Hello Friends:
Tuesday was another day of good news for HP 3000 customers here, starting
off with Lew Platt's comments in his keynote speech about MPE. Platt gave
signs that the top HP management is looking at the HP 3000 as an equal
player to its NT and Unix business platforms. The mentions of MPE in the
speech were perhaps most notable for their presence, rather than their
content.
Platt volunteers for more involvement
While Platt's remarks about the HP 3000 in his keynote were on the lips of
more than a few attendees, we found it even more interesting where the CEO
of a $40 billion company spent his lunch date. No, not wooing another
Fortune 100 account, but breaking bread with the hardworking volunteers of
Interex, at a lunch attended by Interex staff as well. CEOs of companies
HP's size are considered by some to be celebrities, but it was plain that
Platt was there to rub elbows with the common customer. By one report, an
HP 3000 customer and NewsWire reader might have had the best timing of
anybody at the lunch. Dan Rodriguez arrived last, and found that the only
empty seat was next to Platt. Later in the day, a luckier boatload made
contact with Platt and top HP brass on a yacht sailing the San Diego
harbor, one of a half-dozen fetes offered through the night. We had our
agents in place and will forward the dishiest reports. We broke bread with
a throng of 3000 manufacturing customers and suppliers at Anthony's Fish
Grotto, guests of The Support Group and other vendors. (I recommend the
wavelone, and take a bicycle taxi back to your hotel for a really great
dessert. We were pedalled by Marco from Yugoslavia).
More Y2K compliant -- like more pregnant?
Yesterday we reported that the PowerPatch 5 for MPE/iX 5.5 includes
software that makes the 3000 more Year 2000 compliant. One poster asked how
that could be -- wasn't the 3000 Y2K compliant in late 97? Well, yes and
no, apparently. It speaks to the issue of the complexity in determining
Year 2000 compliance, which suggests that getting a testing tool you trust
is a pretty good idea.
See, HP didn't have a company-wide conformance policy for Year 2000 in late
97 when it first came out with PowerPatch 4. That meant that a handful of
3000 compiler tools, Allbase/SQL and the Architected Interfaces need
patching to comply with the new company-wide conformance policy. Given the
new functionality in PowerPatch 5 -- MDX for big shops, and support for the
new 929s for smaller shops -- it seems like a good idea to take the patch
just to be safe. The 3000 products patched for Y2K in PowerPatch 5 include
HP's Date Intrinsics, so it seems kind of vital to us.
HP has a table with patch IDs for that last group of products at the CSY
Jazz Web site, under the MPE/iX Year 2000 Information section.
Sterling's speech marshalls 3000 support
(Our thanks to Ted Ashton for offering an early look at the Harry Sterling
speech. We're always glad to have another set of 3000-friendly notes on
what happens in a very busy conference.)
General Manager Harry Sterling gave a 45-minute speech interrupted by
applause five times to talk about the HP 3000's success and plans to extend
it. Sterling explained, for the few that may not have realized it, "we are
experiencing our fastest sales growth in more than five years." That was
the motivator for HP's decision to port the 3000s to IA-64, he added.
"We'll be doing our homework very thoroughly," he said. "In order to
provide a complete IA-64 solution on the HP 3000, we are evaluating exactly
where to make investments in compilers and performance tools, including
some from our Roseville division." CSY, as usual, is taking on plenty of
input on what exactly will be available from the Computer Language Labs in
Roseville for 3000 compilers at IA-64's first release, probably beyond
2002. Cobol is on the "no-duh" list, according to Platform Planning Manager
Dave Snow.
Perhaps the most compelling part of Sterling's presentation -- jammed with
multimedia testimonials from customers glad for IA-64 and the 3000 and
vendors including HBOC/Amisys promising to make the port -- came from
within HP itself. In a shrewd stroke, CSY interviewed the HP CIO about
Hewlett-Packard's use of the 3000 as a strategic solution. About 650 3000s
are running in HP's own IT centers, according to CIO Mike Rose. (Much has
been made about the thousands of Unix boxes in use compared to the
relatively fewer 3000s. We think that tells you all you need to know about
how much further 3000 power can go.) Rose, in some genuine videotaped
commentary, thanked Sterling for leading a division that makes a computer
HP relies upon.
"A lot of times people say thank you, but they don't expound and really say
why," Rose said. "The reason I'm thanking you is because you're making my
job easier, a lot easier than it could be if I wasn't using the HP 3000 and
relying on your division. You guys have done a fantastic job. The quality
is there, the partnership is there, and I thank you for making my job a lot
easier."
And let's face it, Rose can use any HP platform he believes in. It might be
even easier for him to do so when he reads the notices outside of the
HP-focused press like the quote presented from Information Week, one that
Sterling called his favorite: "The [IA-64] move extends the life of the
3000 line, which surpasses even Unix in high-end functionality features for
online transaction applications." Cheers broke out from attendees at that
point.
Klein gets honored by HP for GNU C++ port work
Mark Klein, chief architect for Backup+ at ORBiT Software and Posix porting
wizard for MPE/iX, was honored from the stage during Sterling's keynote
address with the second annual HP Contributor's Award. Klein pioneered the
porting process for much of the 3000's advancements by porting the GNU g++
compiler in 1995. The port created the fundamental tool that all other
porters, including many inside CSY, use to deliver things like Java, Samba,
Netscape FastTrack, DNS services, Apache's Web server and more to come.
ESG chief IDs 3000 as enterprise-grade platform
In our interview with Enterprise Systems Group vice president Bill Russell
(Sterling's boss and reports to Lew Platt), we learned that the 3000 is an
enterprise-class solution when positioned for one of the system's growth
markets. Russell said that used in manufacturing, healthcare, credit
unions, airlines or direct mail, the 3000 "is becoming the primary
enterprise server. We've seen quite a change in the life of the 3000."
We'll have a full Q&A with Russell in our September issue.
The oldest iron on the floor?
It came from the shelves of Advant, Inc. which supplies 3000 customer
support on systems HP won't service anymore (Thousands of Classics come to
mind). A Series I 3000 was in the booth, a box that the company can support
along with the 2100 Series and HP 1000s. The system in question came from
Quality Transformer in Milpitas, Calif. "We upgraded them to a Series 3,
and a Series 44," said founder Steve Pierie. You can look at a shot of the
system, with Chuck Henderson and Paul Maunder of Advant, at
http://www.3000newswire.com/newswire/Series1.jpg With Classics going off
support next month, Advant (http://www.advantinc.com) is one place to keep
them supported.
News of 3000s in the next century
Dave Snow's talk about Platform Directions is always one of the most fact
packed at HP World, and this year's edition had dozens of topics squeezed
in a very full hour. Snow reported that getting to the PA-8500 will be a
matter of a box swap, not a board upgrade for 3000 sites, something that
will happen beyond the Year 2000. That box will be ready for IA-64 boards,
however.
HP will support new RAM limits for the 997, 979 and 989 with 64-bit
addressing for physical memory, "not user space, but physical memory. We
found from a pragmatic approach it appears that where the real need is at
this point in time. If you've got your checkbook open, we'll be glad to
take your money for the memory." The hardware could support the higher
memory capacities today, but changes in MPE/iX are needed to make it
happen. Look at it for the Year 2000.
We'd write more, but we're off to the MPE Technical Roundtable and
interview new HP 3000 Product Marketing Manager Vicky Symonds. Subscribers
to the NewsWire can look for a more in-depth Online Extra in their
mailboxes.
Ron Seybold, Editor In Chief
The 3000 NewsWire
Independent Information to Maximize Your HP 3000
[log in to unmask] http://www.3000newswire.com/newswire
512.331.0075
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