October 1996 FlashPaper

News so hot it might ignite

Next month's HP 3000 rollout will be a focused release. And by focused we mean fewer in number than last fall's system introductions. Our sources tell us that the new PA-8000 based HP 3000 systems will be called the Series 979KS, and like their 969 predecessors will include 1-way through 4-way models. It's not exactly a top secret, since HP put the systems on the Corporate Price List on October 1. HP's reps and resellers, however, are supposed to be officially mum on the systems until November 12, when the formal announcement will take place. The timing of this rollout feels a bit like the Spring 1995 K-class rollout for the HP 3000 Series 959s, which were on the price list more than a month before HP started talking about them in public. This year, CSY is waiting on a GSY announcement in the traditional early-November timeframe before it gets to crow about the high-speed additions to the HP 3000 lineup.
What HP will also be discussing, as we predicted in March, is the discontinuance of the early models in the Kittyhawk class of systems, the 939 and 959s. HP is keeping the line as simple as possible -- and also making it interesting to find something engineered later than 1993 to work as a low-end HP 3000. It's not yet clear how the pricing of the Series 969 systems might change, if at all, based on the upcoming introductions. Price points for the new systems will be comparable to the 969 pricing, sort-of, but you can get into a 1-way 979 for about $50,000 for the CPU alone, We hear that the high end comes in at something over $100,000, and that field upgrade kits are available to convert your 959s and 969s to 979s -- but then you knew that, because HP has been saying for the last six months that the 9x9s would be PA-8000-ready.
At the heart of the systems is the 180-Mhz PA-8000 chip, the same one driving the HP 9000 introductions that were uncapped earlier this fall. You can climb aboard the power of that extra chip for about $20,000 per board if you're upgrading, and yes, there will be return credits for your old processor boards. If you've just made the jump to the latest 969 "Fat Cache" KS120, 220, 320, or 420, it's a good bet the upgrade will be real cost effective. We keep hearing about the jump being called penalty-free, but we're not sure what that means. We'll also have to wait until early November to ask questions like how much faster these systems are than their 969/120 counterparts, and what good a PA-8000 chip will do with an MPE/iX that hasn't yet been moved to 64-bits. But hey, it's fall, and there are improved 3000 price/performance points available. It's a great reason to go revise the system hardware upgrade figures that you may have just submitted to Finance. (See our upcoming issues for more details on this story).

HP's MPE training is getting canned. No, we don't mean fired. But we've noticed that the interactive nature of the HP Customer Connection training is falling by the wayside. At first the training opportunities created by HP's video broadcasts lost their MPE-only flavor, like with the World Wide Web show of this spring or the "Using Unix and MPE Together" show of last fall. Then this summer, the TV broadcast on decision support and data warehousing for MPE/iX systems didn't get broadcast, but instead was distributed on videotape only. At least we think it was, because so far one of our editors still hasn't received his order from the July show. Then the audio conference on MPE/iX 5.5 training which was scheduled for last week got bumped into a pre-recorded event. You should be able to order that audiotape about the new operating system by the end of this month. But it seems that broadcast time, whether on a satellite for TV or across the phone lines, is becoming a commodity that's not essential to HP's concept of 3000 training. The jury is out on whether that's important to the learning process. HP is replacing your access to the instructors with a kind of "studio audience" made up of regional user group members on hand at the taping facility. The TV time is continuing over at the General Systems Division events, where they had an Oct. 1 show on the new 10.20 HP-UX release and its 64-bit technology. Does being interactive with an HP trainer matter to you? Drop me a line at rseybold@zilker.net if it does, or call me at 512-657-3264. We promise not to waste any time mourning something you didn't value all that highly, if that turns out to be the case. (See our upcoming issues for more details on this story).

Get hands-on training on MPE/iX 5.5 in Texas. The All-Texas Regional User Group meeting at the end of this month is hosting some of the first 5.5 training to surface since the operating system started shipping in late August. Outer Banks Solutions has been contracted by HP to do a "full day's" training to cover the new release on Oct. 27, and the cost is only $100 for the 10AM to 6PM class (lunch is included in the price). This new release of MPE/iX is jammed with new functionality that will simplify the lives of 3000 system managers (whose lives are pretty simple compared to those managing other systems). Outer Banks is led by Steve Cole, a former 3000 IS director at Northern Telecomm, so the quality of the training is bound to be top-notch. The class is being held on the Sunday before the All Texas conference in Galveston, a lovely little island just off the Gulf Coast.

The conference that follows on Monday and Tuesday is a real bargain at $250. There are three tracks of talks, including sessions on Year 2000 issues for HP 3000s (from Ken Paul of the Adager lab), client server strategies from Birket Foster of M.B. Foster Associates and Bradmark Technologies, data warehousing, HP 3000 performance management tips from Lund Performance Solutions, Oracle training including the use of Web servers, a rundown on RAD tools for Internet application development on the 3000 and HP manufacturing systems savvy from The Support Group. There's a vendor show as well, to get a hands-on look at the tools that can help you manage your HP 3000.
To register: call conference chair Elizabeth Stanley at Bradmark (713.621.2808 x132) and have her fax you a registration form. You can also register at the door, but telling the RUG you're coming helps them plan meals (there will be two lunches, a kickoff reception and a dinner on Monday night). Make your reservations at the San Luis hotel (at the special $99 rate) by calling 800.392.5937. Low-cost, safe Southwest Airlines (an HP 3000 customer) serves nearby Hobby Airport in Houston with dozens of flights each day. The NewsWire will be at the conference, and we hope to see you too!

Phones and manufacturing still drive HP 3000s into new sites. A lot of discussion about the future of the HP 3000 revolves around the sale of systems to new sites, and where applications are still arriving to solve business problems. HP is still getting 3000s installed at new sites, in places that might surprise you. Longtime HP 3000 application provider Telenomics (800.328.1177) reports that they've had a great year installing HP 3000s in place of the undermatched PC call accounting and phone management systems around the country. The company just landed a big deal to put its Pware/3000 software into NewsWire subscriber Micro Warehouse's site, and they've placed new HP 3000s at the Cities of Palm Springs and Sparks, Nev., Players Computer, Reuland Electric and the Christian and Missionary Alliance. There's also still a lot of faith in the HP 3000 as a manufacturing platform. Cathy Fitzgerald, the new marketing manager of the Commercial Systems Division, noted during our Q&A interview that HP recently installed 14 HP 3000s to replace a manufacturing operation, using "an application that's been available for quite awhile." Telenomics' Rick Hupe says that "based on the volume of HP 3000s we've sold lately, there is a lot of activity for this outstanding product line." The sales are happening when customers see that they can take advantage of leading edge technology and still choose a 3000, like the Telenomics client server version of the PBX/Centrex management system. It uses a Microsoft Access database linked to TurboIMAGE through the M.B. Foster ODBCLink middleware. When you can combine great technology with the fundamental performance and price advantages of the HP 3000, it's easy to see why the system is still winning converts. Apparently hype isn't the only thing that sells business computers.

That browser-based VPlus replacement works with non-PC clients, too. The Javalin product from MiniSoft (800.682.0200; 41.41.34023.20 in Europe) is expected to provide Java client support for IMAGE and other HP 3000 file types in the same manner as the existing Middle/FrontMan products from MiniSoft. Our previous NewsWire article of August perhaps incorrectly stressed the operating system on the client as a prerequisite for Javalin. Developer Richard Corn explains, "At one level, Javalin is expected to be supported with any browser that supports Java. The reality is that the Java implementations for various browsers are not the same in their quality and content. Java implementations for a specific browser are not the same over all platforms. The idea that Java will make platforms irrelevant is a goal, like many of the open systems/standards based protocols. The implementations of Java and other standard tools can vary widely, and so does a vendor's ability to support the platforms. As such, Javalin will be supported on Windows 95 and NT under Netscape to start with, expanding to other browsers and platforms as MiniSoft can qualify them."

That Web Starter Kit is ready for you to download. After a bit of tailoring of its file sizes, the Web Starter Kit is available at the following addresses: www.idpnet.com/HP3000/ in the US and in Europe at HP 3000 VAR Entrix Computer, www.entrix.co.uk. Using the NCSA HTTP-D freeware Web server for the 3000 as a foundation for the kit, Lars Appel of HP has worked with client server guru Joe Geiser to put everything you'll need in a single file, one which automatically creates and fills a WEB account on your HP 3000. The process ensures all the pieces are in the right places on your 3000, as well as delivers demoware of the 3000-native Lynx browser and sample Web pages. The key part of the kit is TAPECOPY, a tool created by Appel. The Web Starter kit is now about a 15-minute download in PKZIP format, and the marvel of Appel's TAPECOPY is that it will create a Web server installation tape. Our editor John Burke says after using the Kit, "This thing is great! About as idiot proof as it is possible to be." (See more details in our next issue.)

Use the 3000 as a Web server, and skip Posix. Several subscribers have been raving about the alternative product that gets an HP 3000 up and running Web pages, QWEBS from NewsWire subscriber Duane Percox at QSS (415.306.1600). The $495 product is unique in that it does not require Posix or HFS support. Written from scratch and not a port of existing C-based servers, QWEBS is designed to be used by sites not interested in exploring the depths of Posix and HFS (MPE/iX 5.0), but who want to implement a Web server using their 3000 as the host. The QWEBS CGI script support is tightly integrated with existing HP 13000 programs and overcomes the problems associated with mixing Posix and MPE applications. Download your demo at www.qss.com/download.qwebs.htm l.

Copyright 1996, The 3000 NewsWire. All rights reserved.