HP OpenView OS/390 Management and HP OpenView OS/400 Management for HP Operations Manager Support to Transition to EView Technology

Effective 1 August 2008, HP Software transitioned all levels of customer support worldwide for the HP OpenView OS/390 Management and OpenView OS/400 Management for HP Operations Manager products to EView Technology. The new support structure will enable customers to have a direct line to the EView support team which has extensive expertise in both the IBM and HP Software portfolio.

"HP Software is excited about this expanding of our overall relationship with EView Technology," stated Chuck Neal - Vice President, Channel & Alliances, HP Software. "The EView partnership enables HP to provide hundreds of enterprise customers with a comprehensive end-to-end enterprise HP Software Operations integration solution as well as technical expertise with IBM legacy environments. Providing customers the opportunity to directly leverage the EView technical expertise and to upgrade to the latest versions of the software is a definite win-win for HP and the customers. This is another step in showing our commitment to the customer in offering the most complete and comprehensive enterprise IT operations solution in the marketplace."

Details of the transition include:

EView Technology will take over customer all levels of customer product support, with HP providing warm transfer (pass-through) on 1st level support for those customers who contact HP support directly
Upon support renewal, current customers will be immediately eligible for version upgrades of the HP Operations Manager OS/390 Management and OS/400 Management products to the EView branded management software at no charge. The advanced EView products have significant functional and operational enhancements over the current installed OVO OS/390 and OS/400 products.
Direct Access to the EView product support team
Direct Access to the EView development team to input functional requirements for future product enhancements
EView Technology will provide minimum of one release per year with exceptions or customer special requirement requests handled on case by case basis
Available 24 x 7 Support by US based support staff with extensive IBM Mainframe(z/OS) iSeries (AS/400) and leading industry Enterprise Operations Management software experience
In-house testing and support infrastructure including multiple mainframe systems
On-going HP Software and IBM z/OS Development partner
Online problem tracking with customer access to add information and see current status
EView Technology and HP Software development agree to continue to work close together on new EView product releases and enhancements or modifications
Through the EView partnership, HP Software will maintain critical mainframe (zSeries) and AS/400 (iSeries) environment knowledge and support skills availability, providing a key differentiator against competition (IBM, CA, BMC) in enterprise operations management
EView Technology will remain a HP Software Platinum Business Partner

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why is HP turning over support for these products to EView Technology?

A: Simply stated: to meet customer requirements, increase responsiveness and enhance the overall customer experience. With the new support infrastructure, existing customers will have a direct line to the software development and support team for EView products. This will eliminate the bottlenecks in the current support infrastructure.

Since 2004, other than code fixes, due to the many changes in the HP Software Organization, the OS/390 and OS/400 products have not been updated. At the same time, EView Technology has been continuing to develop and enhance the EView branded products. Customers will now be eligible to immediately upgrade to these enhanced EView versions.

Q. How will customers be notified of this change?

A. All customers should have been notified by HP of this change, using direct customer letters or via HP customer communications and web-based communications.

Q. Who can I talk to discuss my current OS/390 Management and OS/400 Management enterprise installation to understand the new support scenario and how it will affect my environment?

A. Simply call EView Technology directly at +1 919 878 5199 and we will set up a time, to answer any questions/concerns you may have with the new support infrastructure and product upgrade. We would be happy to get on a call with the customer to answer any questions to assess whether they feel comfortable doing the upgrade on their own.

Also, a URL link will be created with support transition details. For those larger enterprise customers, we will have face to face meetings to go through the support transition process. We will work closely with the HP account reps and the customer teams throughout the transition.

Q. How will customer support calls be handled?

A. Customers call EView Technology directly at +1 919 878 5199 for transfer to our support team or use our electronic support at support@eview-tech.com. All calls are logged and tracked in our customer support database. If a support call comes in to the HP Support team, customers will be warm transferred to the EView support team. EView Technology support is available worldwide, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to ensure proactive management and responsive service.

EView also provides EView Support Online - our convenient, secure, web-based, problem tracking and support site. Feel free to log in at http://www.eview-tech.com/helpdesk.

EView Technology has been handling worldwide 3rd level support and a significant amount of level 1 and 2 support since 2000. For the EView branded products, the EView Technology worldwide support infrastructure has been in place for a number of years and has worked extremely well in the timely response and handling of product support. EView Technology has an in-house, world class development, testing, and support IT environment - which includes HP Operations Management and associated products for Windows and UNIX environments, as well as, multiple IBM mainframes and iSeries (AS/400) and servers. This ensures customers that the EView products are fully tested and supported.

Q. My support and maintenance contract for the OV/390 and/or OV/400 management product(s) is either expired or about to expire. How do I renew my support?

A. Because of the collaborative nature of the EView/HP partnership, EView has been involved with many of the pre-sales engagements and product implementations. However, due to US privacy issues, full customer details are not available to EView to proactively engage current OV/390 or OV/400 customers. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that existing HP OV/390 and/or OV/400 customers contact EView Technology directly at +1 919 878 5199 or support@eview-tech.com to begin the renewal process to register the necessary product and hardware data. This will ensure customers their installation of EView products are fully supported and they will not see any disruption in service. Additionally, once you are registered in our support database, you will be eligible to be upgraded, free of charge, to the significantly enhanced EView/390z and/or EView/400i versions of the products.

Q. I still have time left on my support contract with HP, do I need to register with EView or wait until product expiration?

A. It is highly recommended that all customers contact EView, so at minimum, your customer information can be logged and EView support personnel can answer any questions you may have. Most importantly, by registering with EView, you will ensure your products are fully supported and you will not see any disruption in service. Additionally, once you are registered in our support database, you will be eligible to be upgraded, free of charge, to the significantly enhanced EView/390z and/or EView/400i versions of the products.

Q. I'm currently an HP OV/390 and/or HP OV/400 Management customer. How do I get the advanced EView products with advanced functionality?

A. Customers should contact EView Technology directly at +1 919 878 5199 or support@eview-tech.com to initiate the upgrade process and/or have a discussion with our expert staff on the benefits of the advanced versions of the EView products. During this service transition time, EView has additional resources on staff to ensure all questions are answered and customers are able to get the highest level of service and support.

Q. How does this change benefit me and my company?

A. Simply stated: you will see more overall benefits in being an EView Technology customer. Your questions/issues will be handled much faster and by trained experts in both the HP OVO side and the EView product side. With the new support infrastructure, existing customers will have a direct line to the EView Technology software development and support team. EView Technology has an in-house, world class development, testing, and support IT environment - which includes HP Operations Manager for Windows and UNIX environments, as well as, IBM mainframes and iSeries (AS/400) and servers. This ensures customers that the EView products are fully tested and supported.

Also, the HP-branded OV/390 and OV/400 Management products had not received updates in almost four years and only run on the HP OVO - UNIX platform. EView Technology has been selling these solutions under their own brand name during this time with hundreds of product installations worldwide, so the product technology and support infrastructure is proven.

Prior to the announcement, as a pilot program, key customers in various regions have already gone through the Direct EView Support transition and have seen immediate benefits to their overall Operations either via the enhanced product and/or the significantly improved support response and resolution.

Q. Traditionally, any add/changes to anything around the IBM legacy mainframe and AS/400 (iSeries) environments are time consuming and "painful". How difficult will it be to upgrade from the HP OV/390 and/or OV/400 products to the EView products? Does it require EView staff to come on site to do the upgrade?

A. Upgrading to the EView code is a very painless process. From the HP Operations Manager (OVO) server, the customer simply installs the EView code on both the client and server side. The upgrade should be very transparent, with the exception of seeing new functionality and enhanced usability features that are part of the EView products vs. what the customer has today with the HP OV/390 and OV/400 products. The installation guide has step by step instructions for installing and configuring the agent.

At the time of upgrade, EView skilled personnel will be available to walk the customer through the process. This will be available free of charge - the customer simply needs to give EView Support sufficient notice to calendar the time. We would be happy to get on a call with the customer to answer any questions so that can then assess whether they feel comfortable doing the install on their own.

EView has a highly skilled services team for on-site consulting and integration work. This is fee based and is recommended for those customers with requirements for additional instrumentation in OVO, like additional rules for performing automatic actions or special monitoring requirements for their applications.

Q. How is this expanding the partnership between HP Software and EView Technology?

A. HP Software will continue to have the critical mainframe (zSeries) and AS/400 (iSeries) environment knowledge and support skills resource which provides HP Software a key differentiator against competition (IBM, CA, BMC) in enterprise operations management. With EView Technology as a partner, HP Software Operations has had significant competitive wins over IBM, CA and BMC. EView Technology will be in a position to be a more significant partner in this area of operations management. EView extends HP's market reach into the mainframe and iSerices ecosystems, providing in-depth technical know-how and responsive technical support. EView and HP will work cooperatively to provide the best integrated management solution for your enterprise.

Q. Is HP going to continue to sell the OEM versions of the products?

A. No, in addition to the support transition, the HP/EView partnership will now be moved to the HP Marketplace. This took effect on 1 August 2008, as well. As part of the HP Marketplace, customers will purchase both the HP Software Operations Manager UNIX and Windows versions of the EView/390z and EView/400i products(the current OEM contract only pertains to the UNIX version). Through the HP Marketplace, HP software reps will have an extensive catalog of products designed to solve customer requirements.

About EView Technology

EView Technology specializes in software and services that enable businesses to lower cost and risk while making IT Enterprise Operations Management easier.

EView Technology, located in Raleigh, North Carolina USA, was founded in March 2000. The company's legacy is our globally recognized ability in IBM system and network management and utilizing our expertise in the development of custom OEM software added value solutions and agents for major vendors in the Enterprise Operations Management area for their customers IBM legacy environments. We are focused on integrating the IBM legacy server environments (OS/390 - z/OS and AS/400 - iSeries) into the HP Software Operations platform. Our solutions offer increased IT reliability, efficiency and substantial savings for hundreds of Global 2000 clients and organizations worldwide.