The attitude management has toward something that "comes out of a different
pocket" can lead to some strange situations.  I once worked for a company
that refused to buy new tapes for our HP3000 systems.  We had constant
problems with backups failing and having to be restarted because of tape
errors; one backup that used 15 tapes sometimes had to be restarted 3 or 4
times (usually after writing 10 or 12 tapes), delaying the nightly backup
schedule for several hours each time.  The IS manager didn't want to spend
a few hundred dollars to replace the tapes.  However, as part of a
conversion project (moving from an IBM mainframe to HP-UX machines), we
purchased a $20,000 tape drive to let our HP9000 read IBM cartridges.  When
I asked why he'd spend $20,000 on a tape drive for one-time use, but not a
few hundred for tapes we use every night, he told me the new drive came out
of the conversion budget, but the tapes came from the operating budget.
Funny, I always thought the budgets all came out of the same company's
assets...

That's one of the many reasons I no longer work there.

Wayne





[log in to unmask] on 10/06/99 01:05:08 PM

Please respond to [log in to unmask]

To:   [log in to unmask]
cc:    (bcc: Wayne Brown/Corporate/Altec)

Subject:  Re: $11.00 950???




Careful Joe with saying bad things about these types of boxes.  Although we
here
are Rockwell are not on a 950, we are running a 980/300 which is just an
upgraded 950.  We had the first 950 into production (serial number
2737A00100)
back in the late 80's and have just been upgrading it since.  Several years
ago
the decision was made to move from ManMan to SAP so all funding for this
box was
cut off (the machine would be going away in the near future anyway,
right?).
Three years later and several 'missed' implementation dates and that 980 is
still helping to push over a million dollars a day worth of product out the
door.  I deal with all the problems you outlined below - using fiber C2204
drives and still using several 7980xc tape drives.  Yes, Alliant Electric
probably loves me for it but since that comes out of a different pocket, it
is
hard to convince management of the savings we could gain by upgrading.

mark hocraffer
[log in to unmask]
Rockwell Collins
Cedar Rapids, IA