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Ron Seybold, Editor In Chief
A forward-looking conference because of its developer attendance, IPROF 1999 hosted an HP management roundtable unique in its exclusive focus on HP 3000 issues. Questions from attendees and those submitted over the Internet asked HP for commitments to improving services like the Electronic Support Center, designating some HP software as Open Source projects, improving Internet security, and establishing certification for MPE skills. HP also addressed its balance of IA-64 plans versus more immediate engineering, and responded to requests for an Enchilada IMAGE data caching enhancement .
Interex assembled technical managers and HP representatives to cover most of the Commercial Systems Division (CSY) spectrum: Winston Prather, CSY R&D manager; Dave Wilde and Pam Bennett, CSY R&D lab section managers; Kristy Ward, marketing section manager for the Software Services Division, representing support issues; Vicki Symonds, HP 3000 Product Marketing manager; and Christine Martino, the new Worldwide Marketing manager for CSY.
Topics below covered pre-submitted questions at the two-hour roundtable:
Will HP
give 3000 customers a free Y2K upgrade if they're not on support?
What
projects will HP be undertaking during the next year outside of IA-64?
Will HP
make better Internet security for 3000s a near-term priority?
What
are you doing to make the Electronic Support Center a better resource?
Will
you put supported-but-ignored HP software products into an Open Source
program?
What
are HP's plans for a certification process for HP 3000 admins and
programmers?
Does HP
have any plans to increase public awareness of the HP 3000?
How
much effort is going into making your sales force aware of selling
solutions?
Is HP
looking into getting the 3000 prices down on the low-end?
Can
you comment on major new vertical application developers for the
3000?