HP Enhances Enterprise-Class HP-UX Operating System for Workstations and Servers; Enhanced Feature Set Provides UNIX System-based Operating Environment with Performance and Investment Protection

Business Wire, Feb 6, 1995

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 6, 1995-- Hewlett-Packard Company today announced the richest version of its UNIX(R) system-based operating system to date, HP-UX(1) 10.0, which provides industry-leading performance from desktop to data center for HP 9000 servers and workstations.

HP-UX, the industry's leading UNIX system-based operating system, continues to meet and exceed customers' increasing expectations for running business-critical environments -- particularly as customers move towards a more open, flexible IT infrastructure. HP-UX is engineered specifically for full enterprise-class functionality: binary compatibility to each new version, scalability, high performance, robust and easy-to-use system management functions, broad network interoperability, high availability, a premium commitment to standards, best-in-class solution availability, and superior service and support in a multivendor environment.

QUALITY AND INVESTMENT PROTECTION

HP-UX 10.0 is binary compatible with HP-UX 9.X, providing installed-base customers with a smooth upgrade path; no recompilation is needed unless customers wish to take advantage of new features provided by the operating system.

Since HP-UX's commercial debut in 1986, no other UNIX system-based computer vendor has been able to meet the investment protection that HP has provided with application binary compatibility to new HP-UX versions.

"Our customers continuously praise us for the efforts we make to give them an operating environment that can fit into all strategic areas of their enterprise," said Willem P. Roelandts, HP senior vice president and general manager of the Computer Systems Organization. "They appreciate that as we deliver enhancements to HP-UX, we also provide superior application investment protection and avoid placing them in the position of having to deal with a migration. With HP-UX 10.0, we once again demonstrate binary compatibility and provide facilities to enable customers to upgrade quickly and easily to new functionality as their business needs require."

INDUSTRY-LEADING PERFORMANCE AND SCALABILITY

HP-UX 10.0 provides a significant performance increase for HP 9000 systems. A 12-way symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) HP 9000 Model T500 in a client/server configuration running HP-UX 10.0 posted a transaction rate of 4,067.17 transactions per minute (tpmC(2)) at $725/tpmC, the industry's highest single-server TPC-C performance. An eight-processor Model T500 in a client/server configuration running 10.0 performed 3118 tpmC at $984/tpmC, and was the industry's highest single server TPC-C result. These measurements testify to the excellent scalability of HP 9000 servers.

HP-UX 10.0 incorporates several features that contribute to the record-breaking performance demonstrated on HP 9000 systems. These features include tuning in the virtual-memory subsystem, improved operating system concurrency and significant improvement in the number of I/Os per second. Other features available are software disk striping through the Logical Volume Manager and significant network file system performance on symmetrical multiprocessing systems. This will be the first HP-UX release that is designed to support symmetric multiprocessing for HP 9000 workstations. Memory mapped files and dynamic buffer cache now are available for HP 9000 Servers and can improve performance of applications and overall system throughput.

ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

One of the major contributions of HP-UX 10.0 is the continued focus on reducing IT costs through improved productivity with enterprise systems management. The HP-UX environment now provides enhancements for System Administration Manager, enhanced commercial security and a new software distribution tool.

System Administration Manager at HP-UX 10.0 will allow a lead system administrator to define subsets of tasks that others conducting administrative duties can perform. Also, the lead administrator is the only one who now requires the highest level of security access, which improves overall security of customers' IT environments. System Administration Manager's activities now can be mapped into the IT organizational structure rather than mapping the IT organization into System Administration Manager. Additional simplification of System Administration Manager through increased intelligence offers one of the simplest administrative interfaces in the industry.

Based on the submission for the POSIX 1387.2 standard, HP-UX 10.0 includes HP Software Distributor/UX. System administrators can use this tool to manage the packaging, distribution, installation and management of software for the entire enterprise. HP Software Distributor/UX is a flexible, feature-rich facility that improves the accuracy and ease of installation of software. It is a subset of HP's OpenView Software Distributor/UX, and provides the capability to pull software from a central depot and provide software management at local sites.

System security in HP-UX 10.0 incorporates several new features that originate from the B-Level U.S. Department of Defense Security specifications. The new features in the areas of password management and logon restrictions further enable system security for business-critical processing environments.