Chapter Overview

Let's not beat around the bushif the server you are purchasing supports any of these solutions, get them. The benefits far outweigh the tradeoffs. That said, these solutions aren't perfect, and there are some tradeoffs that may be show-stoppers in some customer environmentsbut these should be rare. The vast majority of customers who purchase HP systems will pay less in the long run if they use one or more of these Utility Pricing Solutions.

We will describe in this chapter specifically why we make these statements. Each of the solutions available for HP 9000 and Integrity servers has its own benefits and tradeoffs, which we will describe. We will also identify the sweet spotsthe places where you get the most bang for the buck with each of these solutions.

These programs are remarkably beneficial for the customer. Of course, it is possible that HP will alter these programs to make them less forgiving, but the way they are currently set up, they heavily favor the customer. So for the time being, you should not purchase a system that doesn't have one of these solutions. Don't pay more than you have to.

One last note before we get started. Each of these solutions is actually a "program." What this means is there are people involved in many different disciplines that make these products work. All of the solutions described in the other parts of this book are software or hardware products. The programs we describe in this part of the book are creative ways of purchasing HP 9000 and Integrity servers. In each case, HP is putting systems and software on your site that are at least partially owned by HP. Therefore, these programs involve HP Financial Services, Marketing, Sales, HP IT, and Engineering. We mention this because some of the software components may have unexpected features, but there is usually logic behind them when you consider the breadth of the impact on HP.