Number 88 (Update of Volume 8, Issue 9)

SSA GT keeps looking for ERP opinions

SSA Global Technologies (SSA GT) announced in May the company wants to hear from customers who use the MANMAN ERP package, hoping to learn what the biggest single group of application users on the HP 3000 platform plan to do over the coming years of Transition. Last week the firm sent a notice via the CAMUS ERP user group about a MANMAN/HP survey that can be taken online.

Both the ERP application and the computer platform are facing changes. SSA GT announced it won't schedule any further enhancements to the ERP software that could be installed on more than 2,000 HP 3000s. The computers, of course, won't be sold by HP after Oct. 31, with HP support ending about three years later at the close of 2006.

But SSA showed signs at the latest CAMUS conference that it is interested in an ongoing relationship with its MANMAN sites. We reported in our June issue that SSA GT is loath to discontinue any application altogether, given the strategic importance of ERP packages to the companies who build their businesses around them. What 3000 sites plan to do is of great interest to this app provider, one who isn't shy about telling customers they can homestead on 3000s "until the nuts and bolts fall out" of the systems.

In an e-mail passed through CAMUS, SSA GT officials said, "Your opinions are important to us and help to provide an accurate representation of what MANMAN users need to support their organization's strategy, infrastructure and future. Your valuable input ensures that SSA Global Technologies can offer the best solutions to fit your needs."

Customers can complete an online survey at www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?JH9XHGCATH2JX4YBGHGYQN52. SSA GT's Sue Payton reported in May the company is trying to locate and survey as much of the MANMAN community as it can this year, a group of customers that might number as high as 2,500. That would make MANMAN the biggest single application community in the 3000 marketplace, largest by a wide margin. SSA GT wants its users to distribute the survey link to other users in the MANMAN/HP 3000 community. "The survey is open to all MANMAN users," the e-mail message reads, "for companies on maintenance with SSA GT and to those who no longer subscribe to it."

Results of the survey will be announced at the SSA GT Global Client Forum (GCF) on September 21-24, in Orlando, Fla. The GCF has an agenda for the three-plus days of the show ready for review at SSA's Web site. Click on www.ssax.com/gcf2003 to get details. It costs $1,395, plus a $159 per night hotel room charge at the conference venue of the Marriott Grande Lakes. Registration is $100 less for the conference if customers sign up before Aug. 16.


Use Sendmail on your 6.5-based servers

Thousands of HP 3000 servers are going to remain on the 6.5 release of MPE/iX, since HP has decided to keep the Series 9x7 servers from booting up with the newer 7.0 and 7.5 releases of the operating environment. (The 7.0 release was working on 9x7s during the testing phase of that release, but HP disable the startup code for 7.0 and later if the operating system sees a 9x7 on bootup.) But using the older MPE/iX release doesn't mean you can't have some of the industry-standard advanced features, such as the sendmail mail transport system.

HP's Mark Bixby, who helped to move sendmail to the 3000 before joining the company as an MPE engineer, recently confirmed that sendmail works just fine on 6.5 systems like the 9x7s." Sendmail will work just fine on 6.5 if you use
AUTOPAT or manual methods to install the 7.0 or 7.5 patches for Sendmail. It just won't be supported by HP on 6.5." HP is discontinuing support for the 6.5 release altogether at the end of 2004.

Bixby noted that he built and tested the sendmail product on a 6.5 machine. The 8.12.1 version of sendmail works on the older 3000 systems, once the SMLGDT8a patch is installed using AUTOPAT or manual methods.


HP World takes on an HP perspective

There has been ample change in the world of HP over the past two years, and even more evidence of the differences between old HP and new is surfacing in the weeks before the 2003 HP World conference. A month before the conference opened, a former member of the Interex user group's board of directors who manages part of the HP World content said the show has stopped being an independent venture of the user group, and is now being run as a joint venture between HP, Interex and the Compaq user group Encompass.

That new alliance doesn't come as timely news, since Interex announced the venture late in February. But the results of the joint arrangement, surfacing as changes in the show's content, access and processes, are just now emerging. The differences have been drawing notice from members of the HP 3000 community who remember Interex mounting a show run by users, a show that HP was glad to attend without conditions.

Interex volunteers and chairmen of Special Interest Groups are taking note of the new order at HP World. Speakers report that their PowerPoint slides will be pre-loaded on HP-supplied laptops in each room. HP's speakers are being told to bring their own laptops. Non-HP speakers are being told not to modify their pre-submitted presentations.

Some HP 3000 experts have complained about having their papers passed over during the selection process, where HP 3000-related sessions now represent less than 10 percent of the overall 592 sessions of the show's content. A message from former Interex board member Greg Cagle, who is one of three Content Managers this year, explained that Interex signed an agreement with the Compaq user group Encompass, as well as with HP, that makes the HP World show a joint venture of all three groups.

"Interex is no longer the sole owner/operator of HP World," said Cagle, who is managing the HP-UX, Linux, IT Director/MIS Manager, Oracle, Middleware, and
Nonstop tracks. "The conference is managed and operated by a coalition of three parties: Encompass, HP, and Interex. Each has a stake in the success of the conference." Interex Volunteer Services Manager Gayle Crossley explained the decision to merge the annual user events of Interex and Encompass was prompted by efficiency, and a desire to create a larger event than any Interex had offered in the past.

Interex executive director Ron Evans was out of town this week, and so couldn't answer questions about what the user group's stake is in the new joint venture. But the group has always relied on the fiscal success of the conference to keep the group profitable and healthy. Encompass has been funded by Compaq. In some years, the proceeds of the annual Interex show made all the difference between red ink or black for Interex.

Cagle said the paper selection process had to accommodate the needs of the Compaq/Digital user communities, including a new use of focus groups to select papers. As Cagle explained, "In the past, HP World was assembled by a team of volunteers, who managed the various tracks and scheduled the sessions using a database and scheduling system at Interex." The Encompass model for its Enterprise Technical Symposium (ETS) show "has been to run actual customer focus groups, and then actively recruit papers based on the results. The track management and scheduling was then handled by staff members, working with the volunteers as needed."

So while merging the two conferences, each track in the HP World show got a team of "an Interex rep, an Encompass rep, as many customers as we could find, and one or more reps from the [HP] field organization," Cagle said. "We then mapped the output from the focus groups against what had already been submitted into the HP World database from the original call for papers. Then the track teams started assembling the tracks and scheduling things in an ongoing process, which should be complete in mid-August."

HP thinks enough of the new conference to use the venue for its technical pre-sales training for its support employees. And this year the meeting includes HP CEO Carly Fiorina, live and in person rather than videotaped from California, or beamed from a remote broadcast in New York City. The CEO skipped two years of HP World meetings in 2000 and 2001 before returning to the conference for a brief keynote address last year.

Another new wrinkle is the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) track of sessions, an addition from the world of the Compaq ETS conferences. Only paid attendees can qualify for an Event Confidential Disclosure Agreement (ECDA), which is required to attend NDA Technical Sessions and to enter the Whisper Room -- the Technical Product Area which HP has told the customers who are admitted to it "may contain prototypes and demonstrations of future HP technologies."

While the future may become clearer, some parts of the past HP World experience have been discontinued. The management roundtable between HP 3000 customers and the executives of the company has been shifted to a Customer Needs Panel. The meeting is designed to let HP execs listen to what the 3000 customers need from the company, but it doesn't demand that HP resolve or explain issues from behind a microphone as in past years. Conference volunteers like Paul Edwards, who's moderating the 3000 panel, are considering reconfiguring the chairs in the room to eliminate the "panel before an audience" arrangement of years past.

Attendance at the HP World Special Interest Group sessions is open to anyone with a Free Expo Pass, so key meetings like the SIG-MPE sessions and SIG-COBOL presentations can get maximum attendance. But the Customer Needs Panel is only open to those attendees with a paid registration -- although Interex offered a 50 percent discount on the single-day registation price when Edwards tried to ensure his panel would be well-attended.

This year's conference will also be the first we've ever attended where press access is being arranged by HP. An outside PR firm which is contracted to HP is handling all requests for press credentials, another example of how a joint venture operates differently than a user group's show. Early bird registration rates continue through July 28. You can get more details on what MPE sessions will be on tap at www.hpworld2003.com/scps/guides/track.jsp?TRACK_ID=2410


OpenMPE meeting moves at Atlanta

HP World is still carrying news and technical content about the HP 3000 server to its customers, but the homesteading user who is not planning on moving away has fewer opportunities to learn something at the show. One of those spots has been moved around in the conference lineup, as the OpenMPE meeting was first moved to a 4:10 PM start time on Monday, August 11, then back to its original 5:20 time. Just before the OpenMPE meeting, e3000 business manager Dave Wilde speaks at an MPE Kickoff session at 4:10, but the meetings are in two separate halls at the Atlanta conference center. We also heard that SIG leaders – many of whom are representing HP 3000 members – will have their meeting at 3 PM that same day. All those Monday sessions are scheduled opposite the all-day Platinum Migration briefings being led by the HP Platinum Migration partners.


BlueLine buys pieces to support picture

It takes move than knowledge to build an alternative to HP support, and alternatives are an essential part of keeping the 3000 running in many shops who cannot make a transition by the end of HP's support in 2006. In our April and July issues we ran stories about BlueLine Services, LLC, which was introduced on several occasions by HP to 3000 customers. The company looks like it's handling the more concrete part of service, too, pursuing systems and components to stock for customers.

An Internet message posted recently from BlueLine showed the wide range of what a support company needs to acquire. It's a good starting point to talk about when a customer is considering a move outside of the official HP support channels – what level of parts do you have on hand?

On the other hand, if you're moving away from 3000s quickly – something we have not seen much evidence of yet – it looks like BlueLine will buy just about anything you've got. Here's their message from president Bill Towe:

"We are heavily in the market for any and all HP equipment that anyone may be trying to get rid of. That includes entire systems, disks, memory, I/O, power supplies, terminals, DTCs, routers, modems, cables, power cords, and keyboards just to name a few items.

"Anything anyone has that they are interested in getting rid of, please contact me by phone (877.464.2583) or by e-mail (btowe@bluelineservices.com). What we will need is a list of the equipment that you have with as much detail as can be provided. All equipment must be in good working order and come with all associated components that assist in the operation of said equipment.

"We would be happy to pay cash or trade for your equipment. In some cases just paying the shipping on our part is worth it. We are very serious about this. We are in need of as much excess equipment as we can find. Please don't hesitate to send me a list of your equipment. Nothing is too old or out of date."


IBM to add Web portal builder for iSeries

Some customers will head onto IBM's iSeries platform – HP expects one in 10 of the 3000 sites who are making a transition to choose Big Blue, and IBM is anticipating more like 40 percent. For those 3000 sites with a limited depth of technical expertise – a lot more than you'd think -- solutions that an office manager can operate have always been popular and a big plus in choosing the HP 3000. This week IBM announced a new enterprise-grade server for its iSeries, but alongside the hardware announcement was a promise to make a Web portal creation package available to iSeries shops in a few months. WebSphere Portal Express V5 will let small and medium-sized businesses create portals without knowing how to code for the Web. The product has been available to Windows and Linux customers on the IBM line, and now Big Blue is bringing it to the iSeries. The HP 3000 used to have these kinds of offerings, things like the HP Easytime menu system which let less-technical system owners create a set of menus into MPE applications. Like the HP 3000, the iSeries is sold into companies without a formal IT department.

WebSphere configuration could get a lot simpler, by some customers' reports at an IBM COMMON user show we attended last year. But the Express version of the product looks like it's addressing that. We found it most interesting that a software product already successful on IBM's Intel platforms is getting moved to the iSeries family. It's the kind of "walking the walk" that needs to follow a vendor's talk about including a specialized platform like the iSeries. More details on Portal Express are at IBM's Web site.