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To the HP e3000 Community,
Since our most recent update at the OpenMPE Annual
Meeting, in August 2005, HP has made several decisions regarding the HP
e3000. As we committed to last year, one
of those decisions concerns the licensing of MPE/iX source code.
HP continues to strongly recommend that customers who
still use the e3000 transition to a new HP platform as soon as possible. HP, together with many partners worldwide,
continues to offer a strong transition program that includes a wide range of
proven solution options.
HP recognizes that some companies may need to run
their e3000s after HP's current end-of-support date due to business
constraints, transition timelines, or to retain access to data for archive or
regulatory reasons. After working closely
with customers, partners, and advocacy groups to understand their status and
concerns, HP has three announcements for those who cannot complete their
transitions by HP's previously published end-of-support date, December, 2006. The primary intent of these decisions is to
provide customers who are transitioning to new HP solutions with a little extra
time and safety margin. These
announcements do not reflect a change in HP's continued recommendation that
customers proceed with planning and implementing timely transitions off the
e3000.
- HP intends to offer basic reactive support services
for e3000 systems through at least December, 2008.
- HP encourages customers with mission critical
support needs and more complex migration issues to discuss them directly with
HP or their HP e3000 solution provider.
HP will work with individual customers who cannot complete their
transitions by the end of 2006 to explore structuring a customer-specific
support package to help address these support needs for a limited time while
transitions to another HP platform are completed.
The two offers above are subject to limitations and
exclusions based on hardware and software configurations, geographic location,
customer transition timelines, and other considerations. Pricing variances may apply.
- When HP no longer offers services that address the
basic support needs of remaining e3000 customers, HP intends to offer to
license HP e3000 MPE/iX source code to one or more third parties -- if partner
interest exists at that time -- to help partners meet the basic support needs
of the remaining e3000 customers and partners.
More information on these announcements can be found
on the Frequently Asked Questions page.
In addition to these announcements, I would like to highlight other recent
activities related to MPE/iX and the HP e3000.
- The HP partner community remains successfully engaged in meeting the
needs of HP e3000 customers. In response
to a request from that community, HP will continue to recognize the
certification for those users and partners who currently hold an existing HP
e3000 Certification, enabling them to continue using that certification in the conduct of
their business.
- In response to customer concerns about the continued availability of MPE/iX and HP
e3000 training, HP Education has licensed its MPE training materials to Paul
Edwards & Associates and Alden Research, Inc. You can find more information on their web
site, MPE Education.
- On November 30th, Jeff Vance posted his quarterly update on the status
of recent SIB items to several e3000-related mailing lists. As Jeff mentions in his post, if you have an
interest in one of these SIB items, please consider becoming a Beta tester for
that patch. Until a patch becomes
General Release, it is not available to the broader HP e3000 community.
- MPE/iX Release 6.5 PowerPatch 5 is now available, including its Communicator. This is a traditional PowerPatch that
consolidates the existing 6.5 GR patches.
We very much appreciate the partnership with OpenMPE and other trusted partners
who have continued to work with HP to ensure that we understand the needs of
customers who continue to use their e3000s through this end-of-life
period. Many of the recent MPE
enhancements, including the security-related FTP enhancements and support for
disks larger than 500 GB, have been influenced by their advocacy.
Finally, if you are having difficulty meeting your business needs during this HP e3000
end-of-life period, we encourage you to contact your HP sales, HP support, or
authorized reseller reps, as appropriate.
We will work with you to try to help you to address your specific
situation.
I welcome your feedback and comments.
Regards,
Ross McDonald, MPE/iX R&D
Director of Engineering
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