Today I feel like an HP Apologist, so I offer some
additional tidbits for all to chew upon:

1. HP has been getting killed by Sun on the high-end
   and sees an opportunity now that they have an answer
   in the high-end server space. Don't underestimate
   the importance of this battle. At the highest levels
   of HP and Sun this is war.

2. Industry business analysts have criticized Sun for
   only having a box solution. HP has been referenced
   as having a more mature total solution. It looks
   like HP is upping the ante and trying to make it
   even more difficult for Sun to compete.

3. The computing needs of the really large ISP and portals
   like AOL/Amazon require *exactly* what Carly is championing.
   Boxes like Superdome have incredible profit margin *and*
   strategic placement of these systems is required to get
   additional HP mindshare.

4. The e3k, even in its largest config, is still a mid-range
   system.

5. I got (thanks to Rick Gilligan) a copy of a low-level IO
   presentation at HPWorld. This session was talking about the
   configuration of PCI and PCI-X for the N-class and A-class
   systems. The most exciting part of this material is that
   MPE/iX is mentioned equivalently to ux/linux/nt as one
   of the operating environments using the PCI/PCI-X IO subsystem.

6. I think our energy and $$ can be more wisely spent developing
   new systems and solutions for our favorite platform. Let CSY
   fight the battle internal at HP for mindshare. Besides,
   I'm beginning to tire of all this negative talk. Its beginning to
   appear like a bunch of little kids jumping up and down whining that
   they aren't getting what they want.

7. Let Carly says what she has to say to move a 40+ billion $$ company
   into the realm of IBM and fend off the likes of Sun. Give support
   to our friends at CSY so that our favorite platform can move forward
   in a manner that best serves the installed base.

Oh yeah, one last thing.... continue to write good systems that your
customers want so they will continue to buy/upgrade to new e3k boxes
as they become available.

Duane Percox    wk: 650.372.0200x608  fax: 650.372.3386
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