ch03.htm

this describes managing multivendor networks

enterprise. HP has two lines of RISC-based X terminals--the low-end Entria Plus and
the higher-end Envizex. Both run the Intel i960 RISC processor.</P>
<P>HP's Envizex color X station appears to the end user as a full-fledged workstation.
The terminal's superb multimedia support provides full-motion MPEG video. The machine
is the only X terminal to provide access to high-speed networks through 100VG-AnyLAN
networking, and is also one of the only X terminals to include an optional internal
floppy drive. The Envizex also builds in ThickLAN, ThinLAN, and standard twisted-pair
network connectors, as well as optional Token Ring support.</P>
<P>The lower-end Entria X terminal is an excellent choice to upgrade from character-based
ASCII or 3270 terminals. Mainframe access can be achieved through a transparent terminal
emulation program and you will enjoy a color GUI-based X station, which can function
as a plug-and-play HP 9000 server console. You can easily switch between console
operations and system management applications on the same desktop. The Entria includes
built-in support for ThinLAN and 10BaseT networking.</P>
<P>The HP Entria Plus line provides access to UNIX, Windows, Internet, and legacy
applications--all from a single X station. The Entria and Envizex are referred to
as <I>thin clients,</I> which make use of the network's infrastructure and devices
as opposed to providing processing and storage for each desktop. HP's approach to
X terminals provides a number of advantages, including auto-configuration and centralized
maintenance of TCP/IP environments through Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).
All of HP's X stations are also tightly integrated with HP's OpenView systems management
software, which permits all of an enterprise's X stations to be centrally managed.
OpenView offers a broad range of management features and is capable of managing any
SNMP-compliant device.</P>
<P>The Entria Plus can function as an HP 9000 graphics server console, eliminating
the need for multiple desktops. Both Entria Plus and Envizex come with HP's line
of software, which includes the following:

<UL>
	<LI><I>HP Enware X Station Software.</I> One site copy is required to run HP X stations.<BR>
	<BR>
	
	<LI><I>HP Enware X Terminal Manager.</I> Simplifies the administration of large groups
	of X terminals and permits an IP address to be assigned automatically through DHCP.<BR>
	<BR>
	
	<LI><I>HP Enware CDE.</I> Provides a standard GUI for UNIX users.<BR>
	<BR>
	
	<LI><I>HP Enware 3270.</I> A motif-based 3270 emulator for legacy mainframe or SNA
	connectivity.
</UL>

<P>In terms of network connectivity, both models can run on a standard Ethernet network;
the Envizex can also be connected to a Token Ring or 100VG-AnyLAN infrastructure.
Both models use standard 10Base-T and ThinLAN connectors. The included SharedX and
SharedWhiteboard features permit multiple users linked with any X Window system and
standard phone line to work cooperatively on a document.
<H3><A NAME="Heading4"></A><FONT COLOR="#000077">PCs</FONT></H3>
<P>Until the late 1980s, HP chose to follow the de facto standards set by the original
IBM PC. The early machines were, in fact, Intel processors running MS-DOS software,
but HP added its own enhancements to the product.</P>
<P>In an effort to overcome the cumbersome interface offered by standard MS-DOS (or
PC-DOS), HP developed an alternative command processor that could be used in place
of the standard COMMAND.COM processor. Good intentions notwithstanding, HP called
this interface the Personal Applications Menu (PAM).</P>
<P>The PAM approach gave the end user an applications menu for selecting and running
applications in a point-and-shoot fashion. It also provided a front-end to some of
the more unfriendly DOS processes, such as formatting diskettes. However, PAM was
not performance-oriented, so many veteran users simply abandoned PAM in favor of
the standard command processor.</P>
<P>While it is neither important (nor fair) to review the entire history of HP's
PC products, some of the more interesting innovations included the HP 125 dual terminal/computer,
the HP 150 touchscreen terminal/computer and the HP Portable and Portable Plus. The
HP 125 and HP 150 systems' built-in terminal functions made them popular alternatives
to dedicated terminals. The HP Portable and Portable Plus were among the first of
the MS-DOS transportable, quasi-laptop computers.</P>
<P>With the introduction of the HP Vectra in the mid-1980s, however, HP became a
serious manufacturer of high-performance, IBM-compatible PCs. The Vectra is one of
the original high-performance clones produced by a reputable manufacturer and offering
performance in excess of the equivalent IBM models. Furthermore, in 1989 the 486
Vectra became the first PC on the market to offer the Extended Industry Standard
Architecture (EISA) bus, an alternative to IBM's closed Micro Channel Architecture
(MCA) for its PS/2 line.</P>
<P>Since the introduction of the Vectra line, HP has demonstrated a strong commitment
to releasing network-ready PCs. A network-ready PC, as opposed to a PC designed for
freestanding use, focuses on easy integration into an existing networking environment.
HP addresses the issue of networkability in the Vectra line in several ways. The
Vectra line supports several networking environments, industry-standard management
is included, and the PCs offer remotely manageable security features. In addition,
the higher-end Vectras are ready to attach to the network &quot;out of the box.&quot;</P>
<P>The Vectra includes several technologies to maximize LAN performance, including
an integrated PCI LAN adapter, PCI bus mastering, and parallel transfer technology.
The presence of an integrated LAN adapter minimizes CPU usage, as compared to the
alternative of placing a 16-bit ISA LAN adapter in a non-network-ready PC.</P>
<P>In addition, the HP Vectra XM Series 3 uses a parallel transferring driver. Typically,
a LAN adapter is unable to transfer a frame to the CPU before the frame has been
completely received from the network. The parallel transferring driver permits the
transfer to the CPU to start in a parallel fashion, instead of sequentially. This
model significantly improves throughput performance of the LAN interface.</P>
<P>The Vectra PCs are Desktop Management Interface (DMI)-enabled and include client-side
DMI software. The DMI is a product of the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF), of
which HP is a founding member. DMI is a vendor-independent system that provides management
information about the PC. Interestingly, the Vectra is one of the most network-ready
PCs on the market. It can be turned on remotely from anywhere on an Ethernet LAN,
and includes both local and remote support for HP's OpenView management platform.</P>
<P>The PC's Medium Access Control (MAC) address, which is accessible through remote
DMI or the PC Setup program, is a unique address required to identify each Ethernet
LAN adapter on a network. The availability of the MAC address through remote DMI
eliminates both the need to physically discover the address by removing the case
and the need to use a separate operating system utility.</P>
<P>HP is a leader in multiprocessing technology, first implementing the technology
in its minicomputers and workstations in the 1980s. Multiprocessing at the PC level,
however, is very new, and HP is one of the first vendors to implement Intel's Multiprocessor
Specification (MPS) for dual processing on desktop PCs.
<H3><A NAME="Heading5"></A><FONT COLOR="#000077">Engineering Workstations</FONT></H3>
<P>Until the acquisition of Apollo Computer in 1989, the HP 9000 line of technical
computers was HP's entry into this computation- and graphics-intensive, UNIX-hungry
market. Designed to compete head-to-head in the engineering workstation market with
Sun, DEC, IBM and others, the HP 9000 is now divided into the C Class and J Class
categories. HP's workstation product line is largely based on the PA-7200 processor
and provides a migration path to the innovative next-generation PA-8000 microprocessor.
The workstations run the HP-UX UNIX operating system and sport the HP VUE user interface.
Before the C Class and J Class machines, HP's workstations were divided into three
basic categories: the 700/800 (RISC) Series; its predecessors, the 200/300/500 Series;
and the HP Apollo 9000 Series 400, the first collaboration of the combined HP and
Apollo divisions.</P>
<P>The HP 9000 Series 200, 300, and 500 computers were based on the Motorola MC68000
line of CPUs, although some configurations did include an Intel processor. These
low-end units could optionally run one of three operating systems: BASIC, Pascal
and HP-UX. While the BASIC and Pascal operating systems are HP proprietary (although
somewhat portable because they are based on the programming languages of the same
name), the HP-UX operating system is Hewlett-Packard's implementation of AT&amp;T's
UNIX.</P>
<P>On the high end, the HP 9000 Series 800 was HP's first technical venture into
RISC architecture. RISC stands for Reduced Instruction Set Computer and is an alternative
architecture to the standard Complex (or Complete) Instruction Set Computing (CISC).
Under RISC architecture, computer hardware is optimized for absolute maximum performance
and is streamlined so the software at some level (typically the compiler) has to
handle the translation of complex activities into simple, high-speed hardware operations.
In contrast, the CISC architecture uses specialized hardware and firmware to handle
complex activities. Here, the software is streamlined, so the hardware has to compensate.</P>
<P>The demands for engineering workstation functions lie heavily in the areas of
hardware performance. Real-time graphics displays (of extremely high resolution)
driven by computation-intensive modeling programs are not trivial to produce. HP
accommodates the need for real-time graphics with the inclusion of its VISUALIZE
graphics accelerator in all of its work-station products. VISUALIZE combines the
fast, RISC-based CPUs with an on-board RISC-based geometry accelerator.</P>
<P>Some of the newer designs also seek to optimize performance by having concurrent
tasks han-dled by multiple CPUs. Under this multiprocessing model, a sophisticated
CPU--independent of the main CPU--can handle the display.</P>
<P>Like its predecessors, the HP 9000 Series 800 runs the HP-UX operating system.
But here, there are no esoteric options to run the BASIC or Pascal operating systems.
HP's positioning of the Series 800 in the strict UNIX market, however, was very much
in line with the market, which was moving away from proprietary (closed) operating
systems to UNIX and its many derivatives. This position was further fortified by
the introduction of the HP 9000 Series 700 in 1991. Hailed as the highest-performance
workstation at the time of its introduction, the HP 9000 Series 700 also uses RISC
technology to sponsor the HP-UX operating system.</P>
<P>HP's acquisition of Apollo in 1989 greatly changed the complexion of its engineering
workstation offerings and also enhanced its overall position in that market. Although
the Apollo line was also based on the Motorola MC68000 series of processors, it offered
more synergy than compatibility when combined with the HP line. In many respects,
this was the desired result.</P>
<P>Originally established in 1980 by former employees of DEC and Prime, Apollo had
been a small but successful player in the workstation market, like its primary competitor,
Sun Microsystems. Apollo offered a range of workstations that ran Apollo's proprietary
Domain operating system. But it was in the area of networking that Apollo earned
a great deal of attention.</P>
<P>Apollo adopted the philosophy that programmatic network access should be an integral
but open part of the operating system. Toward this goal, Apollo introduced the Network
Computer System (NCS), a methodology for allowing applications to exchange information
with one another as well as access shared network resources. NCS has since become
a standard of such interest that it has been licensed by other major manufacturers.</P>
<P>The fusion of Apollo's NCS with the HP approach to networking, as well as the
fit of the Apollo product line with the HP 9000 line, have made the joining of Apollo
with HP a very noteworthy union. The first offspring of this union was the HP Apollo
Series 400 line. Like the Series 300, the Series 400 was based on the Motorola MC68000
line of microprocessors. Capable of running either the HP-UX or Apollo Domain operating
system, the Series 400 was the first tangible result of HP's long-term plan to integrate
the HP and Apollo workstation lines.</P>
<P>The C&#160;-&#160;class workstation family is well-suited to graphical applications
such as electronic design automation (EDA), computational analysis, and other compute-intensive
processing applications. The C class is available in two configurations: the C100,
running a 100 MHz PA-7200 CPU, and the C120, running at 120 MHz. The C&#160;-&#160;class
supports IEEE 802.3/Ethernet networking connections.</P>
<P>The high-performance HP 9000 J-&#160;class Workstations (see Figure 3.1) are available
in two configurations, the J200 and J210. The workstations use HP's 2-D and 3-D graphics,
and are appropriate for computational analysis, CAD, and 3-D design work. Like the
C&#160;-&#160;class, the J-&#160;class workstations run the PA7200 processor and
are upgradable to the PA8000. A second CPU module can be added to increase performance.