Hewlett-Packard Co is easing its HP 3000 users so gently towards open systems that it has succeeded in avoiding spooking a very valuable base – the HP 3000 Series 900 machines are rated the eighth most valuable in the US in the Computer Intelligence database – and it continues to strive to keep them happy. It has now come out with a new system package and four new models, describing the moves as further enhancing the HP 3000 as the worry-free environment for business-critical computing. The new HP 3000 Plus package, available for eight systems, provides integrated systems, networking and performance-management software; capacity-planning and high-availability with on-line back-up capabilities; and relational database capabilities. The system package also includes a windowed personal computer for managing all systems and network capabilities, and for monitoring system performance – now why isn’t IBM doing that with the PS/2 for AS/400 users? The company reckons that based on the latest TPC Benchmark A results, the HP 3000 Series 977 provides 150.60 transactions per second with a cost of ownership of $8,879 per tpsA, nearly three times the performance at 49% of the cost of ownership of IBM’s AS/400 E70, which recorded 54.9tpsA at a cost of ownership of $17,990/tpsA. The Plus package comprises an HP Vectra personal computer with HP OpenView Console windows-based systems and network management tool; TurboStore/iX back-up and restore; AutoRestart/iX automatic restart with no operator intervention; ThinLAN 3000/iXEthernet over thin flexible cable; and a new SQL-based interface that can read and update information stored in a the non-relational Image/SQL database. The TurboImage database will use the new interface and has been renamed HP Image/SQL to reflect the upgrade. Options are the LaserRX/MPE performance tool, which enables users to gather data over time and analyse it; RX Forecast performance software that tracks this data and predicts when the user will need to upgrade the system; GlancePlus/iX performance tool that enables users to examine the system and determine the cause of performance bottlenecks, in real time as they occur, and the Allbase/SQL relational database. The package ships first quarter 1993. The four new four-slot HP 3000 business systems, three of which also come in the new integrated system-package version, fit between the existing two-slot and 12-slot systems, and current users can move to them with a chassis upgrade. Shipments are set for January 1993. MPE/iX Release 4.5, shipping this month, includes, at no charge, unlimited run-time support for the Posix 1003.1, Posix 1003.2 and Curses standards, enabling users to run Unix applications that have been converted to run with Posix on the HP 3000. A new enhanced EtherTwist router provides HP 3000 access to Frame Relay and Switched Multimegabit Digital Service. The new machines, with operating system, Image/SQL, a 100-user licence, 64Mb memory, four slots, 1Gb disk, 2Gb DDS DAT tape drive and terminal console (except for the HP 3000 Series 937RX, which has a 32-user licence and 32M memory at $33,500, are $88,000 for the 947RX, $103,000 for the 957RX, and $123,000 for the 967RX. The versions with the Plus pcakage cost $143,000 for the 947RX, $158,000 for the 957RX, $178,500 for the 967RX.
