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Users peeved over HP server cancellation

 By Stephen Shankland
Special to ZDNet News
November 15, 2001 4:37 AM PT

When Hewlett-Packard canceled its venerable 3000 server line Wednesday, it
began aggressive programs to keep customers from fleeing the company
altogether. But keeping customer loyalty in an environment where some
customers feel betrayed will be a challenge for the computing giant.
HP announced its intention to phase out the 3000 line over five years in
favor of its HP 9000 Unix servers and its NetServer Windows and Linux
servers. HP is offering financing deals, discounts, credits and other
incentives to keep HP 3000 customers from moving to servers from other
companies.

"In my agency within the U.S. Department of Defense, we make extensive use
of HP 3000 systems," said Tim O'Neill, of the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Test
Center. "One certainty for our agency is that if they eliminate the 3000, we
will then act to eliminate our 9000s as well.


"If HP thinks we will 'migrate' from MPE to HP-UX, they are mistaken," he
said, referring to the operating systems associated with the two server
lines.

The economic slowdown has spurred layoffs and more layoffs at HP. The
company is grappling with its proposed merger with Compaq Computer and is
focusing on reclaiming momentum in the Unix server market from Sun
Microsystems and IBM.

A letter sent to HP 3000 customers Wednesday described the company's reasons
for canceling the server line, introduced in 1972. Chief among them is that
software companies and customers are moving to "open" systems such as Unix,
Windows and Linux, whose standards make them a larger market than
proprietary systems such as the HP 3000.

"We at Hewlett-Packard sincerely thank you for your loyal support of the HP
e3000 platform," Winston Prather, general manager of the HP 3000 business,
and Jim Murphy, general manager of HP server support, said in the letter.
"We are truly committed to continuing to earn your trust and loyalty, and to
helping you make a smooth transition to another HP platform."

That sentence in particular didn't sit well with some.

"The loyalty to the HP e3000 that has been so strong for so long has just
been repaid by HP by killing off the HP e3000. Who would you trust in the
future, especially in the light of all the promises offered such a short
time ago?" asked one member of the HP3000-L mailing list.

Not everyone is dissatisfied, though. "The problem with something like an HP
3000, it's like using a Betamax videotape: Sure, it might be better quality
than VHS, but no one is going to support it," wrote another who said he'd
been using HP 3000 for the last 13 years to run software for an airline.
"With an HP 3000, you need to find specialist staff, you need to purchase
expensive proprietary software, and you have no choice with hardware."

And then there are those who make a living helping customers move their
software and data to new systems. "Our software has been used to move data
off the 3000 platform for a long time," said John Murphy of Taurus Software,
which saw a spike in business when fears of the Year 2000 problem spurred
many to replace older computer systems. HP's cancellation of the 3000 line
will likely result in a bigger, if more protracted, increase in business
than the Y2K issue, Murphy said.

Some believe HP's decision is reversible, though.

"This is not the first time HP has tried this," said Ron Horner, who
administers HP 3000 systems that fulfill orders at J.C. Penney. "Sometime in
1985, I think, they were pushing HP-UX pretty hard. But HP changed their
minds, mostly because of customer pressure."

Many HP 3000 loyalists decry the waning sales effort behind the server.

"I don't know if anyone will ever understand HP's self-destructive purge of
its sales force in the 1990s. That, and the lack of support from upper
management, combined to reduce sales of the 3000," said Stan Sieler of
Allegro Consultants, who helped design the system from 1979 to 1983 and
whose HP 3000 customers include the telemarketing groups of MicroWarehouse
and Tiger Direct.

But the 3000's business importance at HP has been dwindling based on sales
and support contract renewals, the company said. "Our installed base has
been declining for several years, more so in the last two years," the
company said in a statement, while declining to discuss profitability.

Several 3000 users believe there might yet be a future for the MPE operating
system, either on HP 3000 hardware or on different systems.

HP has been working to converge the hardware of the 3000 and 9000 line, both
of which use the PA-RISC processor, so the hardware underpinnings have a
future. But HP is moving its Unix servers to Intel's Itanium chip in the
longer run, and the company has ceased its effort to translate the 3000's
MPE operating system to Itanium, according to a posting by longtime 3000
employee Jeff Vance.

Releasing MPE as an open-source effort--the collaborative programming method
that underlies Linux--might also preserve the operating system.

Sieler believes releasing MPE as open source is the "right thing." Added
Horner, "I don't think we can get a reversal," convincing HP to overturn its
cancellation decision, "but if we could take it over, that's a different
story."

HP is examining what exactly to do with the operating system and is open to
several possibilities, said Dave Wilde, research and development manager for
the 3000 line. The issue with open source, though, is finding a way to
ensure existing HP customers' needs are met, something that open-source
software doesn't guarantee.

"Maintaining an operating system in a way that meets customer-support needs
for mission-critical operating systems is no small feat," he said. "It's
clearly something HP has invested a lot in. We want to make sure that
whatever solutions we develop will be good for our customer. It's not clear
that open source is good for that. We're open to that discussion."


Paul Boggs
System Manager
TV Guide, Inc.
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