John writes:
> While there are certainly many angles at pursuing the migration of HP3000
> users to open systems having a partner consortium is usually in
> the interest of those partners and only those partners.

The consortium that Birket is putting together is, as far as I'm concerned,
not an attempt to create any sort of exclusive group but is, in fact, an
attempt to create something that's "greater than the sum of its parts" as
all of us realize that no one organization has all of the knowledge and
resources that will be necessary to provide even the most minimal services
that will be in demand by HP3000 customers over the next few years in the
areas of migration services and also in support of continuing to run on MPE
beyond 2006.

By creating stronger bonds between the many companies who have "pieces of
the puzzle", we hope to be able to give customers a much better experience
than if they have to contact a half-dozen or more organizations for tools
and then put them together themselves to perform a "migration" or whatever
they are looking to do.

In my opinion, this move should not be seen as threatening by anyone.

One of the things the consortium seeks to do is to be able to recommend the
*right* solutions to a customers problems, so we plan on being a
clearinghouse for information about who is available to do what, both in
terms of products/services and in terms of the raw manpower that's going to
be needed.  My guess is that the majority of those services and manpower are
going to come from non-consortium sources.

But unlike other "services" that provide nothing more than a laundry list of
consultants and tool providers, the consortium and its members intend to be
in a position to actually be responsible to our customers for GETTING THE
JOB DONE, not just talking about it.

G. (not speaking for the consortium)

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