Storied past
OpenVMS began its life in 1977 as VMS, the operating system that powered Digital Equipment Corp.'s once-dominant VAX computers. DEC's so-called minicomputers unseated mainframes, but Unix servers and the powerful RISC (reduced instruction set computing) processors later turned the tables on the VAX machines.
DEC embraced RISC and Unix, but it wasn't enough: Compaq Computer acquired DEC in 1998. But Compaq also decided not to go it alone, and HP acquired the company -- along with OpenVMS -- in 2002.
When HP bought Compaq, OpenVMS "was probably one of the close calls when they decided what was going to move forward and what projects they were going to cancel, simply because OpenVMS is clearly for legacy systems", said Illuminata analyst Gordon Haff. "When [administrators of] legacy systems are faced with a transition, they are going to look at other alternatives."
But presumably, HP did the maths and decided the investment was worthwhile -- unlike the conclusion it reached with its largely phased-out HP 3000 line. The OpenVMS business was profitable in 2003, but HP declined to state whether it is today, citing investor regulations.
Sun is one company that would like to lure OpenVMS customers. But the company doesn't plan a high-profile campaign such as its HP Away program to convert HP-UX customers, said Larry Singer, vice-president of Sun's global information systems strategy office.
"I don't see the compelling market event to cause people to go running away from that platform. It's more of a slow slide into the horizon," Singer said. Sun will try to pick up customers who aren't satisfied with HP's support or who are paring down the types of servers in their data centres, though. At HP, "it is very clear that OpenVMS is not a strategic operating system and Alpha is not a strategic platform."
It's not surprising why competitors are pouncing. In August 2003, well after HP announced it would maintain OpenVMS after the Compaq merger, a survey by an HP user group called Encompass found that 42 percent of 569 HP customers planned future OpenVMS purchases, but half that -- 21 percent -- did not.
HP isn't the only one seeking to rejuvenate a stalwart product line. IBM has updated its iSeries -- long called AS/400 and another decades-old family -- with its new Power5 processor. The same IBM Power machine now can run Linux, IBM's AIX version of Unix and the iSeries operating system, i5/OS.
The multi-OS playing card
And like IBM with Power, HP is expected to tout Itanium's ability to run multiple operating systems.
"It gives a customer flexibility," said Avnet's Custer. "As they plan for growth or a transition of their business, they can take that infrastructure and redeploy it elsewhere."
For Accuweather's Goodman, the multi-operating system ability makes it easier to free up purchasing cash for OpenVMS systems.
"It holds appeal for management," which likes the argument that the company can use the server for Windows later. "I want a box for VMS. They say they're not sure we'll be using VMS in five years. They've been saying that for 20 years," Goodman said.
