Faced with a problem of replacing a 3000 Web Server solution which it lost
unexpectedly, HP surprised its customers by cutting a deal with the company
it originally
wanted to supply HP 3000 Web services: Netscape.
HP 3000 division general manager Harry Sterling announced at HP World that the Netscape FastTrack Server will be included with all HP 3000 systems being shipped starting in the first quarter of next year. The FastTrack product is now available on all HP 9000s as included software, and the 3000 group will be including a port of that product with the MPE/iX 6.0 release.
The new arrangement delivers more than HP 3000 sites originally had with the Open Market solution. HP negotiated a license to bundle the software with every system -- a more inclusive solution than the Open Market arrangement which had some customers buying the product and others getting a non-secure version for free during a limited promotion earlier this year.
What's more, the 3000 group has now licensed a product from the company that it originally approached about an MPE/iX Web server in 1995. In that year Netscape was unwilling to release source code from its development labs for its servers, keeping CSY from doing a port to the HP 3000.
Once HP learned that the Open Market product was being pulled from production, it began negotiations with Netscape for the new server software. "As soon as we knew that Open Market was getting out of the server business, we began looking at other alternatives," Sterling reported at HP World. "We started negotiations with three or four different partners. Netscape was the one that was the best deal."
Sterling said that being able to bundle the replacement solution "was absolutely important, because it's kind of like IMAGE was when we first released the 3000. We want it to become pervasive. The only way to make it pervasive and get people to start playing with it is to get it out there free."
The general manager said over a couple of months his division had to persuade Netscape there was more value in such a bundling arrangement than strict monetary compensation. "In some cases they didn't see the value except in terms of dollars," Sterling said of the Netscape representatives. "We went through some pretty tough negotiations, and it dragged on in some cases. There was a lot of work behind the scenes to pull this thing together."
Netscape bills its FastTrack Server as an easy to use entry-level Web server designed to let novices create and manage a Web site. FastTrack has an installation wizard which automatically detects system configuration information through an agent that detects network settings and automatically configures the server to work with the network. Netscape says the wizard assists users in optimizing server performance.
The server also offers advanced security features to restrict access to server resources (such as applications, documents, and administrative tools), as well as encrypt the information that flows between the server and client. Flexible access control allows users to select access to documents, directories, and applications may be granted or permitted to particular user name/password pairs, groups (collections of users), IP address, host name, or domain name. FastTrack uses Secure Sockets Layer 3.0, the latest version of the widely accepted Internet channel security standard.
The Netscape solution on HP 3000s will also employ high-performance server extensions so developers can extend or modify the behavior of the server through Netscape Server APIs. Developers can also write and deploy applications in a variety of popular languages including Java, JavaScript, C and Perl that communicate with the server through the Common Gateway Interface (CGI). WinCGI support allows developers to create Visual Basic applications that can communicate with the server.