Users have welcomed the latest release of OpenVMS from
Hewlett-Packard as evidence of the company's long-term commitment
to the operating system.
HP has provided an evaluation release of OpenVMS on its range of
Integrity servers, which are based on 64-bit Itanium 2 processors.
The availability of a version of the OpenVMS OS for a new hardware
platform based on Itanium 2 gives OpenVMS users a way to continue
running existing applications, avoiding the need to migrate to a
Unix or NT-based system. Such a move would require OpenVMS
applications to be rewritten.
According to Colin Butcher, board member of the HP User Group,
users are keen to ensure that HP continues to put its weight behind
OpenVMS following its merger with Compaq in 2002. He said support
on the Itanium 2 Integrity server was a step in the right
direction. "This is good news - it is a serious commitment to the
future of OpenVMS," said Butcher.
OpenVMS has been available for more than 10 years on Alphaserver
machines, which HP inherited as a result of the Compaq merger. The
operating system is typically used for mission-critical
applications in areas such as banking, aerospace and manufacturing.
Butcher said HP's decision to provide OpenVMS on Itanium 2-based
hardware indicated the company's commitment to supporting users.
"HP does not go away and port the operating system to a new
hardware environment for no reason," he said.
The evaluation release of OpenVMS version 8.1 for Integrity servers
based on Itanium 2 is aimed at early adopter customers and software
houses. HP said the release was designed for users looking to port
their applications before the launch of a production-quality
release, version 8.2, which is expected in the second half of this
year.
Version 8.1 includes native compilers and a range of development
tools and integration technologies. Butcher said, "By testing
OpenVMS on the new Integrity servers, users will be ready to put
their applications into production when version 8.2 is launched. It
will enable them to take their current software, which runs
successfully on OpenVMS Alphaservers, and pass it through the
compilers to generate native Itanium code."
The past few months have been a busy period for HP's server
business. In October the company launched its most powerful
Alphaserver, the GS1280, and updated the OpenVMS. The new version
promised higher levels of system availability, increased I/O and
symmetric multiprocessing.
HP only plans to ship Alphaserver hardware for a further three
years, although the company has pledged to support the range until
2012. Users will also be able to run OpenVMS on the machines until
about 2022.
Last year the UK's HP user groups, HP/Works User Group and the HP
Compaq User Organi-sation, joined forces to create the HP User
Group. The new user organisation, which has almost 1,600 members,
has embarked on a recruitment drive to try and reach its target
membership of 5,000.
The HP User Group will be running a one-day seminar on installing
OpenVMS on current platforms on 3 February at HP's Bristol
labs
www.hpworks.org.uk