HP’s revived pledge to 3000 business came during Platt’s keynote address which opened the 1998 user conference held in San Diego this month. Platt delivered one of his most product-oriented talks, confirming the vitality of HP’s relationship with its longest-selling business computer.
“Before I review our systems businesses — the HP 9000, HP 3000 and HP NetServers — I want to reaffirm HP’s commitment to an inclusive systems strategy,” Platt told thousands of HP customers. “We don’t ask you to choose one operating system over another. We know that the real world is a multivendor world, and it will be that way for a long time. So we’ve developed strong businesses in UNIX, NT and MPE, and we can support and integrate all of them very skillfully.”
Platt’s comments about the HP 3000 put the system on an equal footing with HP’s Unix and NT solutions. The CEO made a fresh commitment to the system’s future by spelling out its IA-64 technology transfer in coming years.
“The HP 3000 is vital to HP in two ways,” Platt said. “First, after 26 years, it’s vital to many of the people in this room. Many of you have stayed with the 3000 for its reliability, range of processing power, ease of operation and solid price/performance. The HP 3000 is also vital in the sense of being very much alive and very much a part of HP’s future.”
Placed directly between outlines of HP-UX and NetServer plans, the HP 3000 details in Platt’s speech described a future with advanced EPIC/IA-64 technology — as well as continued care for its customers adopting new systems more slowly.
“We have a detailed plan to enable customers to transition to IA-64 — on their schedules,” Platt said. “No HP 3000 customer will be forced to move to IA-64, and we will continue to offer service, support and upgrades for those who choose to stay on the PA-RISC platform. We’ve designed backward compatibility with PA-RISC into the EPIC architecture from the start.”
Platt reiterated HP’s message about the ease of
migration to the new architecture. In the CEO’s view, such migration
won’t even demand a recompile.
“If and when you decide to move to IA-64, you
won’t have to recompile existing PA-RISC, native-mode
applications,” Platt said. “IA-64 systems will offer
compatibility with current HP 3000 systems. You’ll be able to run your
current native-mode applications unchanged.”
Platt also noted that in addition to the five key vertical markets for HP growth — airlines, healthcare, credit unions, manufacturing and mail order — current business wouldn’t get dropped. “We’re not abandoning any vertical markets that we’re active in now,” he said.
In a message to the most vocal of his installed base, Platt acknowledged the value of customer feedback. The CEO thanked HP 3000 customers “not only for their loyalty, but also their energy in letting us know their concerns over the years. I hope our recent decisions on the HP 3000 assure you that we’re committed to this platform.”
The speech appeared to signal an official end to preferred status for any one HP computing solution. “I said earlier that HP’s systems strategy was inclusive,” Platt said. “This strategy is based, first and foremost, on what customers want. But it also shows that we’re not afraid to let different businesses challenge each other.”