HP, Bull, IBM's RS/6000 unit slow on Unix to OSF/1 switch

Electronic News, April 27, 1992 by Craig Stedman

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. -- Hewlett-Packard Co., Groupe Bull and IBM's RS/6000 business unit for now will not replace their Unix System V.3 operating system kernels with the Open Software Foundation's rival OSF/1 release, leaving Digital Equipment Corp. as the only OSF corporate sponsor fully committed to using that technology.

HP has shelved plans, publicized when OSF/1 was introduced in late 1990, to add that as a second Unix operating system alongside its HP/UX V.3 derivative. Pieces of OSF/1 will be incorporated into HP/UX starting later this year, but the V.3 kernel is likely to remain in place at least until a microkernel version of OSF/1 is completed in 1994 or later.

Bull has adopted a similar strategy, following its January deal to resell the RS/6000 line in return for an equity infusion by IBM. Its new approach "is clearly an example of the obvious influence of the agreement we have with IBM," acknowledged Maurice Gervais, vice president of products and systems marketing for Bull's U.S. subsidiary.

By contrast, DEC's entire Unix strategy continues to be built around OSF/1. It introduced a full implementation earlier this year for use by software vendors and is planning a second-half shipment for an end-user release that would essentially replace its current Ultrix software.

DEC is not alone in using the OSF kernel; IBM's mainframe unit detailed an OSF/1-based version of the company's AIX operating system just this month (EN, April 6), and Intel and Kendall Square Research are both employing it in massively parallel machines. However, the lack of wider and higher-volume support at this point could diminish the willingness of software vendors to retool existing applications to also run under OSF/1.

In fact, HP and Bull both continuedcited the applications issue as one of their main reasons for sticking with V.3 for the time being. "OSF/1 would be attractive to me when and if a large number of commercial applications are available on it. That's not the case today," noted Bob McGaughey, director of open systems marketing for Bull in the U.S.

"We could have tried to launch OSF/1 as a separate operating system, but as it turns out that would not be the optimal solution for us our customers," added Don Chouinard, OSF marketing manager at HP's workstation systems business unit. "It's not clear at all how long it's going to take OSF/1 to get an applications base."

The company now plans to add OSF/1 technology to HP/UX "piece by piece," starting with a new release scheduled to ship in the fourth quarter, Mr. Chouinard said. HP/UX would thus "get more of an OSF flavor over time" and could eventually be swiiched to that kerner, "but that's only if the technology matures and becomes stable."

He added that HP sees more potential for the microkernel version of OSF/1, which is still two years or more from being ready. HP/UX could conceivably sit on top of that, allowing applications to run unchanged while adding the ability to cluster systems, although Mr. Chouinard said it remains "too early to tell" if that technology will work properly.

Bull is taking essentially the same position on BOS and BOS/X Unix derivatives. "The key is evolving to OSF compliance," Mr. Gervais said. "We clearly are going to continue to be OSF-complaint. When we're actually going to use OSF/1, I cannot comment at this time."

Both HP and Bull emphasized that they remain strongly involved with the OSF organization and plan to make use of its other technologies, such as the Motif graphical user interface and its distributed computing and management schemes. And HP at least continues to give OSF/1 a technical edge over System V in multiprocessing, security and file system operations.

However, Mr. Chouinard acknowledged that the lack of short-term support from most of OSF's sponsors could slow down the acceptance of OSF/1. "I would suspect that with IBM running with AIX and us running with HP/UX, there's less of an incentive for third-party solutions suppliers to port to DEC's OSF/1," he said.

David Stone, vice president of DEC's software engineering group, agreed his company "is the only one of the system vendors that committed itself basically that OSF/1 is our thing," but insisted that he expects it to be "quite adequate over the next year or two for (ISVs) to write to."

Mr. Stone said about 500 applications are currently being ported to DEC OSF/1, out of the roughly 3,000 that support its Ultrix code. Meanwhile, he added that DEC expects a larger OEM channel to open up for operating systems in the next few years and hopes its early focus on OSF/1 would give it a lead in capturing such business.

An IBM spokeswoman affirmed that the Advanced Workstations division is also staying with the V.3 kernel at present for the RS/6000 version of AIX. The unit does plan "to use the (OSF/1) kernel over time," but is not committing to a timeframce for doing so, she said.

Like HP, the IBM workstation group potentially has "great interest" in the future microkernal version of OSF/1, the spokeswoman noted. She added that it did include "a considerable amount of OSF/1 technology" from outside the kernel in a new version of AIX/6000 that shipped in February.