[Info-vax] rx2800i2 sales/support window changes

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2014-02-14 00:33, JF Mezei wrote:
> On 14-02-13 17:53, johnwallace4 at yahoo.co.uk wrote:
>
>> Unpopulated server motherboards don't even take up
>> much room or tie up huge amounts of money.
>
> Exactly. That is why HP is more likely to have one last batch of
> components ordered and wharehouse them, as opposed to a "build on
> demand" later on.
>
> In terms of populating the motherboard, it depends on the contractor's
> terms and what minimum order there is to have its robots programmed to
> do a run of a certain motherboard design. Again, more likely to see one
> large order rather than "build on demand" later on.

Uh. Manufacturing new boards is something that can be done on demand 
without much of any extra cost. You send the manufacturing file to a 
board manufacturer, who feeds it into the machine, and the machine spits 
out a bunch of boards. There is no special robot programming or setup 
needed that is any different from any other board to be produced. You 
have not been involved in manufacturing boards, I can tell.

That operation is so streamlined and standardized that you can do a run 
of a hundred at a time, if you want to, and still keep the costs reasonable.

Component availability is what stops manufacturing of boards in time. 
And the component that first stops being available is normally the CPU.

> Also, while the Tukwila system may have used many components that were
> easily available (commodity) back in the 2007-2010 timeframe when the
> system was designed, it does not mean that those components will still
> easily commercially available for the long term. So again, they may want
> to have a whole bunch of power supplies etc purchased.
>
> There are costs associated with getting a new power supply
> (certification, testing etc) and that isn't something HP would be
> interested in.

I would say power supplies are among the easiest issues. You can get 15 
your old power supplies, and they will work just fine with a new 
motherboard. The standardization there have gone very far.
Some other components would be a bigger problem, such as bus 
controllers, memory controllers and similar things. But those components 
normally have a longer life than CPUs as well. Same goes for memories...

	Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol