Up-to-the-minute news on Sun's rivals

March  1998

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Index

• HP announces new IT service products, partnerships
• HP extends supercomputer, mid-range server lines
• HP announces VerSecure cryptography and its export approval
• IBM aims at business intelligence
• SCO UnixWare gets backing for data centers

HP announces new IT service products, partnerships

The following were among the announcements of new products or versions in the OpenView line, either available now or expected this year:

• MeasureWare Service Reporter, World Wide Web-based software that performs real-time tracking of metrics, measuring performance against service-level agreements in distributed environments. For instance, the application can automatically create and post a report on a Web page showing actual response times for specific applications compared to what a contract specifies response time should be. Availability and pricing information was not provided.

• Firehunter, Web-based software for Internet service providers (ISPs) that monitors and manages e-mail, news and Internet services and can be installed in 30 minutes, according to HP. The software collects service-based ISP data, including performance and availability information. Firehunter is designed to help ISPs find and correct problems more quickly to improve customer service and business planning. Firehunter is expected to be out next month for $14,950 with prices varying outside of the U.S.

• ManageX 3.0, the latest version of software acquired from NuView Inc. last November, is available now and costs $2,995 for the management console and performance monitor and $795 per managed NT server. All HP NetServer systems will include ManageX bundled with other software at no cost and the company also is offering free upgrades to existing ManageX customers.

  ManageX tracks performance, problems and application management for Windows NT systems and Microsoft BackOffice applications. It is supposed to keep Windows NT-based systems running 24 hours a day, without breaks in operation.

• The NetMetrix hardware and software line has been expanded to manage high-capacity, high-speed networks. The line will support asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and E1 networks and will include enhanced T1 and V-series probes. The new probes are supposed to ship in volume by the third quarter of this year with prices starting at $5,995.

• OmniBack II 3.0 is being touted by HP as the industry's first IT service management-enabled backup and restoration software. The software will work in Unix and Microsoft NT environments. OmniBack II 3.0 is expected out in June with an entry cost of $995 for NT and $3,900 for HP-UX.

• OpenView IT/Operations central manager and the complete OmniBack II backup product will be available in the second half of this year for Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Solaris operating system. Pricing information was not provided.

• AssetView 3.0 is expected out late second quarter or early third quarter of this year and will include a component-based software suite, including asset discovery, procurement, management and reporting capabilities. Pricing information was not provided.

HP also announced these partnerships:

• HP and MIL 3 Inc. will integrate their network management, measurement and planning software products and expect to begin shipping them in the second half of the year. HP's OpenView NetMetrix and Network Node Manager will be available integrated with MIL 3's Opnet Planner. The products currently are available as stand-alones and cost $5,995 for the NetMetrix, $15,995 for the Network Node Manager and $17,000 for the Opnet Planner. Prices for the integrated products were not provided.

• KPMG Pete Marwick LLP has signed to become a partner in HP's global implementers program, created last July for systems integrators that provide worldwide services for enterprise customers. Entex Information Services and CompuCom Systems Inc. also have signed high-volume agreements with HP.

• Forsythe Solutions Group, Melillo Consulting Inc., Premier Systems Integrators Inc., and Stonebridge Technologies Inc. all have signed to be HP channel partners.

--Nancy Weil, IDG News Service

Resources

• MIL 3 Inc. http://www.mil3.com/
• Hewlett-Packard http://www.hp.com/

HP extends supercomputer, mid-range server lines

The supercomputers, the 9000 V-class Enterprise Server and Exemplar server, use HP's 64-bit 240-MHz PA-8200 microprocessor and are designed for high-end enterprise, engineering and scientific applications, according to a statement from HP. The machines run on the HP-UX operating system and will ship in March at prices beginning at $182,000, which includes one CPU, 256 megabytes of memory and an unlimited HP-UX license, the statement said.

On the K-Class side, HP's two new servers are designed for mid-range data warehousing, database, application and Web serving, according to the statement. The servers run on up to six PA-8200 240-MHz 64-bit processors and are available now, it said.

The HP 9000 K380 Enterprise Server provides up to four gigabytes of memory, four HP precision bus (HP-PB) slots and three HP-HSC I/O slots, the statement said. Pricing starts at $79,900.

The K580 Enterprise Server offers up to 8G bytes of RAM, four HP-PB slots and nine high-speed HP-HSC I/O slots, according to HP. Pricing starts at $95,900.

--Rebecca Sykes, IDG News Service

Resources

• HP 9000 K-Class Enterprise Servers http://www.hp.com/gsy/servers/kclass.html

HP announces VerSecure cryptography and its export approval

Encryption scrambles the content of Internet communications, including e-mail, so that such information cannot be easily read by unauthorized parties. Individual countries have differing laws regarding encryption. The U.S. government allows companies to export encryption technology only to approved countries. Companies must apply to the U.S. Department of Commerce for approval.

VerSecure is hardware-based, with an Internet server containing the encryption technology. The company previously called VerSecure the International Cryptography Framework. It enables end users to choose limited to strong cryptography and to decide whether or not to activate key recovery capability, which besides allowing access to the users also lets law enforcement agencies view encrypted material during criminal investigations.

Some countries, such as France, require the use of key recovery with encryption technology. In the U.S. and other nations the choice will be left to consumers, and according to HP officials, there is no "back door" route that law enforcement agencies can take to read encrypted material when key recovery is not in place.

HP CEO Lewis Platt said this morning that his company recognizes the "legitimate" concerns that the U.S. government has with encryption and the balance that must be found between such issues and the rights of Internet users to make secure e-commerce transactions and to access and exchange information privately.

Platt declined to disclose financial terms worked out between HP and company partners, including IBM Corp., Microsoft Corp., and Motorola Inc. Details about when products actually will be ready for market were not available either.

Platt said that the VerSecure technology is finished and so "you should be thinking in terms of months here and not years" as far as product availability and that the prices will be "reasonable." Consumers will have to have encryption hardware in their computers in order to use the technology. The hardware for home users is likely to involve a board that can be plugged into a computer and eventually is likely to be contained on a chip, he said.

"We think that eventually over time all PCs and devices that connect to the Internet will want to include this technology," Platt said.

HP actually received approval to export its encryption technology on Dec. 24 of last year, Platt said. The company expects to have permission to export to additional countries besides the five already approved and is involved in talks with a Japanese firm for distribution of the technology there, he said.

--Nancy Weil, IDG News Service

IBM aims at business intelligence

Business intelligence is the gathering, management, and analysis of data, which then is used to make decisions. Analysts predict that business intelligence will be a US$30 to $70 billion market by 2002, an IBM executive said this morning.

"This is not about technology," said Janet Perna, general manager of data management in the software solutions division, in an interview. "It's about taking the IT agenda and putting it in the CEO's office."

The initiative is different from programs at other companies because it involves widespread cooperation across division lines, said Perna and Dan Graham, general manager in IBM's global business intelligence solutions division. For instance, salespeople who have drawn commissions by selling a particular line of servers will work with customers regardless of the hardware they want to buy.

"The real message, I think, is that IBM has unified across their laboratories, across all of their research groups," Graham said. "We all looked at each other and said, 'This is a market we want to be in so we should unify our strengths.' "

In a statement issued this morning, IBM outlined its business intelligence program, including:

• Software for specific industries such as banking and insurance. Data management software to help with easier deployment and management of small to large data warehouses.

• Data analysis products that help retrieve and interpret data, text, and content from the World Wide Web.

• Consulting, services and sales support, including new business intelligence specialist teams.

• Marketing and development agreements with various companies that will work to extract, cleanse and analyze data, and a new partnership program to expand software available to IBM clients.

• Advanced mathematical algorithms for data analysis that are being developed at IBM Research.

• Database products that will create, access and manage traditional and multimedia data.

• Hardware platforms, including various IBM server lines that will be business-intelligence ready.

--Nancy Weil, IDG News Service

SCO UnixWare gets backing for data centers

Compaq Computer Corp., Data General Corp., ICL PLC and Unisys Corp. today officially endorsed UnixWare, which allows the Unix operating system to run on processors from Intel Corp., in a teleconference and in a statement from SCO.

Data centers, also referred to as "the glass house," typically operate enterprise systems running on mainframes and on servers using proprietary, RISC-based Unix systems.

The companies also have signed a contract to invest millions of dollars in research and development to move the UnixWare system into the data center using both Intel IA-32 and IA-64 platforms. The IA-32 is due for release this year, and the IA-64, or Merced, is due next year.

SCO said in the statement that the announcements mean UnixWare is the only hardware vendor-independent system for Intel microprocessor-based data center servers. UnixWare 7 is scheduled for release next month.

SCO is working with Intel to develop a 64-bit version of the UnixWare system, which will ship with Merced, the company said.

--Nancy Weil, IDG News Service

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