HP shipped off an Express 2 version of MPE/iX at the end of November, putting more polish on a release it’s begun to call the Internet Release for the e3000. New products in the software include a High Availability Cluster/iX, which provides increased up time by moving mission critical data from a system which becomes unavailable to a secondary system already up and running. It’s also got High Availability FailOver/iX (HAFO), which continually monitors SCSI reply messages for failed data path components and allows MPE to switch to another active I/O path con-nected to the same array. Both are products for purchase, which makes this release an Express, as opposed to a PowerPatch.

The distinction hasn’t been lost on some customers. Since it’s truly an Express release, complete with a subsys tape managers who have gotten in the habit of only ordering one or two copies of a PowerPatch tape will have to order the Express 2 package for every HP e3000 system. HP has changed software in its Allbase products, and updates to the IMAGE database as well. SIGIMAGE chairman Ken Sletten reports that “the IMAGE version that comes with 6.5 Express 2 is C.09.03. Especially if you are moving up from 5.5 like we are, there is quite a bit of new stuff in C.09.xx.” One piece of information which customers might want to note is that 6.5 is not required to use the new Secure Web Server for the e3000. CSY engineer Mark Bixby said he did the port of this secure product on MPE/iX 6.0, and the list of patches required is actually shorter if implementing the Secure Server under 6.0 than under 6.5

The 6.5 release, with its new Express version, offers another alternative to the sites running under 5.5. But the clock doesn’t actually run out on 5.5 support at midnight of December 31, even if the contracts expire. Managers who order upgrade tapes and don’t see them delivered before year’s end can count on the HP Response Center answering 5.5 questions for a grace period of undetermined length. It’s an HP support custom, according to Quintessential School Systems founder Duane Percox. “We were the beneficiary of this reality when we maintained a system on 4.0 beyond its stated support life,” he said. “While we didn't get any new patches/fixes we got our calls answered and even had serious system issues handled — professionally, and without incurring any guilt over not having upgraded.”