HP To Guarantee NT Performance

ewlett-Packard this week will become the first server vendor to promise 99.9% availability on Windows NT systems. HP says it will offer service contracts for its NT platform that guarantee unplanned downtime will not exceed 8.76 hours per year--a level of uptime that's similar to guarantees from some Unix suppliers. If HP fails to meet that goal, customers will get one month of free system support.

HP will begin shipping the guaranteed NT system in October, but the guarantee won't apply until February. The reason the company can't immediately offer the 99.9% guarantee is that it will take a few months to certify the system to run Microsoft's Cluster Server, software that supports failover between two NT servers. The four-processor unit, the LXr 8000, will be HP's most powerful NT server to date. Based on 400-MHz Intel Xeon chips, the LXr 8000 is upgradable to eight processors and is intended for data center-level applications.

Pricing for the unit is expected to be set this week. There will be additional costs for the high-availability support program; these include evaluating companies' technology infrastructures and ensuring that the proper IT processes are in place. HP will also include its TopTools systems- management and remote-control products, as well as clustering support.

Steve Wolfcale, director of network operations at S-B Powertool Co. in Chicago, says he already achieves acceptable uptime on his HP NetServers-four hours of unplanned downtime in 10 months. But he also thinks his company has been fortunate. Says Wolfcale, "99.9% uptime is a good goal and what people need."