Thought you all would get a kick outa this.

behemoth.linc.com NetBSD 1.5 pmax mipsel

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Subject: Compaq's Alpha Announcement

Dear Linc,

By now I'm sure you have heard of the historic announcement Compaq made
this morning. In brief, Compaq entered into an agreement with Intel to
provide Intel with all of Compaq's Alpha technology and experience, to
further Intel's Itanium design. In addition, over the course of the next
3-4 years, Compaq will migrate all of its server-based technologies
(including OpenVMS, Tru64 and its Linux work) to the Itanium platform.
Attached is a letter from Rich Marcello, Vice President and General
Manager of the High Performance Systems Group, discussing this
announcement and its implications for Alpha customers worldwide.

At Encompass, since we, too, are Compaq customers we know the
excitement, the issues, and the questions this change in direction will
cause.  There will be rumor, speculation, and hearsay in the press, in
the bulletin boards we read, and elsewhere. Knowing this, Encompass is
committed to providing clear and open channels to Compaq so that your
concerns and questions can be raised. Encompass is also  committed to
getting clear and meaningful responses from Compaq, and making these
responses available to the Encompass membership.

We are currently working the details of just how we'll implement this
dialog, so be on the lookout for future announcements of our plans. In
the meantime, the Encompass Board is as excited and as concerned as you
are with this news. Our commitment to you and to Compaq is to be a
bridge between Compaq and our members and for all of us to be
successful.

Regards,

Joe Pollizzi, President, Encompass, US


Dear Compaq User Group Member,

 As you know, Compaq's High Performance Systems Division has a deep and
 long-standing heritage of engineering excellence and a long history of
 64-bit computing innovation. These strengths have enabled us to
 establish strong momentum in our enterprise computing business. To
 extend our leadership position, Compaq has announced that we will
 standardize our 64-bit enterprise server product lines, including the
 NonStop Himalaya, AlphaServer, and ProLiant families, on Intel's
 Itanium(tm) processor family, its next-generation microprocessor
 targeted at the high-end enterprise computing market.

 As part of our joint technology collaboration agreement with Intel,
 Compaq will transfer our tremendous Alpha microprocessor technology -
 backed by more than 10 years of technical leadership in 64-bit computing
 solutions - to accelerate ongoing development of the Itanium processor.
 By incorporating these sophisticated technologies, tools, and resources,
 such as Alpha compiler technologies, into the Itanium processor support
 infrastructure, Compaq and Intel will jointly expand the market for
 high-performance, market-leading, 64-bit solutions while protecting your
 investment in Compaq technology for years to come.

 We are very excited about this merging of technologies, because we
 believe it offers our customers the best of all possible futures - the
 combination of the world's leading volume microprocessor engine and
 Compaq's outstanding operating systems, clustering, middleware and
 systems technology for the business-critical infrastructure. This will
 yield a server platform offering the highest levels of availability,
 scalability, and performance at a lower cost to you.

 Compaq will immediately begin to port Tru64 UNIX, and OpenVMS and
 NonStop Kernel operating systems and development tools to the Itanium
 processor family.  Our intention is to have our first Compaq
 Itanium-based systems for Tru64 UNIX and OpenVMS available in 2003 for
 early ISV testing and generally available in 2004. As a result of source
 file compatibility, existing applications on AlphaServers will run
 seamlessly with Itanium-based Compaq servers. We will also provide
 extensive migration support to independent software vendors (ISVs). In
 addition, to smooth the transition to these future platforms, we,
 jointly with Intel, will be establishing an extensive developer support
 program.

 Of utmost importance to us, however, is that you are confident that we
 are delivering significant business value today and complete investment
 protection in Alpha-based solutions for many years to come. During the
 next few years, the best choice for high-performance computing solutions
 will continue to be Tru64 UNIX and OpenVMS running on AlphaServer
 systems.  In this timeframe our top priorities for Alpha-based systems
 remain unchanged -- to deliver improved performance and faster
 implementations of the Alpha microprocessor to meet our committed
 performance enhancements, while continuing to provide the most
 available, scalable systems at the lowest cost.  Our Alpha EV7-based
 AlphaServers will be delivered on schedule in early 2003 with the
 committed features and performance enhancements

 The advantages of working with the industry leader in chip technology
 cannot be overstated. We will see better processor performance
 consistently over time as a result of Intel's aggressive product
 schedules and frequent performance boosts. We will ensure that Compaq
 server performance tracks with industry-wide performance gains. We will
 see lower costs, better price performance, and faster time to market.
 All of these advantages we will be able to pass directly to you.

 As members of our user community, we have always valued your opinion
 and, therefore, hope you share our excitement about this strategy. It
 not only defines a clear and stable path to the future, but we believe
 this is the right moment to transition to a volume-based, 64-bit
 microprocessor architecture, which has benefited from extensive testing
 and had time to mature over the past few years. We look forward to
 leveraging its advantages for our complete range of enterprise servers
 for many years to come.

 I look forward to discussing our new strategy with you at the various
 users meetings throughout this year. These events will be ideal venues
 to share our future plans with you and solicit your feedback on our
 detailed product roadmaps.

 If you have any questions about this announcement, please don't hesitate
 to contact me.


 Best Regards,

 Rich Marcello, Vice President and General Manager
 High Performance Systems Division


 For additional information on the multi-year Compaq and Intel technology
 and marketing agreement visit
 http://www.compaq.com/hps/ipf-enterprise/index.html   Included on this
 site is the opportunity to view a webcast of the announcement, press
 releases, customer quotes and more.