May 2010 HP licenses MPE/iX source to 7 firms plus …Transport slips SuprtoolSQL into Windows use — Transformix uses the SunGard Bi-Tech tool to permit Robelle’s ETL to work on

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

GO

LB/

MOC.ERIWSWE

N00

03

GOL

B/

MOC.ERIWSWEN0003

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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• Disaster Recovery

• 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

Phone PageAdAger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..208-726-9100.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24BAy.Pointe.technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..www .BAyPointech .com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12genisys.corPorAtion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..www .genisyscorP .com.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16.mArxmeier.softwAre.Ag.. . . . . . . . . . . ..www .mArxmeier .com/eloquence.. . . . . . . . . . . .7mB.foster.AssociAtes,.ltd ... . . . . . . . . ..800-Answers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23orBit.softwAre .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..www .orBitsw .com.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10PivitAl.solutions .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..www .PivitAlsolutions .com.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4roBelle.solutions.technology.inc .. . . . . . ..888-762-3553.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8screenJet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..www .screenJet .com.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-15sPeedwAre .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..514-747-7007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9,.11the.suPPort.grouP.inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..www .suPgrP .com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2unicon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..www .uctnet .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

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 ([email protected])

PublisherAbby Lentz ([email protected])

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; [email protected] & 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


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

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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)


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.

[email protected]

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.

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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.


Scheduler(Continued from page 1)

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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


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The district’s IT group liked the idea of

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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)


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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


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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.”


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


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”[email protected].


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.


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


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


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.


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

Documents

May 2010 HP licenses MPE/iX source to 7 firms plus …Transport slips SuprtoolSQL into Windows use — Transformix uses the SunGard Bi-Tech tool to permit Robelle’s ETL to work on