HP 3000 software license transfer: still $400
November 4, 2013
Earlier this month, a famous manufacturer of aircraft had its HP 3000 director checking up on software license transfer processes. This SLT is not the one that a system manager cuts for rebuilding your MPE/iX directories, but the fee HP charges to move your MPE to another system. Well, the fee and the required documentation. In this case, licenses for an A-Class server and a Series 979 4-way are in the on-deck circle, wating to go to bat on the Stromasys virtual HP 3000, CHARON HPA/3000.
Just as the 3000's Transition Era was getting underway in earnest, this was being called an Emulator License. HP's Mike Paivinen and others at the vendor arranged for such a license, with a suggested cost of $500. In 2004, nobody knew what an emulator would look like once it emerged. Strobe Data sells an HP 1000 emulator that includes a hardware board plugged into a desktop server. Strobe couldn't move forward with a 3000 version of that product, and by 2012 CHARON was finally into the marketplace.
HP's process for putting MPE legally onto CHARON follows the same steps as if a customer purchased a newer or more powerful Hewlett-Packard brand of iron. There are five parts to a software right-to-use license transfer: the Request, the Proof, the Transfer Fee, the Software License Terms and the Authorization. Each of these five parts must be in place before HP will grant a right-to-use license, taking MPE/iX off HP's 3000 servers in a way that will satisfy any auditor.
HP's Jennie Hou told us last fall that emulator-based license transfers within a customer's site present no problem for the current process. We looked into the license transfer process when the personal 1-user freeware version of the Stromasys emulator was rolling out -- and the download included an instance of MPE/iX.
Stop snickering. You know how much HP loves its MPE/iX licenses. Just because de-licensing a production 3000 seems hasty, when you're still checking out CHARON, doesn't mean you can't do it. Most emulator customers, however, are taking a more prudent route while replacing their older HP iron. Older is a relative term: the Series 979 hardware was built at least a decade ago, as was the A-Class machine. If an MPE/iX application is to have another five years or more of service, operating on something newer seems safer. It depends on how well that HP iron has been maintained, especially disk drives, power supplies, and CPU boards.
The phone number to HP's SLT operation in the Americas is 408-447-4418. (In Europe, it's +48 22 3060152.) If you haven't been to HP's webpage for SLT in the Americas, it's listed under an HP-UX name. To better understand the process, and get more detailed contact information and specifics for a transfer, visit hp.com/softwarereleases/releases-media2/slt/americas/sltprocesshpux.html
That's right -- the MPE/iX license transfer operations are holed up with HP's Unix system adminstrator information. That's a connection that might be appropriate several years from now, if an HP Integrity emulator is ever needed, or built for HP's Unix customers.