[Info-vax] Alphaserver service/repair recommendations

[Craig A. Berry]

On 2/13/16 2:41 PM, Robert A. Brooks wrote:
> On 2/13/2016 2:36 PM, rcyoung wrote:
>> Any recommendations on where to obtain service on a 2100 4/233 OpenVMS
>> system? South Carolina or Georgia would be best, but I'll look at more
>> distant providers too.
>
> I don't have an answer to your question, but you might improve your chances
> of getting help if you can describe the problem with the system.
>
> It's been said (although not in a while) that "terse questions beget
> terse answers".

My assumption was he wants a service contract rather than help with a
specific problem, but you're right, it's not clear.

At work we ran a 2100 for 15 years before finally switching to Itanium 7
years ago. I think by the time we got rid of the 2100 HP was charging
13,000 USD per year for hardware support and we had to use that support
a number of times because various things kept failing.

Given the high risks and high costs of maintaining such an ancient
system, I would think getting onto an emulator or an Alpha from the
current century would be considered urgent. The license transfer costs
would probably be pretty reasonable compared to the support costs for
twenty-year-old hardware.