New midrange 3000s leapfrog high end boxes

Spring rollout includes first news on Web console, AutoRAID and JDBC driver availability

Hewlett-Packard is riding the midrange horse hard to deliver performance — so hard that the pony is passing the high-end 3000s at the wire.

The newest Series 989 HP 3000s sport a PA-RISC 8200 processor that makes them faster than HP Series 997 systems. The Series 989/x50 models will outpace the high-end HP 3000s until later this year, when HP is promising operating system upgrades to put the 997s back in front.

The differences are so great that a 997 with eight processors — the most expensive HP 3000 hardware configuration — is nearly 20 percent slower than a Series 989/650 with six processors. A four-processor model of the new 989s is also faster than the top of the 997 line.

HP’s Ozlem Ozturk, product manager of the Internet and Interoperability Technologies section of CSY, said HP would be correcting the imbalance through software tuning late this year.

For now, the new speed champ is the 989/650, priced at $290,617 with a 64-user MPE/iX license and IMAGE/SQL, 256Mb of memory, 9Gb disk drive and 4Gb DAT tape drive. Customers can get into the newest 989 models for as little as $175,617 including a 64-user MPE license, database and the above peripherals. HP figures state the systems will support a range of user from 225 to 725 at the entry point for the 989/x50.

HP increased the performance on the top of its midrange line by introducing a PA-8200 processor at 240 Mhz, an increase from the Series 989/x00 line’s 200 Mhz. Only the 989s are running the PA-8200. The faster processor yields HP 3000 Performance Unit ratings of 22 to 25.6 percent faster than the Series 989/x00 line. HP is offering the newest systems in one-, two-, four- and six-processor configurations, just like their 989 predecessors.

HP didn’t have upgrade prices available to move to the newest processor boards in the 9x9 line.

HP said the new HP 3000 hardware is shipping immediately, but will require a new PowerPatch 7 of MPE/iX 5.5 or the Express 1 release of MPE/iX 6.0 for operation. The new PowerPatch is expected to ship in the third week of May, while the Express release is slated for shipment in June.

Web services and software

While new hardware is the traditional starting point for an HP 3000 rollout, CSY emphasized its software improvements for the system in the press introductions. Software for Web serving, connecting HP 3000 databases to Java and new LDAP directory services positions the system as part of HP’s bid for Internet attention.

Ozturk said HP wants to tie its introductions to its new E-Services campaign, one that attempts to portray the company as poised to make a difference in the next stage of the Internet revolution.

“HP was very silent during the first phase of the Internet, and now we are bringing a new vision with E-Services,” she said. “The HP 3000 is going to be a main part of the E-Services vision.” She pointed to the HP 3000 applications from Open Skies as a “great example of an Internet e-commerce applications, Internet Chapter One.”

The Apache/iX Web server, previously announced in February as now in development for HP 3000s, got a “late summer or early fall” release date as a supported product. HP is scheduling its MPE/iX Express 2 software rollout for the same time frame, so it will bundle the Web server with that release vehicle.

Ozturk would not confirm that HP will be making SSL services available on that release of Apache/iX. But the manager did say HP was in negotiations to “provide an overall security mechanism for HP 3000s. Right now I can’t disclose any information because we are in the process of signing an agreement with the vendor. We’re not only going to provide security to Apache, but we’re going to provide overall security — so people can bundle the security with other technologies and applications.”

HP will be releasing its first driver for JDBC connectivity with the June Express 1 release of MPE/iX. The HP software will require customers to use the Allbase/SQL database environment to manage transactions in IMAGE/SQL and Allbase/SQL databases, but it will be included in the operating system at no cost. The architecture follows the HP design for its ODBC driver, which also ties HP 3000 databases to using the Allbase’s database environments. The software lets Java applications access the two HP 3000 databases. Java apps can access Oracle databases on HP 3000s using a driver available from Oracle, Ozturk said.

“You need the SQL layer in order to use this functionality,” she said.

HP 3000 customers will also be able to use the LDAP services from the Netscape client, a software directory that facilitates cross-platform interoperability. LDAP allows HP 3000s to access X.500 directories stored on other platforms. The LDAP software is one of the few tangible returns from HP’s project to port Netscape’s FastTrack Web server to the HP 3000. LDAP comes online with the Express 2 MPE/iX 6.0, in late summer or early fall.

AutoRAID and Web Console rollouts

HP offered evidence that the HP 3000 is becoming a full participant in its peripheral offerings by announcing support dates for AutoRAID disk arrays and the Secure Web Console. The two products have been in use by HP 9000 customers for over a year.

Daren Connor, the System Management and High Availability Product Manager at CSY, introduced the AutoRAID Model 12H. The peripheral device can pack up to 1.3 terabytes into a 2-meter rack and auto-selects the most effective RAID level, “so your system administrator doesn’t have to worry about that,” he said. “It will adapt to the system’s workload and optimize appropriately.”

Full support for the Model 12H will take place in August, Connor said. HP is doing a closely managed pre-release of the product, not for production use, through the summer leading up to the full release date. MPE/iX 6.0 Express 1 is required for support.

Connor also announced that HP is providing immediate support for the Secure Web Console, an Internet appliance that gives up to four system administrators remote access to HP 3000s. (See the April 1998 3000 NewsWire) The $595 device is a stand-alone unit that accepts serial input on one end and outputs TCP/IP on the other, and includes a Web server wired into the device.

The first member of what HP is calling its HP Internet Management Appliances family, the Secure Web Console can be used to administer an HP 3000 or an HP 9000 via the server’s RS-232 console port. System managers who replace the local 3000 console terminal with a Secure Web Console can perform system administration tasks remotely from any Web browser that has access to the console, regardless of the server’s operating status. The device even permits a control-B shutdown.

HP believes that the product will permit managers to perform tasks over the Internet that previously required on-site intervention via Microsoft and Netscape browsers. This obviously makes security a crucial element in the product’s success. Built-in security includes password encryption, scrambling of transmitted data, and Java download protection. HP is also planning security enhancements such as additional encryption and authentication capability, to permit use of the device outside of a corporate intranet. HP intends for the product to replace traditional consoles, moving those functions to a PC or workstation enabled with a browser.

Connor also announced that HP is including new scripts for HP OpenView IT/Operations that give the management software better compatibility with HP 3000s. Scripts to manage a 3000 will be bundled in to handle disk management to track when a volumeset reaches a pre-set capacity and alert the IT/O console, for example. Backup and security message handling are also part of the scripts. IT/Operations requires an HP 9000 to control the administration of HP 3000s.

HP is also reducing the price on its memory for HP 3000s through the use of a new memory carrier card and a new 1 Gb memory module. The new modules, twice the size of current HP offerings, cut the price on HP memory from $37 per Mb to $15 per Mb when a customer orders 4 Gb. The modules are designed for the Series 997 servers only. The modules will let HP offer a new maximum memory capacity of 16Gb on its servers in the first half of next year, utilizing a new release of MPE/iX.

A new Fibre Channel distance solution available in August will let customers bridge to and from SCSI technology. “This will allow you to put your devices a greater distance from your systems,” Connor said, “to put your disks in a secured environment, for example.” The new bridge lets the devices work up to 25 kilometers from the HP 3000, using an external device licensed from a third party. Connor said the bridge also provides an increase in the overall throughput.

HP is also introducing new pricing for TurboSTORE/iX 7x24 on its highest tier and middle tier. Tier 6 pricing dropped to by $17,460 to $30,000, while Tier 4 pricing climbed to $20,664. The base TurboSTORE/iX product saw similar changes at the high end and middle, cutting its top price to $15,500 and increasing its middle-tier price to $13,776.