HP Discontinues E3000 Servers

Hewlett-Packard Wednesday told users of its HP e3000 server that they should switch to other systems because it's discontinuing that line. HP will continue to offer support for the servers for the next five years.

During the five-year phaseout, as many as 70,000 customers will be offered a mix of options to help with the transition. Ultimately, though, users will have to give up the MPE operating system platform. Users of the newest e3000 servers can start running HP-UX on them at no cost. Other users will be offered discounts on HP-UX, Linux, or Windows servers, and transition services.

Although it was a proprietary system, the e3000 ran Posix and many new applications, and it was a reliable machine comparable to the IBM's iSeries or Compaq's OpenVMS systems. HP said the phaseout is the result of plans to move all of its customers to an open commodity platform.