Tech Forum serves two 3000 talks
April 29, 2008
The HP Technology Forum put its session schedule online today, a list of talks and speakers which includes two HP 3000 updates. Most notably, HP e3000 Business Manager Jennie Hou is not listed as a speaker for either of the talks.
The Tech Forum has not specialized in HP e3000 information in its three years of existence, unless a demand for migration techniques counts high in a customer's quest for knowledge. Last year's show was the first to feature Hou as the business management speaker for an e3000 update. Hewlett-Packard carried on the tradition of naming an e3000 Contributor of the Year for 2007. It remains to be seen if Allegro's Stan Sieler will remain the final winner of the award HP has handed out since the middle 1990s.
This year's events with "e3000" in the title are one HP update on the 3000 support roadmap, offered by HP's Alvina Nishimoto, and the HP e3000 Migration Solutions Overview, a one-hour talk delivered by Director of Marketing Chris Koppe from Platinum Migrations partner Speedware. Koppe's talk during last fall's e3000 Community Meet pulled advice from migration engagements dating back to 2003. The talk abstract bills the session thus:
Don’t miss the ultimate overview of HP e3000 migration solutions. Speedware is one of only two HP e3000 Platinum Partners and has seen it all when it comes to migrations. Learn about solutions for migrating 3GL and 4GL languages, databases and third party utilities. Migration experts share their insights on straight migrations as well as more modern “legacy modernization” projects.
As for the HP Support Roadmap and Transition Options, the one-hour talk covers two years of HP's future in the community, "a review of what e3000 customers and partners can expect from HP during the next couple of years." HP tips no cards in its Vegas hand in the sessions' abstract, rallying on the same formula of customer update talks since 2003:
Learn the four areas of ongoing HP focus for the e3000 business
- Helping customers and partners transition to other HP platforms
- Supporting customers' business-critical environments as they transition
- Addressing concerns of customers who may continue to depend on the HP e3000 to meet business needs beyond HP's end-of-support date
- Comparing the various transition options.
On the other hand, the Tech Forum is ideal for hearing HP talk about futures on transition platforms such as HP-UX and Windows. The session planner shows a Tuesday talk on HP-UX Operating Environment Futures, which
explores the future roadmap strategies for the HP-UX Operating Environments. Planned future directions seek to improve flexibility, simplify software deployment and sales, add new functionality and greatly improve the customer experience. Both PA and IPF plans will be part of the presentation.
That's HP Precision Architecture (PA) as well as Itanium/Integrity views of HP-UX. At some point HP's HP-UX support for PA will be curtailed; how soon that will happen would be good information for a migrating site to take home from Las Vegas. HP's Nishimoto reported at the GHRUG conference that HP-UX was leading the field of HP's 3000 migration experience, so knowing what's next for the environment can be helpful.
There's also a Windows Vista debugging session scheduled for later on in the day, techniques which seem to be crucial this year. HP is saving HP-UX Patch Management for the final two hours of the conference in a hands-on lab that ends around 6 PM on Thursday, the third full day of the conference.
Finally, the Forum organizers report that Howie Mandell will entertain attendees who remain for the conference's final day of June 19. Encompass explains that Mandell was best known for the TV series St. Elsewhere, but now hosts the popular show Deal or No Deal. Some 3000 community members may need a laugh to help them deal with their migration challenges, so maybe a Thursday morning comedy act will fill out the bill.