Mike P. sent to the list:

>To the OpenMPE Community,
>
>I want to take this opportunity to provide another update on items of
>interest to the OpenMPE community.  As with my April update, I'll start
>with some general HP e3000 news items.

...snip...

>Next, I'd like to update you on one element of the end-of-life roadmap,
>the conversion of used HP 9000s to HP e3000s.  We reopened this item in
>April at the request of the OpenMPE Board of Directors and began the
>investigation in May.  To provide a framework for our investigation, we
>defined the objective as "helping to meet the platform hardware needs
>of HP customers whose businesses depend on increasing the performance
>and/or capacity of their existing HP e3000s in a marketplace with
>limited availability of HP e3000 systems."
>
>We have decided that, under very select circumstances, HP, or an HP-
>authorized channel, will perform the conversion of a used HP 9000 into
>an HP e3000.  We will only consider such conversions on a case-by-case
>basis when HP determines that a customer or partner has a business
>critical need, and there is a clear shortage of used HP e3000 systems
>within resale channels to meet that need.  The types of conversions
>will be limited by the availability of parts after HP ensures an
>adequate supply of parts to meet current and future HP 9000 and HP
>e3000 customer support obligations.  Conversions may be limited to
>A- and N-Class systems, with a limited potential for 9x9 conversions.
>
>More information on this topic can be found in an FAQ that will be
>posted tomorrow at
>http://www.hp.com/products1/evolution/e3000/info_library/faq1.html .

Thank you for 1) informing the OpenMPE membership of what will be for
many very good news and 2) working I'm sure with every effort in the
halls of HP to make this possible. I'm sure this was not an easy task
to accomplish.

>That's it for now.  I look forward to talking with you at HP World in
>Chicago.
>
>Regards,
>Ross McDonald, MPE/iX R&D
>Director of Engineering