Phasing out Unix? - HP/Microsoft alliance raises questions about long term viability of HP-UX - Company Business and Marketing - Brief Article

Software Magazine, May, 1997

The continued meshing of HP-UX and NT, pushed forward by the recent alliance between Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif., and Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash., is raising questions about HP's future commitment to Unix. The agreement ensures the integration and interoperability of HP OpenView management software with Windows NT management products. This strategy offers IT managers using both HP-UX and NT environments a chance to consolidate and fine-tune the management of their infrastructure. The two companies have also agreed to port HP's Virtual Vault technology and OpenView IT/Operations to Windows NT by the end of this year.

It seems clear that HP now views NT as robust and scalable enough for business-critical enterprise deployment and the company is emphasizing NT and HP NT server products. According to Zona Research Inc., Redwood City, Calif., HP's strategic embrace of Microsoft and Intel's 64-bit NT Mercedes chip sets -- along with the inevitable retirement of the PA-RISC family -- suggests that the company is considering NT as its primary server platform.

"It lays the groundwork for a migration strategy," says Harry Fenik, vice president at Zona Research, who says HP is already seeing more demand for NT servers than HP-UX servers. "We will see them do less with HP-UX and maybe obsolete it completely; we think that is the path they are on," says Fenik, who puts the phase-out at around the year 2000 when the Mercedes chip sets are widely available. "The question is how far up the food chain it will go and how quickly. NT is growing at a far faster rate than HP-UX is as a server operating system." Fenik adds that the HP/Microsoft agreement to develop the HP Net Vectra PC series -- a $1,000 NetPC that is expected to ship in the second half of this year -- also spurs demand for mighty NT servers that support work- stations accessing Windows, Web and Unix applications.

"At some point," insists Fenik, "HP will just have to ask 'Why bother?' in terms of HP-UX."

(Reporting by Tony Baer, Daniela Cimino, Julekha Dash, Ann Harrison and Deborah Radcliff)