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Upcoming Javelin release leads needs for mobile control and consoles
TheHP3000,bornintheearly1970s,isgettingitsfirstiPadapp. Thedistancebetweenthetwosolutions’releaseiscloseto40years,butsome3000managersanddevelopersarethinkingaheadtoatimewhenstayingattachedtoakeyboard,wiredtoabackplaneorevenaPC,willseemantique.Andeventhoughthe3000islookeduponlikearelicbysomeITarchitects,usersandsoftwareguruswanttobringApple’slatestmobilemarvelinstepwiththeirsystems. Minisoft’sleaddeveloperNealKazmiisworkingonaniPadportofthecompany’sJavelin,softwarethatcombinesHP700/92terminalconnections,aswellasDigitalVT320,IBM5250andIBM3270connectivityinasingleclient.“FortheHP3000itwillsupportSecureTelnetandNS/VTnetworkconnectivity,”saidMinisoft’sCEODougGreenup.“ItwillbeanappthatcanbedownloadedfromtheAppStore,andprobablysoldfor$9.95.”GreenupsaidthesoftwarewillbeavailableJuly1. Other3000developersareeyeingiPadprojects.BruceHobbsandMichaelWatson,long-timeengineersandprogrammersservingtheCOBOLand3000schedulercom-
Scheduler offers 3000 features
to Windows sitesMB Foster develops new product
from customer requirements
Inafirstinthe3000community,anewmigrationsolutionhasbeenannouncedfirstonTwitterandLinkedIn.AnoticefromMBFosterrolledoutMBFScheduler,softwaretodeliveranall-Windowsreleaseofadvancedstream-
ingandschedulingfeatures3000customershavelongdeployed.
TheproductgrewupinMBFoster’slabs,nour-ishedbytheexperienceofengagementswithseveralsitesmigrat-ingfromthe3000.Themigratingsitesacrossseveralbusinesssectors
allneededtheschedul-ingandjobstreampower
builtintotheHP3000.Theydidn’tneed,orwant,Unixin
theschedulingloop. TheSchedulerisanothersteptowardnewbusinessforMBFoster.Overthepastseveralyearsthecompanyhastransformeditselfintoaservicesprovid-erwhichemployssoftware—someit’screated,somethatithasacquired.ThisspringthecompanypartneredwithaDanishcompanytosellsign-onsoftwareinNorthAmerica.ButMBFSchedulerwasbuilt,testedanddeployedbythecompany’sengineers,ateamthat’sbeenintactsince2001,building3000experi-enceandallbasedinNorthAmerica. That’sthesamelabthatservedHPwhenthevendormadeabasic-levelODBCproductavailableaspartoftheOS.MBFosterlicenseditsODBCLinkinanSEversiontoHP,thensupporteditfor3000sitesusingthebundledSE. Althoughitcameoutofaseasonedlab,thenewestsoftwarewasintroducedinnouveaustyle.DavidGreer,thenewdirectorofMarketingandSalesatMBFoster,tweetedthenoticeofthenewproductonTwitter,andpostedittoLinkedIn,bothwithalinktoanewWebpageattheMBFAsite.Thesoftware’spedigreegrewoutofrequirementsofcustomersinsales,manufacturingandtheCanadiangovernment,accordingtoChiefTechnicalOfficerGeorgeMarcinek. Theproductproposesto“deliverthe
Development, support companies on 3 continents receive 3000 OS
Theusualsuspects—leadersamongtheHP3000developmentandsupportcommunities—madeupthelistofeightMPE/iXsourcecodelicenseesHPhasannounced.Onedeveloperof3000data-baseutilities,suppliersofhealthcareandERPapplications,andfourindependentresourcesforHP3000andMPE/iXsup-portfilledthelistofcompanieswhowillreceiveread-onlyaccesstomostpartsofthe3000’soperatingsystemsource. AdagerandOrdat—thelatteraEuropeansupplierofIMAGEwrappertechnologyandERPsystems,theformerthemarketleaderinIMAGEtools—wereamongthesoftwaredevelopment
companies,alongwithhealthcareapplicationsupplierNeilHarvey&Associates.PivitalSolutions,AllegroConsultants,BeechglenDevelopmentandTerixwillemploythesourcecodeinsupportoftheirHP3000customerswhousenon-HPservice. Withthelicenses,the3000communitygetsadocumentforitsexpertstocon-sultwhileresolvingsystemabortsandcorruptions,startingnextyearwhenHPhasturnedoverthemarketplacetoinde-pendententitiessuchasthecompaniesgrantedlicenses.
See Scheduler, page 10
for
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MOC.ERIWSWE
N00
03
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See iPad Touch, page 8
See Source arrives, page 6
HP licenses MPE/iX source to 7 firms plus OpenMPE
Newest solutions tap touchof iPad for 3000 managers
Independent HP 3000 Information May 2010
The Support Group 5010 Doss Road, Austin, TX 78734 800.798.9862 www.supgrp.com
The Support Group2010 is Hewlett Packard’s
end of support date for the HP 3000.
The Support Group has no end date!
For over 16 years, The Support Group has been providing support and services to the HP 3000 community. Our priority is to continue providing support and services as long as our customers use HP 3000 servers.
The Support Group Offers:
• HP 3000 System Management
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• 3rd Party Software Sales and Installation
• HP 3000 Parts and System Sales
• Data Migration and Integration
• Data History
Let The Support Group provide you with peace of mind for the future of your HP 3000 environment.
The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
We would like to thank the following sponsors of The 3000 NewsWire whose support of the HP 3000 community has made this issue possible
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How to contact the 3000 NewsWire
Contents May2010
ISSN1521-124XThe3000NewsWireispublishedfourtimesyearly,pluselectronicupdates,by3000NewsWireLLC.Contentsofthispublicationmaynotbereproducedinanyformwithoutexpresspermissionofthepublisher.Non-bylinedarticlesarewrittenbytheeditor.Publisherbelievesallinformationprintedheretobetrue,butcannotassumeresponsibilityforerrors.©3000NewsWireLLC.Allrightsreserved.PrintedintheU.S.A.
HP licenses MPE/iX source to 7 firms, plus OpenMPE — Eight-yearquestfor3000’sOScodedeliverslicensestoacedevelopers,supportteams,OpenMPE—1Scheduler offers 3000 features to Windows sites — Jobschedulingfundamen-talsthatdon’tneedUnixarriveinnewMBFScheduler,builtviamigrationjobs—1Newest solutions tap touch of iPad for 3000 managers — Minisoftannouncesthefirstappfor3000controlascustomersseekmobileadministrationtools—1School district learns lessons on migration, by James Harding — OregonschoolschoosenativeWindowsmigrationtodevelopvia.NETcompliance—12OpenMPE names three new directors — Existingdirectorsstepdowntomakeroomforfreshvolunteers,whilegroupfacesmissionandrevenuechallenges—13Migration pace enhances older system value — Extendingmigrationtimelinesaremakingolder3000slooklikeabettervalueforinterimhomesteaders—143000 transitions stretch for new batch solutions — Speedware’sproductman-agerreportsonhowmigratingsitesareresolvingneedstomatch3000batch—15Supporting More by Doing Less, But Better — HP’sexitin2010fromsupportleavesdoorsopenforindependentserviceproviderswhospecializein3000s—16Transport slips SuprtoolSQL into Windows use — TransformixusestheSunGardBi-TechtooltopermitRobelle’sETLtoworkonWindowsforthefirsttime—17Middleware, QSS tech revive 3000’s interface — ArenovationofaK-12educa-tionappemploysRubyonRails,MinisoftODBCtomodernizedataaccess—18Links to 3000 provide new and future leadership for Connect — TheHPusergroup’snewpresident,aswellas2011’s,bothcallthe3000communityhome—19Q&A: David Greer, Returning to a Familiar Port to Recognized Faces — NewMBFostermarketing/saleschiefrejoins3000worldwithfreshinsights,gusto—20
The Wide World of the Web—22
3
EditorRon Seybold (editor@3000newswire.com)
PublisherAbby Lentz (subs@3000newswire.com)
Homesteading & Support Editor: Gilles SchipperMigration Editor: Nicolas FortinAt-Large Editor: Birket Foster
News blog with business-day reports: 3000newswire.com/blog Archived news & tech articles: 3000newswire.com/search.html Voicemail, alternate e-mail: 512.331.0075; rseybold@sbcglobal.netDeliveries & mail: 11702 Buckingham Road, Austin, TX 78759
OpenMPE dropsa new tea leaf
to read and ripple Isitgo-timeforOpenMPE?Thatgocouldmeanit’stimetogettothegroup’sgoals,ortimetogointothecommunity’sshadows.ThismonthIsawatealeaftoreadaboutthetaciturngroup. AfterThe 3000 NewsWirecontributed$500towardtheOpenMPEsourcecodelicenseinMarch,ourcheckwascashedinMay,depositedbyOpenMPEtreasurerMattPerdue.Despitethefactthatsev-eralofoursponsorpartnerspaidforlicensesontheirown,itjustlookedlikeOpenMPEneededthehelp.Whatit’lldowiththelicensedemandsevenmore. Basedonourtea-leaf-readofPerdue’sremarksintheCommunityMeetgather-inglastfall,thesourcecosts$10,000ormore.I’veprobablywrittenthreetimesthatmanywordscoveringthegroup’smeetings,desiresanddreams,drivesformembershipandannualelections,since2002.EnoughwritingthatoneboardmemberfiguredI’dbeenadirectoralready.Notthebestplaceforthiseditortosit,frankly.Iwanttoreporttohelpthecommunitydecide. ThatOpenMPEcopyofthesourcecodeforMPE/iXisunimportanttothemany3000siteswhorelyononeofthesevenotherlicenseeswhoholdit.It’sironicthattheonethingwhichOpenMPEvolunteerscampaignedfornowbecomesatechnicalassetthegrouphasneitherorganizationorbudgettoemploy.Atleastnotwithitscurrentstructure. Theothersevencompaniesnowholdtherightstoapowerfultoolforthe3000’sfuture—andanyorganizationthatworkedlikeOpenMPEdidshouldbeabletofeelgoodabouttheyearstocome.HPhadachancetoreviewevery-one’sapplicationforsourcecode.NotasinglecompanywouldevenhavegottentoHP’sdecisionpointwithoutshowingyearsofprovenworkandaraftofsatis-fiedcustomers. However,thereisalwaysthepotentialforsuchmerittogounrewarded.HPhastakentoomanyyearstocometothislicensingpoint,andIhaveseenitstopmanagersturnawayfrombusinessdeci-sionsthatwouldhavehelpedthe3000communityevenmorethanthisread-
See Go Time, page 4
The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
onlylicense.BecauseMPEhasalwaysbeeninHP’sintellectualpropertychest,thisyearthevendorcouldhavechosenevenfewerlicensees,ornoneatallinthebleakestoutcome. Butinsteadofthatsourcecode,OpenMPEholdsamoreuniqueresource,muchmorereadytosharebutstilloffline.I’mnottalkingaboutInvent3k,thepublicaccessdevelopmentservercreatedbyHPandlicensedtoOpenMPE.Anothercontributionisinthewings,notofferedbyanotherentityorpennedupbyasecretlicense. Ifyou’vereadthisfar,ormuchofmy30,000wordspriortothis,youknow
thatuniqueresourceistheContributedSoftwareLibrary.Thiscollectionofuser-written3000utilitieswasgatheredbytheInterexusergroup,butitwentunder-groundwhenInterexwentunderin2005. Bythismonththere’salim-itededitionoftheseprogramsinPerdue’soffice,courtesyofformerboardmemberPaulEdwards.HealsonotedthatthemostcompletecollectionofCSLprogramsremainsinthesteward-shipoflong-servingcommunityvolunteerChuckShimada. SotheCSL’sfutureisinanOpenMPElimbo.Thegroupholdsacopyofoneincompleteeditionofthesecontributedprograms.ThefullsetoftapesisfiledwithShimadaandoneotherindividual
forsafekeeping.Shimada,whoworkedveryhardforfreeforyears,servingInterexasanITvolunteer,reportsthathe’snowworkinghardtostayemployed
asaconsultant.HecouldpassalongthefullsetofCSLprograms,ifOpenMPEcouldmanagetoarrangetheexchange.Chuckmightevenbepaidforhistime. EdwardswentontonotethatsomeoftheCSL’sprogramshavebeenunderscrutinysinceInterexshutitsdoors.OnepopularprogramwaswrittenbyBoeing’s3000experts,moonsago.Boeing’spoten-tiallicenseconcernsaboutBOUNCER,whichkicksoffidleusersof3000s,havebeenpartoftheCSLloresincethecol-lectiongainedstealthmodein2005. IstudytheOpenMPEtealeavesclosely,andIhaven’tseenareportofanycommunicationwiththeBoeingcon-tributorstounleashBOUNCER.Theseareadministrativedetailsalongwithtechnicaltaskstoaccomplish.BOUNCERissomethinguseful.EdwardssaysheknowsofsitesstillusingCSLprograms. IftheCSListoowoollyaprojecttomountandopenup—readyasitistobearesource—ImustwonderwhatmightbecomeofInvent3kortheMPE/iXsourcecodeinOpenMPE’shands.Asforthelat-ter,I’mnowlookingforareasonforthesourcetobeinOpenMPE’scare.Ifthegroupservesasapatchclearinghouse,great.Icontinuetohopeforthebest. Noneofthisisdesignedtoputanybodyonthespot.MydesireistodrilldownonthestateoftheCSLanditsrelease.Frommychair,theCSLlookslikethemostreal,unique,andleastrestrictedresourcethatOpenMPEholdsonitstreasurer’sserver.SpeedwareandClientSystemshavepostednosuchcollection,buttheydohostaraftofJazzprograms.AndJazz,Invent3kandthesourcecodeareallrestrictedbyagreementswithHP. WatchingthetealeafofourmodestcheckclearouraccountsmaybearippleintheOpenMPEwaters.WhenitcomestoOpenMPE,theNewsWirecanaffordtobemorepatientthansomeofthe3000community.Wefishfornewsallthetime—andsowatchthesurfaceofthewaterforanyripple.Considerthis900-pluswordsanewcasttonetacatch.Ifyou’rereadthisfar,youmightbehopingit’spasttimeforOpenMPEtocatchon,too.
— Ron Seybold
4
(Continued from page 3)
Go Time
If the CSL has been too woolly a project to mount and release, I
wonder what could become of MPE/iX source in OpenMPE’s hands
OnelicenseefelloutsideofHP’sstatedtargetsforsource:theOpenMPEadvo-cacygroup,whichoperatesneitherasasupportcompanyorasoftwaresupplier.OpenMPE’svolunteerssaytheywanttobuildpatchesforsaletothecommunity’ssupportcompanies. ThelicensesdelivercodethatcannotbeusedasanassetinthemarketplaceuntilJanuary1,2011,thefirstdaythatHPwillnolongerofferHP3000supportservices.HPdescribedtheread-onlylicensesasameansfor“deliveryofsystem-leveltechni-calsupport.”Italsotermedtheholdersoftheselicenses“HPe3000End-of-LifeLicensees,”acuriousdescriptionthatmadeonelastattempttodefinetheendof2010astheendofthe3000—whentheonlythisthat’shappen-ingisHPisleavingthemarketplace. TheHPannouncementinlateFebruaryalsoincludedanoteaboutcompanieswhichcandistributetheHP3000documentationasofthestartofnextyear.SpeedwareandClientSystemswillbeabletoletthecommunitydownloadman-ualsandHPCommunicatorissueshostedtodayattheHP’sWebsite. HPreiteratedthefewtermsthatithasmadepublicamongtheseconfidentiallicenseagreements,usingapostingatitse3000Webpage. “Hewlett-Packardannouncedin2008thattheywouldcreatealimitednumberoffee-basedsourcecodelicenses,”HP’sstatementread,alicensewhich“willallowthirdpartiestouseMPE/iXsourcecodeasreferencematerialforprovidingtechnicalsupporttoHPe3000customers,wheretechnicalsupportincludesinvesti-gatingproblems,developingworkarounds,andcreatinginstruction-level,binarypatches.ThelicenseistargetedatthosethirdpartieswhosebusinessmodelistoprovidetechnicalsupportonHPe3000products.HPworkedwithinterestedpar-tiesandwearepleasedtoannouncetheHPe3000End-Of-LifeLicensees.” “Asalways,thisannouncementdoesnotreflectachangeinHP’scontinuedstrongrecommendationthatcustomersproceedimmediatelywithplanningandimplementingtransitionsoffthee3000.However,werecognizethatsomecustom-ersmaystillneedsomelevelofMPE/iXsupportafterHPexitstheHPe3000SupportbusinessonDecember31,2010.Thereafter,customerswillhavemultiple
optionsforMPE/iXassistancebycontact-ingtheapplicablesourcecodelicensees.” ClientSystemsandSpeedwarewerealsotheonlycompanieslistedwhocanhostHP’scontentfromtheformerJazzserverforfreewareandsharewaretools.OpenMPEwasnotlistedasaresourceforJazzprograms.SpeedwarewastheonlycompanythatishostingHP’sMPE/iX-to-Unixtrainingmaterialsformigrations.Source code contents HPisn’treleasingallofthepartsofMPE/iX.Someoftheoperatingsystem’sfunctionscannotbeincluded,sinceinde-pendentcompanieslicensedelementstoHPliketheMentatstreamingfacultyortheMKSPosixshell.AndallofthisprogrammingthatdriveseveryHP3000environment,writteninlanguagessuchasModcal,SPLandotheresotericdialects,cannotbemodifiedorextendedbyanyofthesourcelicensees. ThelicensesdoopenuptheinternalworkingsofMPE/iXandTurboIMAGE,evenastheyfallshortofthedrivelaunchedin2002byOpenMPEforanopensourceversionofMPE/iX.HPranitsapplicationandapprovalprocess15monthsfromthe2008announcementthatitwouldreviewapplicants. Documentationonthesourceremainsanelementthatnopartyhasdiscussedinpublic.During2007,OpenMPEworkedwithHPtohelptesttheabilitytobuildMPE/iXreleases,butthoseeffortswerepreliminary.HPcutoffthecollaborationshortofOpenMPE’sgoals,whichwereto
seeifanindependententitycouldmanagetocutafreshreleaseofMPE/iXwithoutHPassistance. ButevenifHewlett-Packardcurtailedthatexperimentwithindependents,HPhasalreadyreachedintothepooloflicenseesinforhelpincreatingandmain-tainingelementsofMPE. Onelicensee,AllegroConsultants,hasperformedprojectsforHPtocreateIMAGE/SQLfeaturesreleasedoverthelast10years.WhenHewlett-Packardwasstillmakingimprovementstothe3000source,suchoutsideengineeringwascommonplace,butalsoprotectedunderconfidentialdisclosureagreements.Any
outsidecontractorswouldobviouslyhavedocumentationathandtounderstandthatsectionofthesource. AdagerCorporation,whoseproductshavebeenonHP’scorporatepricelistfordecades,hasworkedcloselywithHP’sTurboIMAGElabovertheyearstoresolvedatacorruptionfailuresthatcouldimpacttensofthousandsofcompanies.ThemostrecentcorruptionbugwasdocumentedfirstinAdager’slabs,whichhasalsoworkedwiththevendortotestlarge-scalerepairstoTurboIMAGE.What good is a license? LicenseesmaybefortunatetobuyHP’sOSsource—thecompanyhasn’tsoldsuchcodesincethe1980s—butitwilltakemorethanlucktomakesomethingofmillionsoflinesofcode.“EventhoughIamunderstrictnon-disclosureonthis,saidAdager’sAlfredoRego,“IcanassureyouthatluckhadnothingtodowithHP’sdecisions.Decadesofhard(andmeaning-ful)workismorelikeit.” Inadditiontothesourcehavingnoguaranteeofbeingausefultool,somecommunitymembershaveraisedcon-cernsthatthere’snoprovisionsforlicens-eestoshareinformationaboutwhattheylearn.Regoaddedthatanylicenseholderwillneedadvancedtechnicalskills. “Thesourcecodebyitselfisadeadentity,”hesaid.“Youhavetoknowhowtobringitalive.”Asoneexample,Adager’sknow-howgoessodeepthatoneofitsformerlabengineers,IMAGEco-creatorFredWhite,hasadatabaseflagnamedafterhiminsideIMAGEcalled“FW.”Withthatkindofinsiderskillinthethirdpartycommunity,RegowonderedwhyHPneededtorestricttheuseofMPE/iXknowledgeatallduring2011andbeyond. “HPhasalltheserequirements[forsourcelicensing],butIreallydon’tquiteunderstandhowtheycanlimitknowl-edge,”hesaid.“Becauseifyouknowsomething,ofcourseyoucanusethatknowledge.Butespeciallyinthat[license]document,theyhaveallofthatlegaleseattheend.” Licenseholdersmustworkinsidetwochallenges:HP’sscopeofuse,aswellastechnicalskills.“Sourcecodeisalivingthingifyouknowhowtoreadit,howtointerpretit—andmainly,howtofindbugs,”Regosaid. OneoftechnicalexpertsatsoftwaresupplierRobelle,NeilArmstrong,con-curredthatread-onlysource,limitedasitis,canbehelpful.“Seeingthesourceandreadingitiscertainlyalargepartofbeingabletodeveloppatchesandpotentiallyavoidanyissues,”hesaid.“Itmaynotbeperfect,butithelps.”
6 The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
Source arrives(Continued from page 1)
The license is targeted at those third parties whose
business model is to provide technical support
on HP e3000 products
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munities,saidthey“tookatwo-dayiPhonedevelopmentcoursebackinNovember,”Hobbsreported.“I’vealsobeenattempting,withlimitedsuccess,tolureacoupleofotherHP3000COBOLdevelopersintoajointeffort.Notsureyetexactlywhatwe’llputtogether,butI’mstillhopingtohavesomethingintheAppStorebeforeApple’sWorldWideDeveloper’sConference.” TheWWDCisanannualmeeting,soldoutthisyear,thattrainsdevelopersintheexplicitknowledgeofApple’soperatingsys-tems.TheiPadshippedandsold1millionunitsduringApril,runningonthelatestversionofthemobileiPhoneOS. Inthemeantime,somecustomershavebeenreachingfortheabilitytopressthatOSintoservicewiththeir3000s.TerrySimpkins,ITdirectorat3000shopMeasurementSpecialties,askedifanAppleproductcouldbeusedtocheckonHP3000operations.MonthsbeforetheiPadrelease,thedirectorwantedtousetheiPodTouchasaremoteterminaltoconnecttoa3000. SimpkinsaskedaboutVirtualPrivateNetworks—afeaturethe3000supports—asaconduittodriveaconsole. “IhaveVPNaccessintoournetwork,”Simpkinssaid,“andwouldliketousemyiTouchtoperformsimplesystemchecks
andjobrestarts.Nothingfancy,justthebasics.Itwouldallowmetosolvemanyproblemsveryquickly.” MeasurementSpecialtiesrunsamanu-facturingoperationacrosstheUSandinChina.In2008Simpkinsreportedthat“WehavenoplanstoleavetheHP3000platform.Itcurrentlyhostsourapplica-tionsforGL,AP,inventorycontrol,pur-chasing,productionscheduling,orderentryandinvoicing.With11locationsaroundtheworld,wehaveasubstantialinvestmentinitscontinuedoperation.” AsidefromMinisoft’sJavellin,marriageof20thCenturytechtothisspring’sbreak-throughtabletispossible,butnotwelldocumentedyet.BobSchnelleofUnitedMcGillCorporationwantstoknowmore.HealsoownsaTouchandwantstoreachhis3000sforremotemanagement. “Ifitcanbedone,”heasked,“istheresomeplacethatdetailsthestepsneces-sarytoaccomplishthis?”DuanePercoxofK-12vendorQSS—andaniPadadmirer—suggestedmoredetails. “IfyouhaveoneoftheflavorsofWindowsthatsupportsRDP,”hesaid,“thenyoucanusethebuilt-inVPNoftheiPadalongwithaninexpensiveRDPcli-entandestablisharemoteconnectiontoasysteminyournetwork.AllyouneedisaWindowssystemonyournetwork(sayyourdesktop)youcanRDPto.Thenyoucanrunanythingfromthatdesktopsystemtoconnecttoanyserverinyournetwork.Betterthanworryingabouta
nativeiPadappthatcanconnecttotheHP3000.” Asofthisspringthere’sonesitethathasreportedaccomplishingthiskindofcontrolusingtheiPodTouch.CraigLalleyofEchoTechchimedinwhenSimpkinsaskedifTouch-inga3000waspossible.“Itworksforme,”Lalleysaid.“Withcom-puterstherearealwaysseveralwaystoaccomplishthesamething,right?TheterminalworksokaythroughTelnet.ThefreeRDPworksgreat,soitispossibletogettothedesktop.” LastfalltherewasonlytheTouchandiPhonetoconsiderforthistask,butthosedeviceshavekeyboardsjust3incheswide.“TheiPodTouchisanicelittletool,butitskeyboardleavesawholelottobedesiredintermsofspeed,”Lalleyadded.FirewallconfigurationskillswereessentialtobringinVPNviaaCiscodevice.“IhaveevengottheCiscoVPNclientworking,”hesaid,“butitisverysensitivetotheconfigurationofaCiscofirewall.” ForSchnelle,aprimeronthoseskillswouldbeessential.Hesayshisnetwork-ingexperiencewillrequireaguidetogetTouching.He’dbegratefulforthelargerkeyboardthat’sonthescreenoftheiPad,almosteightinchesacrossinlandscapemode.Standardphysicalkeyboardsrunabout10.5inches. “IhaveaniPodTouch,thoughI’dlikeaniPad,”Schnellesaid.“I’dliketouseitasamanagementtool.Ifitispossible,thenIwashopingforastep-by-stepdocumentshowinghowtodoit,asmynetworkingskillsaremedium-levelatbest.Also,costisanissue,soI’dliketogetawaywithspendingaslittleaspossible.” There’ssomesensible,efficientstrategyinhislastcomment,anditwouldappearthecostofTouch-ingthe3000’sadmin,evenwithatablet,islimitedtothecostofApple’sremotedevice—andperhapsMinisoft’sJavelinapp.TheTouchcostsaslittleas$270andisusefulfortasksincludingSkypetelephony;theiPadwithitsmorespaciouskeyboardis$499. Cisco’sVPNclientisincludedwithownershipofitsrouter;aguidetoinstal-lationandconfiguringitinitiallyisonlineatseveralWebsites.There’sonetocoverWindows7andinstallingitonVista. Thecustomerqueriesaremorethanattemptstoremainonthe3000indefi-nitely.AtUnitedMcGill,the3000isdoingmission-criticalworkata59-year-oldfirmthatmanufacturesandinstallsairflowproductsfortheconstructionindus-try.Butthatprivately-heldcompanyinitssecondgenerationoftopmanagementnamedMcGill—andhasoperationsin21states—ismigrating.
8
iPad Touch(Continued from page 1)
The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
Look at what has been added to Suprtool™ on MPEsince HP announced the end of the HP 3000!
Wow!• Format numeric fields like COBOL ($edit)• Accept free-form numerics ($number)• Break text into fields based on a separator ($split) • Many-to-Many links (Join in Suprlink) • Compute running totals on sort breaks ($Subtotal)• Remove garbage characters from text fields (Clean/Findclean) • Insert an incrementing counter to a record ($Counter)
The HP-UX version of Suprtool has these, plus Eloquence and AMXW support.
1.888.robelleinfo@robelle.com
www.suprtool.com
“ I’ve been an IBM programmer for the past seven years andnow find myself in the HP 3000 world. I am totally impressedwith the tools you've created. My favorite so far is Suprtool.It is comparable to many of the IBM data manipulation toolsI’ve used as far as power and ease of use goes. My sincerestcompliments.” –Michael Vealey, University of Maryland
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If you’re a small to mid-sized company looking for a way off the HPe3000, consider doing-it-yourself with our tools. And if you have a large IT environment and aren’t sure how to start planning for a migration, we can do a detailed analysis, provide you with a migration road map and manage the whole project.
So, follow the leader with the most experience….contact us today at www.speedware.com
robustjobschedulingfeaturesoftheHP3000MPEoperatingsystemfortheMicrosoftWindowsServerplatformwith-outtheneedofaseparateUnixorLinuxserver.”ItalsoeliminatesmuchofthecostofchoosingaUnixsolution,whereaenterprise-gradeschedulercancostupwardsof$100,000. ManysitesmigratingtoWindowsyearn
forthebuilt-inschedulingprow-essofMPE/iX.Designedinthebatcheraofthe‘70saswell,the3000’sOSalwayshadschedulingas
ahighpriority(punintended)becausethecomputerwaslaunchedtocarveoutbusinessfromthebatch-rootedIBMcus-tomerbase.SchedulinghasbecomeevenmorevaluabletoaworldthatwantstoavoiddeployingUnixorLinux.Theprod-uct’sunderpinningisbasedonthe3000’srobustofferings. “GiventhatwestartedfromMPE,itgaveusaverygoodstartingpoint,”Marcineksaid.“Buttheavailabilityoftruecustomerrequirementswasequallyimportant.Sophisticatedcustomerscouldtellus
exactlywhatwasimportanttothem,ver-suswhatwouldbenice,andwhatwasjustwindow-dressing.Wecouldvetallofourdesigndecisionsbasedonthat.” The3000’sdepthofschedulingwasintegratedintotheenvironmentfromtheearlydaysofsystemdelivery.MBFoster’sclonedfeaturesetremindsmigratorsofwhatthey’velearnedtorelyupon. Amasterjobqueue,inputpriorities,jobfence,joblimits,andotherMPE-specificjobschedulingfeaturesarebuiltin.WindowsuserscanautomateallofthesefeaturesbyusingtheMBFSchedulercommandlineinterface.Commandlineutilitiesgivesmanagerstheabilitytosub-mit,control,andmonitorMSWindowsServerjobs.Batchgrowsmore3000-likewithafeaturethatincludesMPE-stylejobcardsinWindowsbatchfiles. EveninaWindowsworld,commandlinescontinuetofunctionasthepowertoolsforIT,morethanthreedecadesafterbatchruledthecomputerworld.HP’sroll-outofitslatestUnixserversshowedhowanadministratorcouldmonitorpartitions
thatwerenotevenonline.Thatdemon-strationusedcommandlineinteraction. Thissortofcommandlineinterfacewasusedtoclubthe3000intoalegacycategoryduringthe1990s.Atthattime,character-driveninteractionwasthenormforusersofthesystem.That’slonggonenow,atleastinthecustomersitesthathaveshiftedtoWindowsfordes-kopusers.ThosewhomeantotaketheWindowsenvironmentintothedatacenterareamongthetargetcustomersforMBFScheduler.ThecompanyalsowantstoengageWindowsenterpriseuserswho
havelittletodowitha3000. “WewerelookingatthepeoplewhoareintheWindowsworkspace,”Marcineksaid,“notjustbecausetheyarecomingfromMPE.The
peopleintheWindowsspacewhocomefromMPEmayhavesomeadditional,veryspecificrequirements.ButwetriedtogeneralizetherequirementsinsuchawaythattheywillbeequallyapplicabletothenativeWindowsenvironment.” Uptonow,Marcinekadded,theWindowsuserswhowantedtocover90percentofthe3000’sschedulingfea-turesdiditthemselves,withadvancedknowledgeofscriptingin-houseorfromoutsourcedservices.“Theycanbuildarbitrarilycomplexsolutiontoscriptingneeds,”hesaid.“We’llbecompetingwithexistingproductsaswellasinternalR&Dresources.Wecancompeteforthecus-tomerswhoarelookingattwofactors:priceandfeatureset.” Theproducthasgrownupfromtheproductionneedsof“true,red-bloodedsites,”Marcinekadded. Thescheduler’sarrivalin2010alsosig-nalsthecontinuinggrowthofmigrationsolutionsintheninthyearofthe3000Transition.HPandconsultantsallsaidin2002thatsuchtoolswouldemergewhilemigrationsrampedup.Thetimingofthatemergencedidn’tfollowHP’sforecast,ofcourse.Anditsaysalotabouttheinte-gralofferingsofthe3000fordatacentersthatitsfeaturesarestillinneedofUnix-freealternativesfortheWindowsworld. There’samessageforthehomesteaderhereaswell,especiallythosewhocon-tinuetousethe3000whiletheybuildallthetoolsandsupportneededforatransi-tion.Schedulingisacorebenefitofkeep-ingthesysteminamission-criticalrole,evenasaninterimsolution.
10 The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
Scheduler(Continued from page 1)
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All Roads Lead to Speedware...
At Speedware, we are often asked how companies from all over the world fi nd out about us.
Well, when you’re the company that has performed more HP e3000 migrations than any other, and when you have a 100% project success rate, your name gets thrown around a bit.
By satisfi ed customers, by utility vendors, by the hardware vendor – chances are our name will come up as the one to call for comprehensive solutions for any type of HP e3000 migration. Whatever you have in your system, we know how to migrate it.
So, follow the leader with the most experience….contact us today at www.speedware.com
ByJamesHardingUNICONConversionTechnologies
MedfordSchoolDistrict549C(MSD)serves19K-12schoolsinOregonwithover12,000studentenrollments.Overtheyears,MSDhasdevelopedahighlycustomizedStudentInformationSystem(SIS)writteninHP’sCOBOLfortheHP3000.In2001MSDupgradedtoanewHP3000N4000/200toresolveperformanceissues,butafewweeksafterinstallation,HPannounceditsend-of-lifedecisionfortheplatform. Overthenextfewyears,MSDtookaverycloselookatalltheoptionsavailableandreviewedfivemainpaths 1:Purchaseanewstudentsystem 2:StayontheHP3000fortheforeseeablefuture 3:Rewritethesysteminhouse 4:Hireoutsidehelptore-write 5:Migratethesystemtoamodernlanguageandplatform. MSD’sITManagerKeithBrabhamexplained,“Whilemanycompaniespanickedandspentvastsumsonreactionarymea-sures,weknewwewereokayforawhileandjustkeptondrill-ingdowntoidentifythesolutionthatmademostsenseforus,bothtechnicallyandfinancially.” Option1,topurchaseanewstudentsystem,wasapathcho-senbyotherOregondistricts,butonreviewMSDfoundthesesystemstobesignificantlybehinditscurrentSISinfunctionality.Inaddition,thecostofsuchsoftwarewasnearing$1,000,000.EvenifMSDoutsourcedtoanotherdistrict,itstillcarriedaheavypremium,compoundedbyhighannualfeesforlife.Whenyouaddedtothatthecostofmodificationsanddependencyon
outsideentities,theoverallriskbecametoogreat. MSDlookedatoption2,remainingontheHP3000,alsoknownashomesteading.Brabhamwasn’tconvinced. “Whilethesystemmighthavebeenviableforanother3to5years,ifitwentbad,itcoulddosodramaticallyandinaveryshortperiodoftime.Ourhardwarewasalreadygettingoldandleavingthatpotentialfordisastertoafutureadministrationtodealwithseemedwrong.They’dendupwithamulti-milliondol-larproblem.” Theprospectofoption3,re-writingthesysteminhouse,wasalsodaunting.MSDspentresourcesexploringtwodiffer-entre-writepaths,eachtimerealizingitwouldbeapainful5-7yearprocess–thosetimelinesandresourcepressuresweresimplytooriskytocontinuepursuitofthatroute. Thisleftoptions4and5—haveathirdpartyre-writethesysteminamodernlanguage,ormigratetheexistingSISsystemanddatabasetorunonamodernplat-form.Previousreviewofsuchsolutionssuggestedcostsintheseven-figurepricerange.Regardless,MSDissuedanRFPtothemarketandinresponsereceivedmultiplebidsandproposals. Asexpected,option4,re-writing,turnedouttobeprohibitivelyexpensive,carryinglongtimelinesandexposingMSDtotoomuchinherentrisk.Inaddition,therewereothermajorconsiderationssuchasthecultureshockandlearningcurvefacingprogrammersanduserswhenattemptingtoimplementthenewsystem. Option5,migration,couldbeachievedintwoways:EitheremulatetheHP3000environmentonUnixorWindowsandruntheexistingapplicationsontheemulator,orconverttheexist-ingsourcecodetoamodernprogramminglanguagetoruninanativeopensystemsenvironmentwithoutproprietarymiddle-ware.TheproblemwiththeemulationoptionwasthatitwouldhaveleftMSDboundbytherestrictionsoftheproprietaryHP3000environment—andinherentlydependentuponthevendoroftheemulationsoftwaregoingforward,asituationMSDdefi-nitelydidnotwanttogetintogiventhatemulationbydefinitionisa‘dying’industry.Also,MSDsawemulationwasn’tcheap. Theoptiontoconvertthecodetoruninanativeopensys-temsenvironmentmademuchmoresensetoBrabham. “OurStudentSystemwashighlycustomized,”hesaid,“sowelikedtheideaofbeingabletocontinuedevelopmentaftermigrationusing.NET-compliantmodernlanguages.UNICONwouldautomaticallyconvertalloursource,jobfilesanddatatoruninnativeWindows,targeting.NETandSQLServer,leavingusfullownershipofourprogramsandinapositiontofurtherdevelopleveragingmoderntechnologies.” MSDultimatelyselectedwhatUNICONcallsitsnativeapproach.FujitsuCOBOL.NETwaschosenasthetargetpro-gramminglanguagerunningonWindowsandutilizingMicrosoftSQLServerforthedatabase.VPlusscreenswereconvertedtoWinformsusingVisualBasicasthecode-behind. MSDsaidthebenefitsofgoingnativewereimmediatelyapparent.Fromastaffingperspective,BrabhamwouldontheonehandbeabletoretainhisHPCOBOLprogrammersalongwiththeirinvaluableknowledgeoftheapplicationsandbusinessrules
School district learns lessons on migration
12 The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
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The district’s IT group liked the idea of
continuing development after migration using
.NET-compliant modern languages
Continues on facing page
OpenMPE names three new directors to board
13The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
—sincetransitioningfromprogramminginHPCOBOLtoFujitsu’sNetCOBOLwasrelativelystraightforward,Butafter3000staffmembersmovedon,replacingtheirspecializedskillswouldnolongerbeahir-ingconcern. “Whenstaffturnedover,wewantedtobeabletoselectfromalargerpoolofqualifiedapplicants,”Brabhamsaid.“Wewantedasystemthatwouldbeviableforatleast10years.BymigratingtonativeWindows.NET.wecouldachievefurtherdevelopmentinany.NET-compliantlanguage.” AnotherbenefitforMSDwasuserimpact.“Minimizingchange[toourusercommunity]wasadrivingforceofevery
decisionwemade”Brabhamsaid.“Wedidn’twanttheuserstohavetolearnanewsystem.Andwhileweknewsomechangeswouldbeunavoidablewhenmigratingtothenewplatform,UNICONhelpedusminimizetheimpactofourchangesbyworkingcloselywithus.” Withupto800concurrentusersonthesystem,MSDwantedaWindowsplatformthatnotonlyadequatelyhandledtheworkloads,butonethatwouldprovidethemroomforgrowthandscalabilitywellintothefuture.MSDselectedDellforitshardwareneedsandprocuredasystemthathandledtherequiredworkloadsatapriceintheregionof$50,000. InadditiontomeetingMSD’sneedstomigrateawayfromtheHP3000,UNICON’snativeapproachalsodeliv-eredmajormodernizationtothe
applications.NotonlydidthesolutionempowerMSDtopreserveallthevalu-ableinvestmentsmadeovertheyearsinitscustomsoftware,itbroughtthemtotheforefrontoftoday’scomputinganddatabasetechnologies. Theschooldistrictisnowabletolever-agetherichfeaturesandbenefitsthatcomewithopensystemsarchitecture—andbenefitfromthepowerandversatilityoffullrelationaldatabasemanagementsystems.BrabhamisinnodoubtthatUNICON’ssolutionwastherightwaytogo. “Weareveryhappywithourmigration,”hesaid.“Iamconfidentinthedirectionwehavechosen.Thiswillmakeitmucheasiertocontinuerewritingandenhancingoursysteminthe.NETworld.IwoulddefinitelyrecommendUNICONtoanyoneseekingtomigratetoopenplatforms.”
Election turnout, viable business plan challenge advocates
Theteamofpeoplewhohavebeentry-ingtopushbackHP’sretirementforthe3000,OpenMPE,haveleveragedthreeretirementsofdirectorstoannouncea2010boardwithfreshfaces.Threevol-unteerschosenottocontinueasdirectorsfor2010-11,atermthatbringsthefreshbloodofConnieSellitto,KeithWadsworthandJackConnorintoagroupwhichoper-ateswithoutoffices,salesandrevenuemodels,ormuchrespectfromsomecom-munitycorners. Selittoarrivesfromthe3000’scustomercommunity;she’sanITmanagerattheUSCatFanciers’Association.WadsworthrunsOrbitSoftware,supplierofbackuputilitiestothe3000andotherhosts.ConnorworksinthesupportgroupatAbtech,whichsupportsHP3000serversites,amongotherplatforms. Afterthedirectors’election,theboard
namedWadsworthasvice-chair,replacingthedepartingvice-chairJohnWolff.TracyJohnson,whohadbeenactingsecre-tary,wasnamedtoreplacetheoutgoing
DonnaHofmeister. Thelasttwoelectionsfortheboard’sopenseatshavebeenheldwithnoopposi-tion:thenumberofcandidatesequaledthepositionsinplay.Thegroup’ssecretaryTracyJohnsonsaid“avoteraskedwhynotjustacclaimthecandidates,sinceeach
wasguaranteedaseatontheboard?MysimplereplywasthatOpenMPE’sBy-Lawsdon’thaveanacclamationprocedure.”Hesaidevenanuncontestedelectionwasanecessarystep. “Ournextboardmeetingwassched-uledforaftertheelection,sowe[decidedwe]mightaswelllettheelectiontakeitscourse,”Johnsonsaid.“Acandidatemighthavedecidedatthelastminutetodropoutoftherace.Thenwe’dhavetodraftsomeoneagain.”
ImprovedcommunicationswereanearlygoalforJohnson.“Itwasanincredibleadventuretologintoourhost-ingproviderandupdateOpenMPE’s
CandidateandBallotingWebpages,”hesaid.“Assomehavenoticed,someofourWebpageshavenotbeenupdatedsinceMayof2009,soIwasabletofixmanyofthose. Thisyear’svotingthroughtheWebsitenettedfewerthan50ballots,includingthosefromsomecurrentboardmembers.Onesupportproviderinthe3000com-munitynotedthatseveralfirmswiththelatestMPE/iXsourcecodelicensesnowservicemore3000customersthanthetotalof2010’sOpenMPEvoters. “TherealityisthatatleastfouroftheUS-basedlicenseesalreadyhavesup-portoperationswithmorepayingcus-tomersthanOpenMPEwillhavevotersintheirelection,”saidSteveSuraciofPivitalSolutions,whohasservedonthe
OpenMPEboard.“Thisgrouphasnobusi-nessplan,nooperations,noinvestors,andmoreimportantlynoincome.Yettheyaspiretobeasupportprovider?”
TheclocktomakeOpenMPEmeaning-fulhasbeenrestart-edbythearrivalofMPE/iXsourcecodeinthegroup.It’sthefirstsignificantassetthatthiscollectiveofvolunteershasbeenabletocountupon.
Butthosemillionsoflinesofsourcemayneedalmostasmanyoperationaldollarstomakeanimpactin2011,whenHPleavesallsupporttoindependents. OpenMPEchairBirketFosterhasarrivedatthatsameformulawhilethegroup’ssourcecodewasarrivinginanindependentengineer’sofficeforvalida-tion.Hesaidtheorganizationdoesn’tproposetoprovidesupportlikeaPivital,Beechglen,AllegroorAbtech. “Thefirstthingwehadtodowastogetasourcelicense,sowecoulddeterminewhatwecoulddoapatchplanfor,”Fostersaid.“Thelicenseisforselectedpiecesofthesourcecode.”Sourcelicenseholdersdidn’tknowforcertainuntilMarchwhichportionsofMPE/iXtheywerepurchasingfromHP.Fundingneedstobearranged. “Peopleneedtocomeupwithsugges-tionsforwhatthey’dlike[us]todo,andthenthoseprojectsneedtobefunded,”Fosteradded.“Asuggestioncancomefromafreemembership,butprojectswon’thappenunlessthey’refunded.”
See Board, page 16
District(Continued from page 12)
14 The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
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Migration pace enhances older system valueExtending migration timelines give less-current 3000s more chances
EconomicexpertspegthestartoftheGreatRecessionas2009,butithitevenearlierthanthatforITmanagersinthe3000community.About2007,saystheSupportGroupinc.founderTerryFloyd,whohaswatchedmigrationprojectsstallout.Asaresultofthestall,hiscli-entsacrosstwocompanies—thealliedEntsgounitsellsMANMANERPalterna-tives—startedupgrading3000s. The3000upgradesdidn’tstartupbecausemigrationprojectsdiedorfailedafterimplementation.However,afail-uretofundanestablishedprojectmadenewer3000sabettervalue.Apurchaseofa3000,morepowerfulbutnotthelat-est,gavehisclientssometimetohome-steadlonger—whetherthatistheirlong-termplan,orjustaninterimstep. Anothersupportcompanywhichsells3000sreportsthatthepopularupgradeshaven’tbeentheultimategenerationof3000models,HP’sA-ClassandN-Classsystems.SteveSuraciofPivitalSolutionssaidtheA-Classserversdon’tmakethatmuchsensetoacompanyusingthe9x8Seriesof3000s,forexample.TheA’sdon’tofferenoughofajumpinperfor-mancetojustifythepricepremiumstillattachedtothenewermodel. Sinceendoflastsummer,resellersfor3000shaveseenanuptickforsalesofthehardware.However,“veryfewofthemaremovingtotheA’sandN’s,”Suracisaid.“Ifyou’realow-endcustom-er,anAisn’tagreatboxtogotoanyway.
TheA-Classwasmeanttobethelow-endinthatclassofservers.Theperformanceofmostofthoseboxesisinlinewiththeperformanceoftheircurrenthardware.” DavidFloyd,CEOattheSupportGroup,notedanewvalue-rolefortheA-Class.TheboxthatHPestablishedasthenewlow-endisbeingtreatedassuch.“Oneofourcustomersjustboughtone,”hesaid,“fortheirdisasterrecoveryanddevelopmentsystem.”Notsolong
ago,thecommunitycalledthesecrash-and-burnsystems,theoneswhichwerenotresponsiblefordailymissioncriticaloperations. ThatanA-Classsystemcouldlandinthisvaluespot,ortheplentiful9x9sremainattractiveasaproductionupgrade,showstheenduringpropositionofthe3000.Thissituationturnsouttobenefittothemigratingcustomer,too. Wechronicledanotherexampleofthisduringthepastyear,whenanITman-ageratGilbarcoVeeder-RootwaslookingaroundinNovemberforanewer3000tostepinwhilethecompany’sERPmigra-tionwasbeingcompleted.ForthatITmanager,afewmoreCPUsina9x9,orextramemory,wasgoingtobridgethemigrationtimeline’sgap. Thatisnotasetofreportsthatwill
inspiregustoinacompanythatneedsmigrationbusinesstoremaininthe3000marketplace.Ithelpsifacompanycanhavebothwaystoengagea3000cus-tomer.EventhoughFloyd’senterpriseisamongthe3000vendorsthatdoesbusi-nessinbothhomesteadandmigrationcamps,itapproachesthedualrolewithtwoseparatebadges,theSupportGroupinc.andEntsgo—thelatterhelpingcompaniesmigratecomplexERPsystemsoff3000s.AndanyHPhardwareele-mentofanEntsgoprojectislikelytobeaProLiantoranIntegrityserver. TheMPEsystemssoldtoaSupportGroupclient,oroneatPivital,willbeoneofthosebetter-value3000s—theirvalueimprovedbecausethemarketnowhasmanyreplacementsystems,morepower-fulthanexisting3000s,availableforapricejustaschangedasthe3000’sposi-tionoverthelasteightyears.Meanwhile,thechangesinmigrationschedulesareonlynowontheuptickfromthatreces-sion.Suracisaidthelingeringpaceofmakingchangehasbeensparkingsales. “WhatIhearfromthesecustomersisthis:‘We’vebeensayingforsolongthatwe’regoingtosomethingelse.Number1,we’renotthereyet,andwe’resofarbehindnowthatwehavetodosomething[toupgrade.]Weneedaper-formanceincreasetoday.’Ortheysay,‘We’vebeensayingwe’regoingsome-placeelse[offthe3000],butlikeevery-bodyelse,westilldon’thaveaplantodothat.Threeyearsagoweweresayingwe’re18-24monthsaway.Today,we’restillsayingwe’re18-24monthsaway.’“
A purchase of a 3000, more powerful but not the latest, gave tSGi clients more time to homestead
15The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
Progress Happens...
Probably the best Resolution to VPlus Migration in the world!
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3000 transitions stretch for batch solutionsJob stream functions can be cloned with scripts and more
MigratingHP3000sitesfacemultipletasksandchallengestoduplicatethesystem’sability.Butreportsfromcustom-ersmakingtransitionsshowthattheMPE/iXbatchandjob-streamfunctionsarebeingduplicatedinawidearrayofsolutions.It’snotunusualtoseesuchjobcontrolreplacementrequiresomecus-tomizedcodingofscripts. However,Speedware’sproductman-agerNicolasFortinsaidhiscompany’sclientsmakecommercialschedulersoftwareworkfortheappropriatesizeofcompany,ifmanualscriptingisnotinamigrator’sskillset. “Somemigratorsareeitherusingtheirownsuppliedconcept/softwareforbatchscheduling,orwearerecommendingthatcompaniestousecommercialjobsched-ulersoftwarewiththeirjob-convertedcode,”Fortinsaid.Headdsthatforcompanieswhicharedoingamigra-tionthemselves,he’sseenthemeitherretaintheMPEJCLonthetargetplat-form(usingaproductlikeSpeedware’sAMXW)—orconverttheJCLtotarget-platformscripts.Thisscriptingisbeingdonemanually,oraidedbyatoolpro-videdbyamigrationsolutionprovider. Fortinsaidthatlargercompaniestendtouseenterprise-gradejobschedulersoft-warerunninginthetargetenvironment. “Eithertheyalreadyownoneanditistheircorporatestandardforjobsched-uling,ortheytakeadvantageofthemigrationandmodernizationprojectto
investinone,”hesaid.SomeoftheselargesolutionsincludeTivoli(whichonceownedtheMPE/iXMaestroproduct)UC4,orBMCSoftware’sCONTROL-M.Largecompaniesownsuchsoftwarebecausetheyhaveawiderangeofserv-ers,butthesesolutionsareusuallynotusedwiththeHP3000jobenvironment.MPE/iXbatchandjobworkisuniqueandproprietary,sothesehigh-gradesched-ulersolutionsdon’tsupport3000jobmanagement. Theenterprisejobschedulingsoft-ware,ifit’sinplace,canbeextendedtothesystemtakingonthe3000’swork. “Whenwehelpthemplantheirmigra-tion,”Fortinsaid,“weremindthemthattheycouldextendtheuseoftheirexist-ingenterprisesoftwaretothenewtargetenvironment—therebyconsolidatingjob-relatedfunctionalitywithonestan-dardspecificsoftwaresolutions,methodorprocess.Theyareusuallyprettyrecep-tivetothis,asitmakessensetomaxi-mizetheuseofexistingsoftwareandstandardizejob-relatedprocessesacrossallapplications.” Smallercompaniescanlookoversomecommercialsolutionsforscheduling,too,optionspricedmoreinlinewithatypical3000-onlysite’sITbudget.Tidal,Xi-Batch,MaestroandJobQueuewereamongthoseFortinpointedout. TidalandMaestroalreadyrunonthe3000,althoughsomewouldsaythesearenotsmall-scalesolutions.ButFortinnotesthatsitesadoptingAMXWcanemployadefaultscheduleraspartofthatsuite.
“SomearecontentwithusingAMXW’sdefaultMPEjobschedulingfunctional-ity(toretainmostMPEjobconcepts),butotherschoosetousepartofAMXW’sjobfunctionality(sotheSUBMITjobsstillwork)whileutilizingthenativejobschedulingfeaturesofthetargetOS.” IfthattargetisWindows,thenativefeaturesetprovideslesshelpthanthatofUnix,butitcouldbeenoughforsomecompanies.MikeHowardofUNICON,oneofthecommunity’sconversionresources,saidthatusingathirdpartytoolforbatchmanagementunderWindowscanhelptofillingaps.“Windowshasabasicjobschedulerwhichisoftensufficientformostcustomers,”hesays,“butifamorecomprehensiveproductisrequired,IwouldrecommendGlobalECSfromVinzantSoftware.” TheAMXWsoftwareisdesignedtopermitacombinationofthe3000’sJCLwithWindowsorUnixscriptcode,“togetthebestofbothworlds,”Fortinsaid.ThisgivesamigratingcompanyawaytoretainsomekeyMPEconceptswhiletheyemploythenativetarget-OSscriptcommands.Headdedthatthiscaneaseagradualtransitiontotarget-OSnativeconcepts.Likemanymigrations,thisaspecthappensinsteps,sometimesneedingcustomization. “Weencounterallkindsofscenarios,whichisjustanotherindicationthatthereisnoonesolutionforeveryone,”hesaid.“Thesolutionneedstomeettheuniqueneedsandpreferencesofeachcustomer,andwe’refinewiththat;weadapt,wecustomize.”
16 The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
2010willturnouttobeayearofopportunityforpartoftheHP3000ecosystem.Supportproviderswillbetakingonnewclients,thecustomerswhohavefollowedHPfaithfully—somemightsayblindly—eversincetheirfirstsystemsswitchedon20or30yearsago. ButthosedecadesofsupportfromHPendinaboutseven
months,aturnofeventsthatwillturnthosestillrunninga3000—butfaithfultoHP—towardindependentsupport.SteveSuraciofPivitalSolutionsseesgoodpros-pectstoaddfreshclientsforsupportcompanieslikehis.
“There’sabunchofcus-tomersthatwillstickwithHPuntiltheycan’tanymore,”hesaid,“andthat’sagroupthatwillneedtofindanotheralternative.Hopefullyatthatpointtheydotheirhomeworkandcanseparatebetweenthegoodandbadproviders—andwebecomeoneofthosewhoaregivenanopportunitytobeintheirplans.” Pivitalisoneofthecommunity’sfirmsthatspecializesinHP3000issuesandsupport,includinghardware,softwareandapplications.HisfirmisoneofthesevenMPE/iXsourcecodelicensees.“Theknowledgeofthesourcecodemayhelpuscre-atesomethinginthefuture,”hesaidoftherecentadditionto
companylabs.HPinvitedthefirmtoapplyforalicense,headded.Suraci’scompany,whichhasbeeninthecommunityfortwodecades,ispracticingamissionthatnarrowsitsfocustoexpanditsclientbase.Likeafewothersservinghomestead-ers,theywanttodeliverbetterresultsbystickingtowhattheydobest.Thatstrategyisallaboutlevelofservice. ThePivitalnicheissupporting3000sinenterprises,ratherthantakingonallserverenvironmentsalongwitha3000inthemix.Althoughindependentsupportalwaysincludesthetag-alongquestionaboutWindows,ittakesdeterminationandintegritytosticktotheservicelevelpromisesyou’recertaintokeep.PivitalmadeitsbonesintheERPworldasitgrew,work-inginabusinesssectorwithaneedfordetail-drivensupport. “Whatwehavestrivedforovertheyearsistoforgotheopportunitieswherewedon’tthinkwecanbesuccessful,”Suracisaid,“thesupportthatwouldrequireustohavetoomanypartners,andjustisn’tinoursights.”Asanexample,herecalledamunicipalitywheretheHP3000wasthemainenterprisesystem,buttherewasalotofWindowsserverworkthatthecitywantedalongwith3000support. “WetoldthemitwouldbegreattogettheirHP3000busi-nessiftheychosetoseparatethatout,”hesaid.“Butitwouldbebetterforustowalkawaynow,thantogettheirbusinessandnotdoagoodjobgoingforward.”HesaysthatPivitalis“abigsticklerforthecommitmenttoresponsetime,”somethingthatcanrequireelitepartners—whocansolveanissueatasitewithoutbeingtalkedthroughtechniqueoverthephone.
Supporting More By Doing Less, But BetterHP’s 2010 exit opens doors for independents specializing in 3000 support
WhenOpenMPEexplainedthismodellastSeptember,thecon-ceptwastobuildpatchesfundedbymembers,thenmakethosepatchesavailabletoother3000supportcompanies.Afewsup-portcompanieshavetalkedtoOpenMPE’sdirectorsaboutthismodel,butnoallianceshavebeenannounced. Inacustom-patchmodel,Fosterexplained,onceacclamationofinterestarrivesaroundapatchidea,“youcangetanengineertoputtogetheraroughcostmodeloverahalf-dayofwork.”Thisisthepointwheretherevenueneedtobecomeavailable,aprocessthatFostersays“paysforenoughtestingtobeabletoputthepatchinacommonsourcecoderepository.” Revenuemodelshaveneverbeenaconsistentmissioninitia-tiveamongOpenMPE’sboardvolunteers.Apairofdrivestoraisedevelopmentcapitalfellshortofgoalsinthemiddleoflastdecade,andthegrouphasn’tpursuedanythingbutcontribu-tionstopurchaseasourcelicenseoverthelastfewyears. OneofthenewmembersoftheboardhaslongconsideredOpenMPE’spursuitofcommercialgainandsustainableopera-tions.In2008WadsworthsaidthatinfrastructuretosupportbasicoperationslookedlikeOpenMPE’skeyissue.“Thisraisesmanyquestionsabouttheneedsoftheusers,andtheOpenMPEorganizationaswell.Forexample,isthereanyharddatathatstronglyindicatesthatalargenumberofremainingusers,orevenasmallnumber,needthesepatches? “Addressingthequestionoftesting,althoughtheOpenMPEboardmembersandmembersatlargecommandconsider-ableexpertise,itdoesnotseemapparentthatOpenMPEasawholehastheability,letalonetheinfrastructure,toconductsuchtesting.”
Board(Continued from page 13)
Steve Suraci, Pivital
17The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
Robelle’s ETL language ready to access Oracle on Windows Servers
DevelopersaretakingthefirststepstobringRobelle’sSuprtooldatabaselan-guagetoWindowsservers.Transformix’sCharlesFinleyandSuprtoolguruNeilArmstrongareintroducingSuprtoolSQLinto3000shopswhicharemigrating.Thesoftwarewillbesoldasacombinationofcodeandmigration/developmentservice,atandemassembledwhenanEcometrye-commercesiteneededtotakeSuprtoolalongonitsmigrationjourney. Suprtoolisoftenembeddedatanessen-tiallevelinHP3000shopswhichusetheExtraction,TransformandLoad(ETL)lan-guage.HP’sAlvinaNishimotosaidatanHPusergroupmeetingin2007thatSuprtool
playsasignificantroleinprompt-ing3000sitestomovetoHP-UX.UntilSuprtoolSQLstartedtoemergethismonth,keepingtheinfrastructure
ofSuprtooloperatingassurroundcodemeantmovingtoHP’sUnix. Atthemomenttheproductisonlyengi-neeredtoworkwiththeOracledatabaseonWindowsservers.“SuprtoolSQLworkswithOraclecurrently,”saidArmstrong.ButheaddsthatOracleisn’ttheonlydatabasetheproductiscapableofsup-porting.“AgoodreasonnottospecifythatyoumusthaveOracleisthatwestillwanttotalktocustomersandlearnabouttheirissues.OtherSQLdatabasesarepossible.Idon’tthinkweknowwhatthemarketwillcomeupwithintermsofwho’sleft,butwewanttokeepthedia-loguegoing.” Finley,whoseengineeringteamdevel-opedtheOracle-basedsolution,saysthemostpopularWindowsrelationaldatabaseisjustamatterofafewweeks’developmentaway. “WestartedworkingontheSQLServerversionbecausewe’vehadseveralpeopleaskingforit,”Finleysaid.“Still,it’salowpriorityuntilwegetacustomertotestit.Weareestimatingthatitwillonlytakeusabouttwoweeksofeffort.”UntiltherolloutofSuprtoolSQL,3000siteswhomigratetoWindowshavehadtopartwayswithSuprtool,whichoftensur-rounds3000applicationcode. EmployingthissolutionrequiresaservicesandsupportagreementwithTransformix,whichhasbeenworkingontoolstomigrate3000sitessinceHP
announcedintentionstoleavethemarket. TheproductiscalledSuprtoolSQLbecauseitusespureSQLtoaccessthedatabaseontheWindowsservers.Finleysaystheperformanceisthesameorbet-terthanusingthe3000’sTurboIMAGEdatabase. “WeuseSQLtoouradvantage,”Finleysaid.“ItdoesnotusetheTurboIMAGEAPI.TheuseofSQLmakesitpossibletoachieveperformancethatmeetsorexceedstheperformancethatoneachievesontheHP3000.” TransformixisthedistributorforSunGardBi-techTransport.TransportprovidesthemissingfunctionalitytoenableSuprtoolSQLtoreplacetheSuprtoolsuiteofproducts,usingJavatomakeitplatform-independent.Thecom-paniessaythatmostoftheSuprtoolcodeorintrinsicsfoundinMPE/iXapplicationenvironmentscanremainuntouchedandcontinuetorelyonMPEconceptsandaccessMPEfilesonthetargetplatform. “ItworkswithOracle,IBMDB2,SQLServer,PostgresqlandInformixalready,”Finleysaid.AndTransporthasworkedwithEloquencesince1998. ArmstrongsaidhelovesEloquence,
andwouldlikeittooper-atewithmoreBigEndianenviron-mentssuchasHP-UX.Atthemoment,aSuprtoolthattackleslittleendianplatformswithanativedesign—fordirectaccesstoWindowsservers
withoutintermediarysoftwaresuchasTransport—isnotonthemarket. ArmstronghasportedSuprtooltobothIBM’sandSun’sversionsofUnix.ThoseUnixversions,alongwithHP’s,allusetheBigEndianchipset.Butthesoftwarehadn’tmadetheleaptosmallendianchipsetswhichrunWindowsserversandsomedistrosofLinux. Robelle’sdeveloperhaspraiseforthefirstsolutionthatbringsSuprtoolwithinrangeofWindowsmigrationsites.“Charleshasagoodpieceoftechnologyherethatwillsignificantlyhelpcustomersretainliterallymillionsofdollarsworthofinvestmentwhenmigrating,”Armstrong
said.“EspeciallytheEcometrycustomerswiththeirsurroundcode.” EcometrysiteshavebeenmigratinginlargemeasuretoWindowsratherthanHP-UX,andSuprtoolisacrucialpartofthesurroundcodefortheseHP3000customers.WhenTransformixemployedthepowerofOracleandtheTransporttoolsettoduplicatesomeofthecapa-bilitiesofSuprtool,FinleysaidhenextapproachedRobelleforalicenseandsalesagreement. It’sstillearlyintheprocessofbringingthisETLtoolintothegraspofSuprtooluserswhoneedtoadoptWindowsorLinux.BothTransformixandRobellesaidthey’vegotonepilotcustomerwho’semployingthesoftwareandserviceslaterthisyear,oncethebusyseasonforthate-commercecompanysettlesdown. FinleysaidSuprtoolSQLhasmanyoftheequivalentcommandsasSuprtoolforMPEandaddedthatthelistofcommandscontinuestogrow.Suprtool’sscriptsareusedwithinmanyMPEjobstreamsonHP3000s.Theyhavebeenanessentialanduniquepartofthe3000experiencethat’sbeencostlyanddifficulttodupli-cateinsomeprojects. ThesolutionalsogeneratesSQLstate-mentstoaccesstherelationaldatabases.AplannedfeaturewillgiveittheabilitytotranslatetheSuprtoolscriptintoaSuprtoolSQLscriptwhichwillcontainthegeneratedSQL.ThiswillpermituserstoedittheSQLandaccessthedatawithgreaterpowerandflexibilitythancur-rentlyallowedbySuprtoolscripts.
Transport slips SuprtoolSQL into Windows use
Until SuprtoolSQL started to
emerge, keeping the infrastructure
of Suprtool working after a migration from the HP 3000
meant moving to a version of Unix
Automate yournotices of news
LinkstoreportsontheNewsWireblogcanarriveinyourin-box,thankstothereachofTwitterortheConstantContactemailservice.WecreateafeedofstoriesandnewsitemsontheTwitter.Thetweetsaregeneratedautomaticallyasastoryisposted.StartaTwitteraccount,pushyourtweetstomail,thenfollowusatouraddress:3000newswire. We’vealsoaddedanewemail-onlyservicetokeepyouuptodateonourreports.Onceeachweekasimpleandconciseemailarrivesinyourinbox,summarizingthelateststorieswithlinkstoeach.Signup,witheasyunsubscribes,witha“Mailnews”mes-sagetorseybold@sbcglobal.net.
18 The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
K-12 application renovation modernizes database interface while providing agnostic code
Editor’s note: Minisoft’s Mollie Greenup offered us this vendor-reported customer case study of renovation and migration at K-12 software provider QSS. We’ve covered the QSS migra-tion for many years, from selection of operating environments to tools and servers. Minisoft reported on how its products impact the QSS mission.
WhenHewlett-PackardannouncedthattheirfutureplansdidnotIncludetheHP3000,DuanePercox(QSSseniorpartnerandacompanyfounder)developedatwo-phasestrategyformovingthecompany’ssuiteofapplicationsoffthe3000inamannerthatwouldminimizecustomers’riskofrunningmis-sion-criticalapplications(thinkpayroll)onserverssoontobeobsolete.ThesolutionwouldatthesametimemodernizetheQSSproductofferings. ThefirststepinvolvedreplacingtheHP3000’sVPlusscreenswithaWindowsGUIdevelopedusingVisualBasicand.NET.ThisnewGUIwouldconnecttoasimilarCOBOLapplica-tionserverandusethesameIMAGEdatabases.Thisstepwaslabor-intensiveandrepresentedthemostdramaticchangesfortheendusers.Thisisthestageofthemigra-tionwheremostQSScustomersaretoday. Thesecondphaseoftheprojectwastoreplacethe3000swithLinuxservers,run-ningSQLServer,oranopensourcerelation-aldatabaseastheback-end.NetCOBOLwasusedtomigrateCOBOLprogramchangesandtheassociatedretrainingoftheCOBOLdevelopmentteam.ThisphaserequirescustomerstopurchasenewserversandtopotentiallyretrainITandapplicationmain-tenancestaff;however,enduserswouldseefewdifferences.Butsomechallengesstoodinthewayofmini-mizingcustomerrisks.Challenges Thesesteps,coupledwiththenewdirectionQSSwasgoinginrelationtothenewWeb-basedapplications,madeforatrickysituation.ThenewQSSWeb-basedapplicationsweredevelopedusingRubyonRailsastheframework,arelationaldatabaseasthedatastore,andavarietyofbrowsersforGUI.RubyonRailsisaModel-View-Controllertechnologywhichiso-latesbusinessrules,dataaccessandstorage(model)fromtheWebprotocols(controller)andpresentation(view)layers. TheRubyonRailstechnologyprecludestheHP3000,andthuscanonlybeusedbythefewQSScustomersalreadyrun-ningonLinux.Unfortunately,thisleavesthemajorityoftheQSSinstalledbasewithnoWeb-basedsolutions.QSSevalu-atedvariousapproachestoallowtheirRubyonRailsapplica-tionsaccesstothevastamountofdatastoredinIMAGE.IfthiscouldbeachieveditwouldprovideallQSScustomersamodernWeb2.0browserfront-endabletomovedatatoandfromtheirexistingHP3000s.QSSwouldalsohaveanoppor-tunitytoearnnewlicensingrevenue.The Solution EnterMinisoftandtheirODBCdriverforMPE/iX.Minisoft’sapproachwassimple,requirednochangestoexistingsystem
backups,wasstraightforwardtoconfigure.QSSreportedthatthesupportwasexemplary.Inanutshell,QSScouldcreateRubyonRailsmodelsthatreflectedtheIMAGEdatasets.ThesemodelsreturntothecontrollersthesameinformationwhetheritcamefromthenewrelationaldatabasesorfromIMAGE.Oncethecontrollershavethedata,therestoftheapplication,includingallgeneratedHTML,JavaScriptandAjaxcalls,isidentical. Thus,thebulkofthecodeinthenewWeb-basedapplica-tionswasentirelydatabaseagnostic,thankstoMinisoft’sODBCDriver.ThisisapromiseoftencitedbyWeb-baseddevelopmenttechnologies—buttheycertainlyarenotrefer-ringtothe30-year-oldnavigationaldatabaseIMAGEwhentheymakethatclaim.Itmighthavebeeneveneasiertosup-portIMAGE,butQSSmadesignificantstructuralchangestotheIMAGEdatabaseswhenconvertingthemtorelationaldata-bases.MuchoftheQSSeffortspentingettingRubyonRailsaccesstoIMAGEwasmappingtheoldIMAGEstructurestothenewtablesandcolumns.QSS Conclusions JeffVance,QSSSeniorTechnologist,saidthechangeandimprovementsweretransparent.“QSSdemonstratedthenew
EmployeeSelfServiceWeb-basedapplication(ESS)attheQSSUsersGroupConferenceinMarch2010,”hesaid.“TheaudiencewasunabletoguesswhichscreenswerepopulatedfromtherelationaldatabasesandwhichcamefromIMAGE—andthatisgreatestpraiseofthistechnology.” AsaresultofthisusersgroupConference,twolargeCaliforniaschooldcstrictshaveadoptedtheESStech-nologyandareontheirwaytoprovid-
inggreaterfunctionalitytoalltheirusers. Minisoft’sODBCdrivercanextendthelifeoftheHP3000—andinthiscurrenteconomicclimate,suchproductlongevityandsavingscanbecrucialtoabusiness’ssurvival.Thisenvi-ronmenttransformedtheODBCdriverfromaproductthatwasconvenienttoamission-criticalproductovernight.ODBCnotonlyprovidesgreaterfunctionalityforallend-users,butitalsoallowsforaconsistencyamongreportingfunctions.Itistrulyaseamlessanddatabase-agnosticsolutionforatrustedbutslightlyagedlegacyplatform.Minisoft’s Perspective TouseHP’sfreeODBCdriver,usersmustsetupanddefineDBE’s(DataBaseEnvironments)beforeanydatacanactuallybeaccessed.WithMinisoft’sODBCdriver,customerscanhavedirectaccesstoIMAGEandTurboIMAGEdatabaseswith-outhavingtoincurtheoverheadofAllbaseorIMAGE/SQL.Minisoft’sODBCsupportsadvancedfeaturessuchaslinkingtomultipledatabases,KSAM,andMPEfiles. InthecaseofQSS,Minisoftwasabletosupplyamoderninterface,andsoextendthevalueoftheHP3000.Thisopeneduptheirdatabasestotheendusersforreportingandgreaterfunctionality.OurfamilyofODBC,OLEDBandJBDCmiddle-waredriverscanmeetthetaskofWeb-enablingalegacyappli-cationviaJava,orimplementaVisualBasicor.NETapplica-tionthatfacilitatesaccesstoacompany’scorporatedatabase.
Middleware, QSS tech revive 3000 interface
Customers gained a modern Web 2.0 browser front-
end, able to move data to and from their existing HP 3000s. QSS got opportunity
for new license sales.
19The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
Links to 3000 provide leadership for ConnectCurrent, future user group presidents know MPE well
ChrisKoppeisinhisfifthmonthofpresidencyoftheConnectusergroup,buthe’sclockedinmanyyearsofvol-unteeringonbehalfofHPcustomersincludingthe3000community.Koppe,who’sbeeninvolvedwithConnectsincethegroup’sdaysastheEncompassenterpriseusergroup,lookstothe3000ashisownfoundation. “It’swheremyrootsare,”hesaidaftertheusergrouphadnamedits2010officersandexploredthisyear’sgoals.Usergroupworkhasgivenhimabout20hoursweeklyofextraduties,some-thinghe’smanagingalongwiththelifeofbeingadadanddirectingSpeedware’smarketingoperations.Butheconsiderstheusergroupasameanstoilluminatethe3000’sfuture. “Iwasalwaystryingtobethetorch-bearerforthe3000communityduringthosetransitions,”hesaid,reflectingonthemiddleoflastdecadeandtheInterexdemise.KoppegotapproachedbyEncompasspresidentKristiBrowderwhilehewasstillontheInterexboard,asEncompassreachedouttoconnectwiththe3000crowd.TheConnectgroupisreachingformore3000leadershipfornextyear,too.SteveDavidek,who’sstillmanaginga3000foraNevadamunicipal-ity,isthepresident-in-waitingfor2011. Connectselectsitspresidentsoneyearinadvance,whentheboardchoos-esitsvice-president.Koppeexplainedthatthepresidencyisathree-yearexpe-rience:oneasVP,anotherintheoffice,thenathirdaspastpresident. Davidek,hesaid,iswell-knownforhisadvocacycommitteeworkinthefinalyearsofInterex,havingpushedforcus-tomersurveyprogramstospeaktoHP.Surveyshavebeenaprimarymeansforadvocacyforalloftheseusergroups.AnHP-UXcustomersurveywasconductedrecentlyattheConnectsite.KoppebelievesHPprocessesusergroupnotesdifferentlythansolocustomers’. “ThecommunityhasalargervoicetoHP,”byspeakingasagroup,hesaid.“Usergroupcustomerstendtobemorepassionate.”HeaddedthathehashisownpassionforthecommunityofHPusers,includingthe3000customerwhowillremainonthesystemindefinitely.Butheknowsthedirectadvocacyforthesecustomerscomesfromanothergroup. “OpenMPEiscarryingthehomestead-
ingadvocacytorchthesedays,”hesaid.“Oursocialnetworkcreatesaplaceforpeopletoengage,andwehaveanMPEcommunitypagethatactsasameet-ingplace.”Speedware’sNickFortinhasbeenasparkplugatthatWeblocation,andKoppetalkeditupduringlastyear’se3000CommunityMeet. AsfortheHP-UXcustomersnewlyarrivedfromtheir3000experience,Connecthasplansfortheirservicesalreadyinmotion.AWebcastfromHP
wasahighlightofthisyear’sHP-UXMonthforConnect.WhileConnectalreadyhascommitteesforOpenVMSandNonStop,HP’sUnixdoesnothaveone—yet.“Iwouldn’tbesurprisedif
onedevelopsduringthisyear,”hesaid. Connecthasgoalsfor2010thatgobeyondstayinghealthyfinanciallyandextendingthetraditionofin-personmeetingswithnewevents,aswellastheHPTechnologyForum&Expo.Thegroupwantstoestablishfivenewchap-tersthisyeartoaddtoits36,aswellascreatenewslettersdeliveredonlinetargetedatitsdistinctmemberships. ConnectoperatesonthegluethateverymemberusesHPgear.WhilethememberslookatHP-UXasifit’sanopensystem,thegroupneedstobal-anceservicesformixedandspecializedenvironments.TheHPenterprisebadgeongearandsolutionsbringsittogether. “Ithinkthatinorderforustoremainrelevantasanorganization,youneedtobeabletoserveourmission:tobetheassociationofHP’senterprisecustomers,”hesaid.“Whetheryouuseenterprisestorageproducts,theUnixorWindowsplatform,bladeservers,securityornetworkingproducts,ourgoalistobetheusercommunitythatsupportsthoseparticularsegmentsofHP’sproductline.Inmanyrespectsusergroupsbecomethehomeoftheusersoftheoldertechnologies.ThisiswheretheOpenVMSandNonStopcommuni-tiescongregate.Wehaveprogramsthatwe’redevelopingtoreplicatethatfor-mulawithHP-UX.”
Chris Koppe
TheConnectHPusergroupwillmountitsannualNorthAmericanshownextmonth,thelatesteditionsincetheeventlaunchedin2005.AlthoughtheconferencehaslittletooffertheHP3000homesteader,anycompanywho’sconsideringHPgearasareplacementfortheir3000shouldfindplentytojus-tifyatripbetweenJune21-24toLasVegas.ThemeetingusesthefacilitiesoftheMandalayBayResortandCasino. Ifadoptinganon-3000skillsetisa2010priority,thiscouldbeabouttwodaysandthreenightswellspent.TheTechnologyForum’slatestcataloglistshundredsoftalksthatcomprisetheHP-centriccontentwhichmakestheconferenceauniquevalueformanagersofHPbusiness-classsystems. ThesessionsareHP-centricinanoth-erwaybeyondtheirsubjectmatter,focusedonHP’ssolutions.They’redeliv-eredinverylargepartbyHPstaffmem-bers,althoughsomearepresentedby
HP’spartners,too.(Thecataloglistsafewcustomersleadingsessions;there’sastrongOpenVMSandNonStopcontin-gentprovidingthatkindofcontent.) Butthethree-plusdaysisoneofthebestwaystomeetHP,especiallythecompanythathaschangedsomuchsincethelastHP3000srolledoffthelinein2003.“TheTripleBottomLineofGreenDataCenters”isatalktobegivenbyWilliamKosik,HP’sGreenTechnologyDirector.Ifyoudidn’tevenknowHPhassuchadirector,orwonderwhereGreenmightbepayingoffforIT,abottomlinesessioncouldbringsomegreentoanenterprise. A decision to attend the Tech Forum this year, for a 3000 IT pro, needs to be sparked by a desire to master a new skills set. rather than polishing their IT skills. HP is not presenting any more migration sessions related to the 3000. To register, visit the conference Web site, hptechnologyforum.com.
Tech Forum to dish migration savvy
20 The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
David Greer is charting a fresh course in familiar waters. The former Robelle pres-ident took a break from the industry in 2001, leaving Robelle after more than 20 years. At age 43 Greer recognized that “I’m still young enough to take on some-thing new. In another 10 years it’s a lot tougher. We’re looking at life issues, too.” He let the lift of his flexibility propel him onto a two-year cruise on his sailboat with his family, a trip he blogged exten-sively and looked to be the envy of many an overworked IT pro. Greer separated from the 3000 community less than a year before HP announced its exit plans, but he says he has never drifted far from his contacts and friends in spirit. Several times we’ve talked about ventures in growing companies as well as life prac-tices. Now he’s returned to the market as MB Foster’s Director of Marketing and Sales, extending a longtime relationship with that firm’s founder Birket Foster. In the eight years he was away Greer explored other ports of call in the indus-try. Once he got his land legs again, he returned to work as a director on boards of small start-ups, gathering experience that’s not easily found in the world of the 3000. He worked as VP of Sales and Marketing at eOptimize, an enterprise resource scheduling vendor whose Microsoft Exchange products were installed at very large financial services companies. He helped start up MailChannels, an anti-spam company. The work took him into boardrooms for investment and promotion while the strategic efforts led to study of cutting-edge IT issues. We wanted to hear what those experiences from his time abroad had taught him about the challenges and opportunities of the 3000 market. We spoke in early April just after Apple’s first iPad shipments, at a time when Greer had worked at his new MB Foster posts for about two months.
What made you decide to re-enter the HP 3000 market?
Principally,myrelationshipwithBirket.Itallcomesfullcircle.BirketandIhaveknowneachothersincewemetinacon-ferencein1981.We’vestayedintouchonapersonallevel:WemetinLondonatthestartofmyMediterraneantrip,we’veskiedtogether.Thenthereweresomethingshewantedhelpwith,andIdidsomeprojectsforhimoverthepastyear.Aswedevelopedtherelationshipit
seemedtomakesensetotakeittothenextlevel. I’mbackafterasignificantabsence,butIstillrecognizethe3000market.IevenrecognizemanyofthecompanynamesI’mcalling.
You have done marketing and strate-gic work for years now. Are you doing sales engagements with clients?
Yes.WhenIwearmymarketinghatI’mworkingtodriveengagementwithallcustomersandprospects.I’malsolook-ingatallofourcommunicationandmes-saging.Inmyaccountmanagementand
salesrole,I’mresponsibleforreachingoutdirectlytocustomers,findingtheirneedsandhowMBFostercanhelp.
How does the sales work feel to you?
Great.I’vedoneitovertheyears.AlmostallofmyrolessincecomingbackfromtheMediterraneanhaveinvolvedsalesinoneformoranother.Eveninmyinvestmentsandmyboardworkwithyoungstart-ups,inmostcasesIwasinotherpeople’sboardroomssellingstock–toconvincepeopletoinvestincompaniesIbelievedin.Thisisjustanothersalesprocess. It’soutsidethetechnicalroleIdidatRobelle,butevenatRobelleIwouldsay
myrolewasmoreinmarketingthansales,butitwasstillcreatingbeliefinthecompany.
What has changed about this commu-nity in your absence?The3000doeswhatitdoesbest–runpeople’sbusiness.IfIseeanychange,it’sanongoingonethatI’veseenforadecade,whichistheclients’desiretointegratethe3000intoabroaderITinfrastructure.I’vebeentalkingtoaprospect’sCFO,andshewantstotakethedataonher3000andreplicateittoaSQLServer,becausetheyhavesomerealneedsthere.She’scrystalclear:don’tmuckupmydataonmy3000anddon’timpactmyHP3000performance.The3000isstillhostingherdataandrunsherbusiness.Thatsumsitallup. FortunatelywehavesomeintellectualpropertythatreplicatesHP3000datainrealtimethathasverylowimpactonthe3000.Itmakessurethedataissafe.What’sdrivingthisprospectistypi-cal:theyneedtheyoungpeopletocomeupandbeproductiveinthefastestwaypossible.Andthat’snottheHP3000.ButbyisolatingthemontheSQLServeritdoesn’timpactthemainpartoftheirbusiness.Fortheseniorleaders,thisplanmakesthemfeelmorecomfortable,becausetheir3000issafe.
Have you already seen these data warehouses becoming important to 3000 sites?
Yes,it’samazinghowtheseperipherythings,whicharefedoffthedatathat’slivingonthe3000,havebecomemoreinstrumentalpartsofthebusiness.ItalkedtoaMANMANshopyesterdaythatstartedwithadatawarehouseapplica-tionbackin1999.Theirmanagementwastellingmehowthatwarehousehassavedthecompany’sbacon.TheMANMANappisstillcorethere.
Have you had any conversations yet with customers worried about HP’s departure at the end of this year?
Iwouldn’tsayI’veheardanyangstorconcernaboutthat.I’vebeenaskingpeoplewhatthey’redoingforsupport,sinceHP’scomingoffattheendofthisyear.Mygutsaysthemajorityhavealreadymovedon[toindependentsup-port].Othersarelooking,butthey’renot
Returning to a Familiar Port to Recognize Faces
David GreerDirector of Marketingand Sales, MB Foster
David Greer
21The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
particularlyconcerned.It’skindofbusi-nessasusual.Idon’tseeitasanydrivingfactor,atleastsofar,thatwouldmakepeopleleavetheplatform.
How are the changes in this market prompting you to change the MB Foster message?
ThemainthingsI’mtryingtogetoutisremindingpeopleofallthethingsMBFosterdoes.That’saprettybroadswath;alotofpeopleareawarethatwecanenabledatareplicationforadatamart:orthedepthofexperiencethecompanyhasinservicetorealorganizations,workingwithseniormanagementtoproduceeffectivereportingtodrivetheirbusinesses. We’realsoremindingpeoplethatwe’reherewhetheryou’rehomesteadingoryouwanttotransition.We’vegotsolutionsforboth.We’retryingtohelppeopleleveragemoreoutofwhattheyhave.
The market’s approach to a 3000 customer seems to have changed, with less focus on engaging through a product or meetings with technolo-gists. How has your strategy changed?
It’smuchmoreservices-oriented,tai-lored.Idon’tthinkthere’sasmuchofacookie-cuttersolution.Whatwebringtothetableinourintellectualpropertyletsusleveragealotofthingsinashortamountoftime. Alotofpeoplehavebeenonthe3000alongtime.Lotsofthemstartedoutasprogrammers,andthey’renowCIOs.Forthem,amoreseniorbusinessmessageiswhattheywanttohear.Inothercaseswe’retalkingwithatechnologist,andwehavetoraiseawarenesswithinthatorganization,especiallywithpeoplerespon-sibleforlinesofbusinessaboutwhat’spossible.
You’ve been away from this market since HP made its exit plans. What reasons have you seen why people need to leave the platform?
There’sanagingworkforcethathasfamiliaritywiththe3000.There’salsoanagingworkforcethathasfamiliaritywiththeapplications.Oneofthereasonsweseeasakeydrivertomigrateisacom-panylosesakeytechnicalresource.Ortheyloseakeyenduserresource,some-onewhoreallyknowstheapplication
insideout.We’vehadacoupleofcaseswherewehadtodoarushassessment,“becauseattheendofthemonthJoeisleaving.” Wealsoseesomepent-upmergerandacquisitionactivityasakeychangeevent.Yousuddenlygetnewseniorman-agement,ateamthathasdifferentideasandwantstotakeITinadifferentdirec-tion.Theydon’tnecessarilywanttosup-portthelegacyplatform.
What experiences during your 3000 hiatus can con-tribute to your work now, on your return to the community?
Ispentthreeyearsdoingearlystageworkwithcompanies.Formanycasesformeitwashelpingoutinmarketingandsales,workingoutthemessaging.MailChannelshappenedtohavemany3000customersontheirclientlist.Inworkingwithstartups,youhavereallyyoung,reallybrightpeople.Thespeedtheyoperatedat,theirtotallackoffearintryingnewthingslikesocialmedia,orrecordingavideooftheCEOandputtingitupontheirWebsite,that’sallquiteoutsidewhatwe’reusedtointheHP3000world.It’srefreshingandgivesyouanewview.Someofthosethingswe’reworkingwithactively.
What are the prospects for sending message to the older generation of IT managers about experimenting with new technologies or social networks, based on your start-up experiences?
Enterprisecomputingisgoingtobeconserva-tivebecausetheyhavetokeeptheirbusinessesrunning.Theyhavetomakebiginvestmentsontechnologiesthathave
lastingpower.Mostofthesecan’taffordtobeflashinthepanaroundtheircoreapplication.Ifyouwanttodoe-mailmar-keting,ortakesomethingofftothesidetoseeifitworks,mostorganizationscantakeariskonthat.Eventually,ifitworks,youhavetointegrateit–andthat’swhenitreallygetsinteresting. Socialnetworkingisanissuethat’sindependentofIT.Ithinkwehaveagen-erationaldifference.WhileyouandIbothhaveblogs,aTwitteraccount,andareuponFacebook,we’retheexceptions.
Peopleofthebabyboomergenerationaremorelikelytowanttoprintstuffoutandreaditonpaper. AtMBFosterwe’rethinkingaboutwhatouraudiencewants.Iftheywanttoreadfromablog,I’mhappytopublishone.I’mstilllookingatwhatwe’llwanttopublishinthatmediumforthem.
There’s transition and homesteading to deal with now in the 3000 market. Does it seem to have gotten more complex when you make plans for
providing services?
Whenyougotoadeeperplaywithacustomer,it’snolongerabouttheinfrastructureoraboutthetechnology.It’saboutthebusiness.That’sadifferentmessage,adif-ferentgroupofpeopleandadifferentwayof
thinkingaboutit.
How about the future? One of your early missions after you returned was ramping up a solution in the sched-uling field. With 3000 companies migrating, is there an opportunity to improve scheduling and bring 3000 features to other platforms?
Thereisverylittleouttherethatgivesyouqueues,jobfencesandotherfea-turesthatMPEpeopleareusedto.TheproductsthatIknowofsofaralmostalwaysrequireatleastaLinuxserversomewhereinthemix,becausemostofthemgotwrittenforaUnixenvironmentatfirst. ForthosecompaniesthatwanttogotoapureWindowsschedulingsolution,uptonowI’mnotcertainthere’sapureoneouttherethatemulatesmostofthecapa-bilitiesofMPE.
Over the past quarter MB Foster took on the EasyIQ product line, software created in Europe, and you will be supporting and providing it to North American customers. Is this a prac-tice you’ll want to pursue again soon, or absorb the lessons from it first?
Weseethisasastrategicfutureforthebusiness.It’salong-termplay,onewe’recommittedto,andamajornewinitia-tivethisyear.FortheEasyIQpiece,onlyhalfofitistheproduct’stechnology.HalfofitisMBFoster’sintegrationanddataexpertise.Therealvaluewewillprovidewiththatproductisitsabilitytointegratewithmanydifferentapplications.
I’m back after a significant absence, but I still recognize the 3000 market. I even recognize
many of the company names I’m calling.
If I see any change, it’s the clients’ desire to
integrate the 3000 into a broader IT infrastructure.
ThisyearIleadthelifeofagrandfather,nourishedbythenew-esttechnology.MylifegrewlargerinAprilwiththearrivalofmyfirstgranddaughter,Paige.Althoughsheisnotascloseasgrand-sonNoah,thedigitalreachofFacebookalbumsandiPadslide-showsbringherHoustonhomemuchclosertooursinAustin. PaigewillneverknowaworldwithoutFacebookorTwitter,willprobablythinkoffilm-basedpicturesasrelicsofherparents’time.We’veallmovedontowardthebetterofnewer.Butsomeoldschoolpracticesserveverywell.OnMother’sDayweekend,AbbyandItendedtoababyjustfourweeksold,whileparentsMaribethandPetergotanightoffandtrustedustocareforPaige.Walkingthefloorwiththatlittlegirlnestledovermyheartbeat,Ifelttherushofloveandmemoryfromthefirstdayswithmyson.Inthedarkofthenight,Abbylayinbednexttothebassinette,rockingitwithherfoot.Sleepwasablessingweallpursuedthatevening.Walkingandrockingremainfundamentals. ButweexperiencedacomfortinourovernightoftendingtoPaige,perhapsthesamecalmyoucanmusterwhileyoufacenewertechnol-ogychallenges.You’veearnedyourstripesandembracedonenewmarvelafteranotherbythetimeyoulog15,20or30yearsdoingyourcareer’swork.Your3000cantakecommandsfroma1.5poundmobileiPadtablet. Theworld’snetworkslureusintobettertechnology,providingcontactweoncestruggledtoacquire.HProlledoutnewIntegrityserverslastmonth(detailsatourblog),andIcouldlearntechadvancesfrommyoffice,watchingstreamedvideos.TheiPaddoesn’tknowhowtomakethosevideosappear,sincethedeviceisbereftofFlash.ButHP’sanswerinthetabletderby,theSlate,won’tshowthemeither,becauseHPhasscrappedthedevicetostartoverwithitsnewestoperatingsystem,Palm’sWebOS.HPnowownsboth,adeepreachintonewtechnology. HP’spurchaseofPalmshowsoffanaspectasoldasmanygrandparents’practicedwalks.Hewlett-Packardhasanewoperat-
ingsystemtocallitsown,aplayithasn’tmadesincethe2002purchaseofCompaq.Non-industry-standardenviron-mentsweresupposedtobeapartofHP’spast.ButjustasAbbyandIrevivedskillsof
bottle-feedingbreastmilk,HPhasagainembracedtheidealoftechnicalsuperiorityovermarketacceptance.Oldskillsresurface.Ididn’timagineIwouldenjoywarmingbottlesbeyondmidnightagain.ButthereIwasinthatHoustonkitchen,myskillsimprovedwithnewtechthatheatsabottlepreciselyinundertwominutes. WecanenjoyournewlittlegirlviaSkypevideocalls,thesamekindoffastbandwidththatwillbringa3000consoleclosertoyourmulti-touchinterface.AsagraybeardIcanbeaccusedofexploringGrandpa’sComputerformycareerwork.Butit’salsoacomfortforallofustoknowthatourelders’experienceenrichescradlingthebrand-newagainsttheheartsoftheold.
22 The 3000 NewsWire • May, 2010 • 3000newswire.com/blog
Ron Seybold, Editor
newswire.com/blog
Spring 2010 Articles, Only on the BlogMigration
HP intros “Best Mission-Critical Platform” 4/27/10Early grave-digging surrounds HP solutions 4/21/10The Payoff of Being a Pricer, Not a Cheaper 4/14/10Making the HP-UX Case for Customers 4/12/10How HP’s Unique Enterprises Stay Alive 4/8/10Independent free training hits road for UX 3/4/10FTP may fail both migrators, homesteaders 3/1/10Redundant resources recover reels of data 2/24/10HP promises Tukwila Integrity boxes by May 2/23/10Itanium revs up HP-UX sites awaiting refresh 2/16/10Micro Focus adds COBOL remote development 2/12/10Itanium gets fresh future with Tukwila 2/9/10
HomesteadingCommunity counts homestead resources 5/12/10License and registration, please, for a 3000 5/4/10Intercepting PCL to Extend 3000 Printing 4/28/10Grow or Decline: What OpenMPE Counts On 4/23/10Cross over lines from disk’s unknown state 4/15/10Training becomes a critical commodity 3/31/10Get specific about access from IPs 3/26/103000 hardware pricing a classy affair 3/25/10Of safe names, and safer 3000 documents 3/9/10Post-HP vision needs blind faith, deep breath 2/15/10Back up the directory, plus the data 2/11/10Directions on Using Store vs. Buldacct 2/10/10
NewsmakersHP sticks in Fortune 500’s Top 10 4/16/10Microsoft closes another Window on Itanium 4/7/10Popularity, Predictions, and Redemption 4/2/10New 3000 emulator project opens tablet offer 4/1/10Support partners bundle performance tool 3/19/10MB Foster adds auto-magic sign-on solution 3/11/10Blades may shore up Itanium futures 2/8/10
News Outta HP Tape is not dead, HP says, with new LTO life 5/6/10HP reaches out to Palm a new environment 4/30/10Integrity servers roll out with Tukwila chips 4/29/10HP alters chiefs in enterprise business group 4/5/102 Ways HP Eats Its Own Dog Food 3/17/10Europeans see future of HP invite-only conference 3/10/10HP boosts 2010 Q1 earnings 25 percent 2/17/10
User ReportsHow much does XP’s end of support matter? 5/11/10Wanted, to hire: Interim 3000 IT manager 2/18/10
Web ResourcesA Listserv Doing More Service to 3000s 5/7/103000s still busy enough to make messes 4/20/10It may be later than it looks, to a few 3000s 3/15/10
PodcastsSee how to seed MPE’s future 3/12/10
Get first notice of news on Twitter: @3000newswire
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