Independent HW support adds expert assistance

IBM to cover field service for 3000s outside HP’s plan

HP 3000 owners looking toward third party options for support this year will find resources both familiar and unexpected to service their systems: former HP 3000 configuration expertise and IBM Global Services.

Terix Computer has launched the latest entry in HP 3000 support options which are independent of HP’s pricing and schedules. The company has contracted with IBM’s support arm for its onsite service calls, and will be using the services of an expert troubleshooter who recently left the full-time staff of HP’s North American e3000 distributor Client Systems (see sidebar).

Terix VP of marketing Bruce Mitchell said his company will be writing service contracts for 3000 models that HP doesn’t support any longer. So long as 3000 owners maintain their habits of using systems well beyond HP’s support date, Mitchell expects the 3000 support business to outlast HP’s involvement with the computer.

“About 10 months ago I wrote a contract for a company’s Series 950,” he said. That computer, first built in 1987, now has a service contract and lifespan that runs through 2005, and “that was their earliest estimate.”

Terix arrives from the Sun community, and Mitchell said the company is kicking off with 3000 support because HP’s providing so much opportunity by ending service for systems like the 9x7 Series.

“What’s small to HP is large to the rest of us,” he said. “It’s a huge opportunity. We’ve launched our HP business focusing on the 3000 platform, because that’s the group crying out the most.”

In the months to come, Terix will also be building up its HP-UX hardware support business. Terix brought in IBM as the field service arm of the HP 3000 support offering — an alliance agreement, in specific terms — “and we are everything except that onsite labor piece.”

IBM gives Terix the ability to deliver onsite services through 200 cities in the US. Terix trains IBM’s engineers in the agreement on HP 3000 maintenance. Outside of the Bay Area, Terix will offer managed delivery of its services through the IBM engineers.

Terix is implementing lab test beds, and help desk procedures to support the HP 3000 hardware. Terix doesn’t want to be in the MPE/iX support business. “Our needs are to keep the hardware running, and we don’t want to be confused with a Beechglen,” Mitchell said.

Beechglen is one of the largest North American MPE and HP 3000 support providers independent of HP. While Beechglen and vendors like Allegro Consultants offer the equivalent of Account Management Support, companies such as Terix focus on the hardware maintenance contacts for HP 3000s. HP’s already cut off the Series 9x7 owners from hardware support earlier this year, a discontinuance trend that will continue through 2006 when HP’s support for the 3000 is scheduled to end.

HP has tried to advise its 9x7 owners that finding spare parts for the systems will become more difficult over time, urging the owners to move to more modern systems. But the limited availability of such 3000 parts “just hasn’t been the case,” according to Mitchell and others in the 3000 hardware community.

Some third-party sources of 3000s also write hardware support contracts, such as Epic Systems. Emerging services for the 3000 line are a natural part of the life after HP stops manufacturing a computer, according to Epic’s president Paul Daniels.

“As the support issues become more difficult to manage, there are going to be people who pop up to fill that void,” Daniels said.

The need for spares is almost as essential as having trained engineers available for on-site calls. Terix has been arranging a training program for the IBM Global Services engineers in HP 3000 issues. IBM services a wide variety of computer systems, often working with a prime contractor like Terix acting as the first tier of support.

Terix negotiated the labor rates with IBM independent of how much business may actually sign up for 3000 service. But Mitchell says he’s not concerned about meeting the lower price point for support which 3000 managers expect from an independent service provider.

“Labor is the one piece of the equation that doesn’t change, and the cost is always going up. The parts tend to go down over time,” he said.

HP hopes to move its customers off HP 3000s by discontinuing support for the systems. Terix, which has managed support contracts for discontinued systems in other markets, is betting that HP won’t be able to nudge a majority of the 3000 customers. Covering so many major US cities was important to the Terix plan.

“They’re going to have a really tough time moving them,” Mitchell said. “Our vision is to offer a national program as opposed to regional expertise. To land IBM as a partner in that is really key to that puzzle.”