A. The primary benefits are reduced hp-UX installation time and complexity. There are fewer DVDs than there are CDs. The hp-UX Operating Environments are each on a single DVD, where currently two CDs are required. The hp-UX Application CD kit fits on one DVD where currently four CDs are required. There is no hunting for the correct Application CD. In addition, DVD has transfer rates at least twice as fast as CD-ROM, and therefore installation is not only more convenient, it’s faster.

A. There will be an announcement on the various hp-UX Web pages about hp-UX for PA-RISC availability on DVD. We expect to publish the first major announcement in September 2002, with actual availability of hp-UX 11i for PA-RISC on DVD in December 2002.

A. Please contact your local sales representative for further information.

A. You will need a drive that handles DVD5 format or higher. All DVD drives shipped so far with hp-UX Servers and Workstations support this format. Future drives will support higher densities, but for the near-term all hp-UX DVD media will be in DVD5 format.

A. DVD5 is the "single-layer single-density" DVD format familiar to consumers of movies and other entertainment content. DVD5 has 4.37 GB of total useable space and 4.7 GB of total space. This is the lowest capacity DVD type available and is currently the worldwide standard.

A. DVD drives that can read DVD9-format media can also read the lower-density DVD5 media.

A. Yes, all DVD drives can read both data and audio CDs. hp-UX CDs work fine in all of our DVD drives and have ever since we introduced our first DVD drives in 1998. All CDs work fine in all DVD drives, but of course CD drives cannot read DVDs.

A. The current mainstream version of hp-UX, which is hp-UX 11i Version 1.0 for PA-RISC Servers, will be available on both DVD and CD starting in December 2002. 11i Version 1.0 will be available on both CD and DVD for the rest of its sales life. Therefore, if you are a hp-UX customer who prefers to consume 11i Version 1.0 for PA-RISC on CD, you can continue to do so indefinitely.

hp-UX 11i Version 1.5, which is for Itanium systems only, is available only on DVD. The upcoming Itanium-only release, which is hp-UX 11i Version 1.6, will only be available on DVD. All hp-UX releases after 11i Version 1.6, both for PA-RISC and Itanium, will be available on DVD only.

A. hp-UX 11i Version 1.0 will be available on DVD starting in December 2002. This is the first PA-RISC hp-UX release available on DVD. Both DVD and CD will be available for 11i Version 1.0. The two Itanium-only releases, 11i Version 1.5 and 1.6, will only be available on DVD from their initial releases.

A. For the mainstream hp-UX 11i Version 1.0, DVD is simply a different option than CD that you can select. CD-ROM uses option AAF. DVD uses option AJR. For the PA-RISC products, the DVD option will be added to the 11i OE (B3920EA), Enterprise OE (B7993AA), Mission-Critical OE (B7994AA) and Technical Computing OE media products (B6821AA).

A. hp-UX 11i Version 1.5, for Itanium systems only, is currently available on DVD only. hp-UX 11i Version 1.6, also for Itanium systems only, is scheduled for June 2002 and will also be available on DVD only. hp-UX 11i Version 1.0 for PA-RISC will be available on DVD in December 2002.

A. 11iv1.5/1.6 and all future enterprise releases of hp-UX will be DVD-only releases. This table gives the quick view of which releases are available on DVD only and which are available on both CD and DVD.

A. There are no current plans to deliver hp-UX 11.0 on DVD. Delivery for that hp-UX version will remain on CD-ROM only.

A. A DVD drive is of course necessary to be able to consume hp-UX on DVD. All hp-UX Server systems with single-ended SCSI interfaces that are supported on hp-UX 11.0 or 11i will support an external DVD drive. Many of these systems also have slots for internal DVD drives. All hp-UX N-Class/rp7400, L-Class/rp5400, rp7410 and rp8400 systems that shipped with removable media had DVD drives. All PA servers with a slot for a DVD drive will use the SCSI mechanism.

For workstations, systems with an external single-ended SCSI port can support an external SCSI DVD drive. Workstations without the port can also support an external drive through the use of a PCI card. For internal use, all workstations that have an ATAPI interface for removable media devices can accommodate a DVD drive.

A. The final pricing for hp-UX 11i Version 1.0 DVD media has not been determined, but it will be the same as or less than hp-UX on CD-ROM.

A. With the initial release of hp-UX 11i Version 1.0 on DVD, the Operating Environments will be consolidated onto a single DVD, and the Application Release will be consolidated onto a single DVD. The Support Plus, Instant Information and Software Pack components will continue to be shipped on CD-ROMs at the initial DVD release in December 2002. The hpApplication Server, MC/ServiceGuard Distributed Component and BEA will also continue to be shipped on separate CDs. We do expect to do further consolidation of the hp-UX 11i Version 1.0 components on DVD in the future.

A. Support customers who prefer to receive DVD delivery will have the opportunity to switch from CD to DVD at contract renewal time.

A. If you wish to move to DVD immediately, the switch can be made on a deal-by-deal, customer exception basis.

A. The cost for software upgrades on DVD is expected to be the same as or less than software upgrades on CD.