Sun, IBM courting users of discontinued HP systems
Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 12/1/2003 12:00:00 AM
If you're currently shopping for midrange servers, there are deals to be had. Sun Microsystems and IBM are actively wooing users of two systems that Hewlett-Packard is phasing out—the Alpha 64 and HP3000. HP is encouraging users of those systems to move to its new Proliant line, which can run on UNIX, Windows, or Linux.
At the same time, HP is offering $25,000 worth of free consulting services to owners of Sun Solaris systems interested in moving to HP servers that run Linux.
Sun threw the first bouquet to HP customers this past summer, offering a free assessment of the cost and technical requirements for migrating from HP Alpha64 servers to Sun Solaris systems. This program, dubbed HP Away, also includes system trade-in allowances and deferred payment options.
Meanwhile, IBM is offering double commissions to resellers that get HP3000 owners to buy IBM systems. IBM sees HP3000 users as ideal candidates for the IBM iSeries, formerly the AS/400, because both systems have garnered loyal followings with their low-maintenance, proprietary operating systems.
"It's not every day a competitor unlocks its vault and makes it easy to steal away their customers," Larry Singer, Sun's VP, global information systems strategy, said in announcing the HP Away program. By November, Singer said at least 40 HP Alpha 64 users had migrated to Sun servers.
By that time, HP had countered Sun's move with its free consulting offer, which includes an assessment of what is required to move up to three applications to Linux-based HP machines. Customers deciding to make the switch also can get one application ported to Linux at no charge, in addition to 30 days free use of an HP Proliant server for application testing.
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