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SCMP Reporter

Hewlett-Packard has underlined its commitment to the Unix market by launching a new series of machines based on its own 64-bit PA-RISC microprocessor design and running its own Unix operating system software.

 The firm's chief executive Lew Platt also delivered a stinging attack on Unix rival Sun Microsystems which has been critical of his company's multi operating system (OS) strategy to support Windows NT and Unix.

 Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft signed a special agreement eight weeks ago to ensure close development work on the OS.

 HP is also committed to a long-term microprocessor design partnership with Intel, the dominant chip supplier for Windows-based computers.

 The company claims the Merced project, which will produce a 64-bit chip possibly as early as 1999 to deliver high performance processing power for Intel-based computer makers, will also give users of its PA-RISC plenty of confidence to invest in the firm's new systems.

 The company has promised backward compatibility for users running HP-UX, the company's version of Unix, and also tens of thousands of applications running on Intels x86 family of processors.

 Mr Platt, who unveiled a new V-Class series of mainframe-alternative servers for high-volume transaction processing, told press, securities analysts and major customers gathered in the drill room of New York's Lexington Armoury, that Sun had been irresponsible in suggesting that his firm was deserting its installed base of Risc/Unix customers.

  Mr Platt, who also addressed the HP World show in Japan last week, said ill-informed comments from Sun reflected the small-mindedness of the company.

 Sun Microsystems chief executive Scott McNealy, referred to by Fortune magazine as the anti-Bill for his opposition to NT, Microsoft and its chief executive Bill Gates, has positioned Sun as the only major Unix systems vendor that has not dabbled in Windows NT.

  Hewlett-Packard claims its Colliance strategy to offer service and support for both NT and Unix - and its microprocessor migration - has given the company a great advantage.

 General manager of its Enterprise Server Group, Bill Russell, said: 'A lot of players have their strategy predicated by having it only tied to Unix or only to NT.'  Mr Russell said while its strategy to sign up with Intel to develop the Merced-class chip and ensure compatibility for its users may seem a clever step, it was even more so when the deal was first struck three years ago.

 'At that stage the dynamics of the market were less clear and far less certain than it is today,' he said.

 However, while Windows NT was the fastest growing OS in the market today, Mr Russell said the consolidation in the chip market would assist the unification of the fractious Unix field.

 Many different versions or flavours of Unix have left the high-end OS open to attack from competitors such as Microsoft's Windows which has matured from the low-end of the market and driven a steamroller through the Unix market.

 Hewlett-Packard signed an agreement with SCO and Novell to develop a unified Unix last year and certain aspects of that development work have been included in the latest HP-UX version, release 11.0, which will debut with the new HP Unix systems in September.

 The new supercomputer-class systems from the firm include the HP 9000 V2200 Enterprise Server which offers 16-way SMP (symmetric multi-processing) using PA-RISC 200MHz chips designed by the company.

 These systems are aimed at the mainframe replacement market - for companies with intensive data centre computing requirements.

 The release of two new K Class servers with a capacity of up to six chips were also announced last week.

 As a measure of its confidence in the Unix systems, the firm said it also would lift the bar in guaranteeing uptime for IS managers in its support packages.

 Vice-president and general manager of the firm's software and services group, Ann Livermore, said: 'We can now guarantee uptime 99.95 per cent of the time on our systems.

 'This sets a new level of reliability and system availability for data centre people who need their computer systems running with no unplanned downtime.

 'HP is cutting the unplanned downtime to just 4.4 hours a year.

 'HP will share the risk and at contract renewal time we will give customer rebates on our services if we don't perform to spec.'  A spokesman for the company in Asia said this service pack promise only applied to Unix because HP and software partners such as Oracle were able to tightly vet the peripherals, middleware and device drivers likely to be used in large enterprise data centres.

Glenn Mulcaster attended the Hewlett-Packard launch as a guest of the company 



Company targets Unix and NT markets