Move from Alpha to Itanium
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Hi, how many Alphas today working in a production Environment? are you happy moving to Itanuim and later X86? Or why you not move?  Posted by leo102 (Questions: 1, Answers: 0)
Asked on November 14, 2014 10:56 am
Category:
VMS Software Inc.
949 views
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My most recent client uses Alpha systems currently, but has completed the ”port” to the Itanium platform. This is due to client requirements to have vendor hardware support. HP will soon cease hardware support of the Alpha systems. The ”port” was mostly busy work as the system was written in FORTRAN. With the newer compiler (F90), many of the legacy code required updates to eliminate remnants of PDP-11 code. The most prevalent was the use of Octal constants which are not supported by F90.  Posted by Abrsvc (Questions: 0, Answers: 13)
Answered on February 17, 2015 7:05 am
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Currently I see customers staying on Alpha because they don’t want to invest in their VMS systems, either because they are unsure of the future (VMS Software Inc are helping with that) or their management have chosen to migrate to some lesser platform at some indeterminate future time. Most Alphaservers are supported until 2018 according to the roadmap – after that is uncertain. Hopefully VMS Software Inc product will encourage more to invest in their VMS systems and move to OpenVMS on I64.  Posted by Ian Miller (Questions: 0, Answers: 5)
Answered on January 13, 2015 12:17 pm
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In the five instances that I have been involved with the Alpha to Itanium conversion was a great success. Most recently it bought us roughly 40% throughput.  Posted by ElScotso (Questions: 1, Answers: 6)
Answered on January 7, 2015 3:31 pm
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Since the question is asked in the VSI category – I think the first customrs VSI will be able to gain (for 8.4-1H1 and 8.4-1H2) will be ones that are already on Itanium and are looking for the prformance boost the i4 and i6 plattforms will bring.  Posted by Martin Zinser (Questions: 0, Answers: 1)
Answered on November 21, 2014 3:15 pm
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My clients have both Alpha and Integrity hardware from HP in production. The Integrity requires some adjustment as far as the console is concerned; it is completely different, and very unfamiliar to the Alpha system manager. Newer hardware (cheaper memory, cheaper peripherals) and if you want to use a 3Par 7xxx family SAN, you can’t do that on Alpha. That could affect your planning. Be sure to include software maintenance costs when you compare overall cost savings.  Posted by carl friedberg (Questions: 0, Answers: 1)
Answered on November 20, 2014 1:22 pm
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I can’t answer the question directly. However, every week I speak with OpenVMS users that are transitioned or transitioning to Itanium. Some have completed the transition, some are in the process other are planning on it for next year. Based on my conversations, most are happy with the Itanium platform. They have pointed to better performance and in some cases reliability since the hardware they replaced was old.
As for x86, I have spoken with several groups that are adding x86 and Linux to the mix. They are not replacing OpenVMS, but enhancing their environments by cross-developing on both platforms. eCube’s products support cross-development very well, so we tend to see more of this. Bottom line I don’t think it is uncommon.