Hewlett-Packard Co today unveils new system and software configurations and more aggressive pricing for its MPE/iX-based 3000 server line which has been given a new lease of life with HP’s plan to port the proprietary environment to Merced (CI No 3,455). The 3000 hardware is identical, for the most part, to the company’s HP-UX-based 9000 firmware and the three MPE/iX lines are being upgraded to higher performance 9000 technologies. At the same time HP revealed a previously unidentified addition to the PA-RISC line, the PA-8550, presumably a smaller or higher speed version of the forthcoming PA-8500, which together with the PA-8700 and possibly a PA-8800 follow-on will be used in systems that are board upgradeable to IA-64/Merced. HP told ComputerWire that in 18 to 24 months’ time mid-range 9x9KS and low-end low-end 9×8 users will be offered PA-8500 upgrades and subsequently box- swaps up to the IA-64-enabled systems. Initially HP is offering the 989KS, an MPE/iX version of the six-way K570 Unix server which uses 200MHz PA-8200 parts with a kicker to follow next year. HP says the new box offers 36% better performance than the 979KS, a K-Class quad. The majority of HP’s 3000 sales are mid- range boxes. A new low-end uniprocessor 929KS/020 server uses the PA-7200. It has no exact 9000 series equivalent. The existing low-end 968 will remain on the price list. At the high-end HP will ship MPE/iX versions of its 180MHz PA-8000-based T600 data center as the 997/600 and /800 with six and eight processors respectively. The existing 997/500 is a five-way system and the 996 series is based upon the older T520 HP-UX servers. HP will offer an MPE/iX version of the 12-way T600 next year. HP’s 64-bit PA-8000 processors are implemented as 32-bit devices for the 3000 series boxes as MPE/iX has yet to be made over to support 64- bits. HP says it will introduce 64-bit technologies to MPE/iX incrementally beginning with support for large memory sizes, up to 16Gb, by the end of next year. The systems run a new 6.0 version of MPE/iX which includes the patches designed for use with the current version 5.5 release plus support for Java and Windows connectivity via Samba/iX NT. HP, which has promised to all-but remove the price differential between its Unix and higher-priced MPE/iX systems says upgrade prices for the 3000’s bundled operating system and database will be reduced and that new rebates rates will be available; 25% on the 9×8, 45% on the 929KS/020, 35% on the 9x9KS and 35% on the 99x. For example HP says a an eight-user 939KS/020 is $51,176 compared with $64,350; a 100-user 969KS/220 is $161,335 versus $174,600; and a 256 user 997/500 is $379,654, down 57% from $878,223. The new 939KS/020 is $84,716, 26% cheaper than existing models; the 969RX is 27% cheaper at $85,938 and the new 929KS/020 is priced the same as old 968RX. The new high-end 997/800 is $439,654, the 997/500 is $379,654 and the 989KS/600 is $348,962.
