As expected, Hewlett-Packard Co yesterday launched new uniprocessor servers in its Precision Architecture RISC-based HP 9000 Series 800 – which runs the HP-UX Unixalike – and the proprietary MPE-based 3000 series. The HP 9000 Series 842S uses a 28MHz version of the RISC chip, is rated at 29 MIPS and 6.9 MFLOPS, comes with from 32Mb to 256Mb RAM, 670Mb to 2.68Gb disk, can support up to 80 users and costs UKP69,900. The 852S, with a 50MHz PA part is rated at 52 MIPS and 11.4 MFLOPS, comes with from 64Mb to 256Mb memory, the same disk capacity as the 842S and costs UKP117,700 supporting up to 80 users. The 865S with the same 50MHz processor is rated at 53 MIPS and 11.3 MFLOPS, has from 64Mb to 512Mb RAM and costs UKP192,400 for up to 512 users. All three ship in February next year with eight-user licences for HP-UX version 7.08. Prices on existing 800 models are cut by from 11% to 37% across the range, with an entry-level 808S now priced at UKP12,500 and a high-end 870S/100 coming in at UKP288,100. HP 3000 models 948 and 958 start at UKP131,000 and UKP254,000 respectively, come with up to 256Mb RAM and 34.8Gb disk – both are available now. In addition prices on models 980/100 and 980/200 are reduced 13% and 12% respectively to UKP553,000 and UKP861,000. A Posix-compliant version of the proprietary MPE operating system is expected by the middle of next year, and Unix applications will be converted for it, says Hewlett’s UK HP 3000 product manager Emmet Hayes. Hardware plans for next year include three and four-processor versions of the top-end Series 9000 model 870S multi-processor, and other top-end systems, with the performance of the Precision Architecture RISC chip likely to be cranked up yet again. Version 8.0 of HP-UX is promised by next spring, and is said to include be a mix of AT&T Unix System V.3 and System V.4 functionality, but the Caroline Jones, Hewlett’s UK Open Systems product manager says the Series 800 will not be fitted out with OSF/1 but will wait for the arrival of OSF/2. HP-UX will be merged with OSF/1 over time but this is not expected until to appear on the merged Motorola 68040-based HP Apollo 9000 Series VRX 400 line until after the release of HP-UX version 9.0, sometime in 1992. Although Hewlett will be running native OSF/1 on its next-generation workstation technology – code-named Snake – next year, the Precision Architecture boxes will likely still initially be offered with a choice of HP-UX or Apollo Domain/OS before the OSF/1 implementation is complete. New system management software for the HP-UX line includes HP OmniBack, a network back-up service for large distributed computing environments, supporting optical disks and a claimed back-up rate of up to 5Gb per hour. OmniBack is available early next year. Also new is HP SwitchOver/UX, providing automatic switchover from a primary to a standby processor in the event of a failure. In addition Hewlett-Packard says its OpenSpool/UX network print spooling application has been included in the company’s joint submission with IBM to the Open Software Foundation’s Distributed Management Environment Request for Technology.
