:

> Attached are the answers to the questions that were raised during the RUG
> meeting in Denver that I could not answer at the time.  Please forward
> this message to the folks that attended the session.  Thanks for the
> opportunity to discuss HP's processor roadmap plans at your meeting.
>
> Scott Emo
> Technology Marketing Manager
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>      Scott, good to hear you had a productive meeting with the Users Group
>      in Denver and that there is such a large and supportive HP 3000
>      customer base in the area.  Let me see if I can address the three
>      questions raised by folks at the User Group meeting.
>
>      First, let me set the stage for IA-64 support in HP 3000 servers.  We
>      see IA-64 as the next generation architecture from Intel and HP which
>      will allow HP systems to continue to provide ever increasing
>      performance for HP 3000 applications at decreasing $s/MIPs for the
>      next decade.  At the same time, we realize that HP's existing PA-RISC
>      architecture has not run out of steam yet and will provide several
>      generations of improve chips over the next two to four years (the
>      PA-8500 through the PA-8900).  The challenge for the HP 3000 business
>      is to meet the ever increasing performance and decreasing price
>      requirements of our customers' applications without "forcing" an
>      architectural or system roll on our customers.  Our customers need to
>      have choices.
>
>      Our first IA-64 step is providing support for platforms that initially
>      support next generation PA-RISC processor chips but can be updated in
>      the future to IA-64 processors via board replacements.  CSY expects to
>      begin to release these platforms in a PA-RISC mode in the 2001-2002
>      timeframe.  We believe that PA-RISC chips through this timeframe will
>      meet our customers' performance and pricing needs.  It also lets
>      customers decide when to roll these new platforms to IA-64 since they
>      will support both PA-RISC and IA-64.
>
>      Our second step is to complete the port of MPE/iX to the IA-64
>      architecture.  We are still planning this but do not expect this to
>      occur any earlier than 2002 (and perhaps later).  The determining
>      factors are both when customers will really need the added performance
>      and reduced pricing of IA-64 along with the reality of development
>      schedules.
>
>      Now to the questions.
>
>      1) What are HP's plans for HP 3000 PA-RISC binary compatibility?  We
>      plan on providing support for PA-RISC binaries using the same dynamic
>      translation technologies as the HP 9000 servers. These technologies
>      are similar to the techniques that were very successfully used to
>      provide Classic 3000 to PA-RISC 3000 support in the mid-1980s.  We've
>      done it once, we'll do it again.  Of course, to get the best
>      performance under IA-64, the customers will need to recompile their
>      old sources using the new, highly optimized Hewlett-Packard IA-64
>      compilers.
>
>      2) What are HP's plans for Classic 3000 binary compatibility (i.e.,
>      can I run my 1976 binary)?
>      We have an intent to allow Classic 3000 binaries to run on IA-64
>      platforms.  This will use a combination of the Classic 3000 to PA-RISC
>      emulation/OCT tools and the new PA-RISC to IA-64 dynamic translation
>      tools mention above.  Although it is our intent to do this, our
>      investigations have not completed and some obstacles may appear. Stay
>      tuned for more information in this area.  Of course, the best
>      performance is achieve by recompiling the Classic code using the new,
>      highly optimized Hewlett-Packard IA-64 compilers.  But we realize that
>      for some customers, lack of source code may make this impossible, so
>      we are trying to allow Classic 3000 binaries to be carried forward.
>
>      3) Can you tell us which version of MPE/iX will be IA-64 compliant?
>      Given the timeframes of the MPE/iX IA-64 support mentioned above, we
>      cannot answer this question today.  However, we should keep in mind
>      that when MPE/iX supports IA-64, we will be supporting both IA-64 and
>      PA-RISC for several years in parallel.  Again, we want to give
>      customers choices, not force a roll.
>
>
>      Scott, hope this answers the questions from the Denver Users Group.
>
>      Dave Snow
>      CSY HP 3000 Platform Planning Manager

Hope this helps someone,


+---------------+
|               |
|            r  |  Ken                             [log in to unmask]
|          e    |                           http://www.adager.com
|        g      |  Ken Paul                      Tel 208 726-9100
|      a        |  Customer Support              Fax 208 726-2822
|    d          |  Adager Corporation
|  A            |  Sun Valley, Idaho 83353-3000            U.S.A.
|               |
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