Counting down to changes in strategy
October 27, 2008
Here in the US we have only seven more days of campaigning to endure before our country votes for new leadership. At the moment the polls and predictions tilt toward Barack Obama, but some pundits and experts say that the sea change in world finances are a prime motivation to help him in his quest to gain the US presidency.
That upheaval in seas is going to have an impact in most parts of most lives. We are all likely to be spending less, or spending smarter and slower, while companies trim back and chart courses of conservation. Yours is a community that's been exhorted to make immediate changes in its computing platform, almost entirely on the basis of HP's business choices seven years ago.
If just seven weeks ago seems like an eternity now, imagine how far back seven years must seem. It took several years for much of the 3000 world to even acknowledge HP was not joking about leaving your community. Now, with capital, cash and resources drawn down tighter than in most of our lifetimes, spending quickly on a big project looks like a larger risk than remaining beyond HP's business lifespan on the 3000.
We don't mean to say that the recession is reason enough to remain on the 3000. Migration makes business sense for a serious share of you, but the pace and price will now undergo serious scrutiny. As Alan Yeo, the founder of 3000 tool and migration supplier ScreenJet says, "What price Oracle, now? People do not spend such serious money, or even plan to spend serious money, if things are looking dodgy."
Yeo wants to know, as I do, what your community is doing and planning now in this new era of expanded caution. We have always made it our mission to be the resource for spreading experience and messages, as well as seeking information about the ownership, stewardship and advancement of HP 3000s. In seven days' time here in the US, we will all see even more evidence of the changes afoot in long-term thinking.
We would like to know what you're changing, or retaining, in your 3000 Transition plans. E-mail me confidentially if you prefer, or post a comment. Sign up to join our free HP 3000 Community Group on Linked In, the Web social network with the richest roster of 3000 experts and veterans. Ask questions, or offer answers, online on the 3000 newsgroup.
We're going to working harder than ever to tell stories of how the financial and confidence changes will have an impact on migrations. One fact continues to buck the established, old-story wisdom: many large companies are taking a very long time to migrate. "A couple of mega-huge migrations were just being touted this month," Yeo told me tonight, although he was bound to keep the company names confidential.
"I said to myself, if there are people out there who are that size and just announcing their migrations, how many more can there be?" he asked.
For several years now we've considered most migration sites to be homesteading at the same time, since the typical HP 3000 remains mission-critical until the weekend or month it's switched onto standby or ready status. HP will report, within a few weeks, a sobering outlook on the growth of its enterprises — just like so many other companies offering computing solutions. Things are going to slow down for a few years. That change of pace might be a good thing for the customer who needs more time to get a migration right, or assemble the best collection of homesteading partners.
Value will be measured differently if an asset is already amortized, since credit sources will shift and slow. A computer already running is one less thing to demand a thinning stream of capital. Choices to thrive in the long term are at hand in our country and so many others. "The current economic crisis will push some companies further down the pike," Yeo said tonight, and I agree.
I want to hear from you about what has been put on hold or fast-tracked as a result of the changes swirling through our new world order.