Challenges in selling a 3000
September 14, 2007
Many vendors and experts can make your migration away from an HP 3000 easier than ever these days. The "lack of resources" that HP predicted back in 2002 has never materialized. Most people who wanted to turn off their systems by 2006 have done so. (We'll have a little more to say about how many, and their stories, soon here.)
Selling off the used HP 3000s, or getting some value for them — that turns out to be where the resources are scarce in 2007.
It's not the fault of the brokers and resellers who continue to sell HP 3000s, nearly four years after HP gave that up. With an ample supply of used systems on the marketplace, getting a reasonable price for something like a Series 979 — a workhorse of its day, being near the top of the 2000 food chain — has become one of the hard parts of migration.
The vendors leading the way off the platform can't do much to help, in some cases. One customer in Indiana reports that HP wouldn't even take on a used Series 979, after the customer's successful migration. That's a server with more horsepower than any of the latest-generation HP 3000 A-Class servers.
A customer who migrates away from an HP 3000 might expect their system to have some residual value. After all, that 3000 has made the company viable and profitable, usually for many years. But not even HP, the vendor which stands to gain the most in a migration to HP systems, wants the 9x9 servers.
Patrick Canganelli asked us for ideas on how to salvage some value on a 979 at his site, an Indiana power cooperative. We suggested both Genisys and Black River Computer as potential places to sell such a system. The surprise was how little assistance the application vendor, Southeastern Data, as well as HP, could offer Canganelli.
It’s surprising that HP wasn’t more help. I can only suppose it’s because our machine isn’t an “A” or “N” Class, Our main applications are from Southeastern Data and are written specifically for the electric coop industry. They have been migrating their software from HP 3000 to HP 9000, but they were no assistance with the HP 3000 at all. Oh well. I’m embarrassed to say I had originally listed the system at $10,000 then $5,000 then $3,000. I did get some inquiries, but no offers.
In another message, it appeared that HP didn't even want to take the system off the co-op's site without charging for the removal. If there's a site out there with a need for a 979 in Indiana, which obviously has a valid user license, you can contact Cangenelli by e-mail.