VMS: the facts

NEARLY 400 COMPAQ customers and prospects from key accounts attended the VX Company's "VMS: The Facts" seminar at the Fort Voldorp Conference Centre near Utrecht, the Netherlands, on November 15.

Sponsored by the Laren, Netherlands-based VX Company, one of the three largest VMS consultancies in the world, "VMS: The Facts" featured a keynote presentation by IT consultant and publisher Terry Shanon, plenary presentations by Compaq VMS Architect and Guru Andy Goldstein, and IDC Senior Analyst Jean Bozman.

Additional session streams addressed Compaq's CockpitMgr software and Oracle's Itanium porting strategy.

During the presentation, attendees learned that the IPF port of OpenVMS is on track and on schedule for a bootable OS prototype in mid-2002. A Bliss to IPF cross-compiler already exists, and Compaq's OpenVMS Group is getting IPF porting platforms (HP workstations, since the Itanium Erratum continues to delay the availability of Compaq ProLiant DL590/64 "Blazer" quadprocessors).

The NSK and Tru64 organizations also have access to HP IPF-Inside hardware.

An informal customer poll revealed that more than 80 per cent of attendees plan to stay the course with OpenVMS, which Mr. Goldstein, Ms. Bozman, and Mr. Shannon claim has a strong future in the IPF era. In fact, according to Mr. Goldstein, the combination of the DII-COE initiative and the use of the Intel Calling Standard for the IPF version of OpenVMS render it highly likely that the OS will attract attention from ISVs who heretofore have not ported their apps to the OpenVMS environment.

In terms of audience attendance and participation, the VX Company event eclipses Compaq's own OpenVMS Platinum Forums, which typically attract 100-200 customers. Founded in 1988, the VX Company has long known how to do VMS marketing right, and the recent event proves that the Dutch consultancy hasn't lost their touch.

Copies of the presentations delivered at VMS: The Facts can be downloaded from the VX Co's Web site.

Terry Shannon told the INQUIRER he will be writing a detailed report on the event in an upcoming issue of his subscription based newsletter Shannon knows Compaq.µ