HP leads its HP 3000 customers into the 64-bit era this month with the introduction of four new systems using the PA-8000 processor. The Series 979KS uses the same cabinet and form factor as HP's popular K-class midrange servers for the HP 9000 and HP 3000, and like its predecessors, uses from one to four processors in the system.
HP has already put the systems on the Corporate Price List November 1. It's also selling upgrades to the 969 systems at a discounted price through the end of November. See more details in our Flash Paper report.
The new processor has been benchmarked by HP at 11.8 SPEC Int95, a measure of the integer processing performance for the chip. HP has promised the new systems will provide 60 percent more performance than the Series 959KS, and 15 percent more than those based on the PA-7200, the processor that drives the current HP 3000 per-processor speed champ, the Series 969KS/x20 systems.
HP is introducing the Series 979 in a single-processor configuration for just over $100,000 with all peripherals and an eight-user MPE/iX 5.5 license and IMAGE/SQL. The 979KS/200 costs $20,000 more, and the three-way and four-way systems each add another $20,000 to the base price. Top end of the line is the 979KS/400.
Customers must upgrade to MPE/iX version 5.5 to use the new systems. The introduction of the new operating system also increases memory capacity for the systems to 3.75 Gb, almost twice the previous capacity.
HP is also offering upgrades to the new 64-bit chips based on that $20,000 increment. Any existing 9x9KS server can be field-upgraded to the 979 performance mark, simply by installing a new processor board. HP is delivering return credits of up to 100 percent for processors that are exchanged for the newer chips. Customers who trade the 969 boards running at 120 MHz -- previously the high end of the midrange -- get to swap to the newer processors penalty-free. HP introduced these 969KS/120 through 420 systems in the spring, and so eliminated any penalty for such a recent purchase.
As we anticipated in March, HP also made a formal announcement about discontinuing the early models in the Kittyhawk class of systems, the Series 939 and Series 959s. Those systems will be discontinued as of December 1. HP is keeping the 3000 midrange line as simple as possible with the announcement, but at this time doesn't have any plans to introduce an entry-level HP 3000 based on the PA-8000. HP 9000 customers saw an entry-level system announcement using the PA-8000 during September, with base-configuration prices for new D-class servers using HP-UX starting at about $22,000 per system. However, both HP 9000 and HP 3000 introductions use the same processor, even if the implementations are broader on the 9000 side of the line.
HP is pitching the power of the new 979s at Internet applications, saying the combination of OpenMarket WebServer software and the faster processor makes the HP 3000 a good choice for Internet servers. HP is also suggesting that system consolidations of several HP 3000s into a single unit are more feasible with the new processing power of the Series 979s.