In an effort to move more of its customers to its line of Itanium 2-based Integrity platforms, Hewlett-Packard Co. this week will unveil the first of its NonStop systems running on the 64-bit processors from Intel Corp. and will introduce the last upgrade to its PA-RISC processors.
In addition, at its ENSA@Work show in Copenhagen, Denmark, HP will announce that its Systems Insight Manager software suite will support the new Integrity NonStop servers as well as its StorageWorks systems, giving users a unified management platform across all server lines.
“All of this is driving toward an Integrity environment,” said Randy Meyer, director of enterprise storage and servers for HP, in Palo Alto, Calif.
The NonStop systems, which HP acquired through its 2002 purchase of Compaq Computer Corp., run on MIPS processors from Silicon Graphics Inc. Like HPs other high-end servers, the NonStops will be standardized on the Itanium. The first of the Integrity NonStop systems will appear at the end of July, Meyer said.
HP also is giving its PA-RISC processor a final speed bump. The PA-8900 will top out at 1.1GHz and will feature 64MB of Level 2 cache, changes that will give systems running on it a 16 percent performance boost over those running on the current PA-8800, Meyer said. The new chip will power everything from the low-end two-way systems to the high-end Superdome computers.
In addition, Superdome systems will be able to run a mix of PA-RISC and Itanium chips at the same time, Meyer said, giving users another steppingstone on the path toward a future with the Itanium.
System Insight Manager 5.0s ability to support the NonStops and storage products will give customers a unified management tool. The software already supports the Integrity, HP 9000 and Intel-based ProLiant systems.
HPs move to standardize on the Itanium has been controversial, although officials say they are seeing an uptick in the number of customers moving to the Integrity systems.
David Nardi, senior systems administrator at The Yankee Candle Company Inc., said he will migrate to the Itanium systems. Nardi now runs HP 9000 systems, but PA-RISC servers he bought last year are upgradable to the Itanium.
“[Later] down the line we will be Integrity [customers],” said Nardi in South Deerfield, Mass. “Anyone … buying systems now should be looking at ones that can be upgraded.”