Hewlett-Packard Co, which has previously said that software licensing pricing for mainframe-class Unix data centers is its biggest issue (CI No 3,439), says it is now investigating how to get ahead of the curve and tailor its own software for these platforms. HP is worried that customers will begin to balk at the huge cost of buying new applications, or upgrading old ones, that are priced using traditionally high mainframe costing structures, But, it says ISVs are telling us they’re not under any pressure to act at the moment – and they are the most significant cost element. It believes customer expectations will change over time as the issue becomes more mainstream for potential Unix data center users.
