Richard's post is interesting (and timely) because I just met our new HP
sales rep, yesterday, and his explanation for this phenomenon was very
similar to  Richard's.  He described the delay in rollout of new
technologies to the 3K as a function of MPE's efficiency -- that the care
and feeding of Unix and the resources it typically gobbles in comparison to
MPE require much more attention to that platform (patches, upgrades, etc.)
as newer technologies are rolled for it -- and, I'm sure the size of the
HP-UX installed base comes into play.  I agree with Richard that PR for the
3K suffers as a result, but at least one HP sales person is apparently
willing to make the effort to pitch it.

One down, ??? to go.     :-)

Lee Gunter
Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon / Regence HMO Oregon
==========================================================
The opinions expressed, here, are mine and mine alone.




From: Richard Gambrell <[log in to unmask]> on 05/11/99 10:29 AM

Please respond to Richard Gambrell <[log in to unmask]>


To:   [log in to unmask]
cc:    (bcc: Lee Gunter/BCBSO/TBG)
Subject:  lastest technology - eg mercerd (was Re: IPROF Proceedings)




(Richard Gambrell after Joseph Rosenblatt ...)

Someone always complains that the 3000 isn't doing what the 9000 is doing
as
soon as it is out. The justification is nearly always that a robust
business
server isn't about to be on the bleeding edge.  Sometimes a technology
isn't
available for MPE, like fiber channel i/o for disk arrays, for a long time
-
and often the justification is simply that it isn't needed by 3000
customers.  Both are solid business reasons to delay or defer offering a
technology on the 3000 and instead invest in other services that are
needed.

        That said, it is very hard to estimate the PR loss (or real sales
loss) of
not offering the latest technologies, since it tends to make the 3000 look
like it isn't keeping up and HP is leaving it behind.  I suspect that many
business decision makers would respond positively to the real message if it
was explained well by the sales force, although there will always be those
that have to have the latest gadgets.  The real question is, what message
is
received by business decision makers, given the lack of sales force.

<rest snipped>