The 7.5 release of MPE/iX has cleared manufacturing release at the HP labs in Cupertino, the last technical checkpoint before DAT tapes are cut and readied for shipment to HP 3000 customers on support. A full rollout of the operating system is scheduled for September, according to HP engineer Mark Bixby. HP has said the release offers the first native Fiber Channel support for peripherals, and the WebWise Apache/iX Secure Web Server will also be included. The latter item is a software product HP had been selling to customers for as much as $1,900, but will be free to anybody who shifts to the newest version of the OS.

HP has also been discussing whether 7.5 will be the last mainline release, a version of MPE/iX with new functionality. Customers are slow to adopt new MPE/iX releases in the 3000 community, choosing instead to stick with what’s reliable and tested in keeping with the server’s conservative profile. HP hasn’t forced the issue much, either, letting older releases run even on the newer hardware. But the 6.5 release of MPE/iX was the first to drop support for HP-IB peripherals, and 7.0 or later is needed to use the new A-Class and N-Class HP 3000s.

Not much of the customer base is running 7.0 yet, and HP doesn’t want to support more than three versions of MPE/iX at once if it can help it. Since the lifespan for 6.5 just got extended to December of 2004, it’s a safe estimate this 7.5 version will be the last to clear that manufacturing release inside HP. Get it while you can, because any other major improvements to MPE/iX are more likely to come from sources outside HP, if anywhere at all.