HP's Letter to OpenMPE members and HP 3000 homesteading customers

(Sent on April 9, 2004)

In February, Mike Paivinen communicated that vCSY would be providing an update on "a couple of the important items on the e3000 end-of-life roadmap." Before providing that update, I want to share with you some other news of interest to the OpenMPE community.

• vCSY continues to work to strengthen its relationship with the OpenMPE Board and will be providing monthly updates to the Board on issues under discussion.

• HP will make a Platinum-level contribution to OpenMPE to help defray its operating expenses over the next year.

• We are currently reviewing the SIB ballot and expect to provide an initial response by May 31, 2004. We may be able to provide a response to some items earlier, while some items may take considerably longer.

The two areas of the end-of-life roadmap that I would like to address are the conversion of used HP 9000 systems to HP e3000s and MPE/iX source code access, both of which appeared on the 2004 SIB.

HP 9000 to HP e3000 Conversions: We are reviewing the complex situation regarding HP 9000 to HP e3000 conversions. As recently as HP World 2003, we said that we would not pursue this. However, after listening to the input provided by the OpenMPE Board, we have reopened the subject. So far, we have had limited internal discussions on this topic. We intend to provide an update in June 2004.

MPE/iX Source Access: An investigation is underway to quantify the work required to license MPE/iX source code to an outside organization, along with the supporting build and test processes. This and other factors will be used to make the decision on whether to license MPE/iX source code to one or more third parties. We intend to communicate a decision in the second half of 2005. This timeframe is later than that requested in the 2004 SIB for several reasons.

“First, we need to complete significant planning and investigation before we can make a decision. To ensure a successful transition, should we decide to move forward, we are proceeding with an investigation to quantify the work required to transition MPE’s build and test processes to an outside organization. The first step in the investigation is to create an inventory of the build, integration, and test processes that are used to create a distribution of MPE/iX.

The purpose of the inventory is to consolidate process information in a standard way and to evaluate our processes for opportunities for simplification and increased efficiency. The evaluation is being done with an eye to simplify any possible transition outside of HP. After the inventory is complete, we plan to seek input from OpenMPE on hiring a non-HP, e3000-knowledgeable contractor to evaluate the process documentation for completeness and to determine if it is sufficient to allow for a successful transition. We expect that completing the process inventory and evaluation will take another 2-3 months from now. Soon thereafter, we expect to hire the contractor.

Second, there are many business factors to be evaluated and balanced before making this decision. For example, we need to evaluate the legal and intellectual property issues that may arise in a source licensing arrangement between HP and one or more third parties. We need to define the process for selecting the candidate(s) to gain access to the source. And, as stated above, we need to understand the costs associated with preparing the source code for third-party access.

Third, no one can predict how the e3000 landscape will change between now and the end of 2006. Making this decision closer to the time of implementation provides greater degrees of freedom in selecting the optimal solution. It avoids locking in an inappropriate decision prematurely or mis-setting expectations.

We are confident that if we decide in 2005 to move forward with MPE/iX source code access, then we will have sufficient time to complete our activities with one or more third parties before HP's end-of-support date.

In conclusion, I want to reiterate our commitment to address the needs of customers who intend to use their e3000s past HP’s end-of-support date. Our top priorities continue to be delivering high-quality support to those customers running their businesses on the HP e3000 and working with customers and partners who are currently creating and executing their transition plans. In addition, we will continue to work with the OpenMPE Board of Directors to attempt to find solutions for the OpenMPE community. We acknowledge the sense of urgency that some members of the community are feeling for timely decisions to help with their planning. We will try to provide intermediate updates as available. I welcome your feedback and comments.

Ross McDonald
MPE/iX R&D
Director of Engineering

(McDonald can be e-mailed at ross_mcdonald@hp.com.)