Posted by Jason Flomerfelt
On December 05, 2011 16:00
As HP and Oracle fight over future support of Itanium-based blades and servers, little thought has been given to how this affects their customers. Many customers have implemented HP Itanium servers into their platform only to find out that they may have to switch to different platforms in the future due to lack of Oracle Software support. Others who were considering upgrades to their existing equipment are left unsure of what they will have to change in the future in order to maintain their infrastructures. In fact, according to Gartner, HP took a 3.9% drop in revenue and is now third in revenue share in the server market.
This uncertainty of support has created a ripple effect that is starting to hit HP, but that still leaves current customers on Itanium platforms in a precarious position as to where to move from here. Nobody knows how long this legal battle will go on as it has been going steady for the past nine months. What they do know is that they can’t wait around to find out what is going to happen as the demands on their infrastructure and business continue to grow. All this being said, what are the options that customers are left with?
One option is to migrate to another platform where there is adequate support; however, depending on the depth of platform and how recently they purchased their hardware, this becomes too costly to bare. Also, the amount of time it takes to migrate to a new platform often proves even more costly, especially if it was unplanned for. A second option of course is to put projects on hold until the picture becomes clearer for future support. This may be the least risky solution in the short-term, but can become costly if performance of your infrastructure suffers as the demand on systems increase.
A third option is to grow your current Itanium platform and save money by using refurbished hardware upgrades and servers. Many resellers and independent suppliers not only have plenty of stock of equipment, but also provide full maintenance support that is equal to that of the OEM. Independent suppliers such as Canvas Systems, are fully certified to configure and support any flavor of equipment at a fraction of the cost. Refurbished and used hardware options are also available to minimize your investment and maintain the highest level of performance. If you are looking to upgrade, Canvas provides the highest market value on your trade-in, as well as rental options to test equipment in your environment or to support short-term projects.