First, before joining HP, I lived what Steve wrote about for 15 years.
In fact, it's one of the main reasons I've always been impressed with
HP.  It's not just the 3k, I remember (and there are many now) several
products built like this.
 
Second, I'm not a big fan of IBM products.  It's been 16 years since
I've worked on one, and I'm not holding my breath to get on another
one.
 
So, with that said:
 
On 26 Jul 96 at 10:47, Steve Weisbrod wrote:
 
> They would come away black from foundry dirt. I would look the IBM guy
> straight in the eye and say "this system has been running for x years with
> NO down time. Will you guarantee the same reliability if I put an AS400 in
> here?". The IBM guys would not (could not) answer the question... they just
> waltzed around the issues for a while and left. There were NO follow-up
> calls from them.  :-)
 
I believe that even HP wouldn't guarantee you this type of reliability.
If you were replacing your 3k with a new faster, larger, etc. 3k, and
you asked HP, they wouldn't be able to say, "yes" either.  I say this
just to point out that while we love the MTBF (if it can ever be
calculated:) of the 3k, it's not something guaranteed by anyone.
 
Judging a new 3k or something else by this question won't get you a new
box anytime soon ;)
 
Larry Boyd    <[log in to unmask]>
"Each problem solved creates the opportunity to solve the next problem
          that the last solution created." - Richard Pascale
(These opinions are my own and not those of Hewlett-Packard.)