HP-UX

Actually, for Midrange systems, Itanium is a very small step up for Pa-risc boxes and a very robust improvement.

For newer Cell-based systems, it is only a matter of replacing the CPU and upgrading the firmware and a few other modifications. If you have an older cell-based box, its better to buy the new hardware... upgrading would be difficult without gutting an older superdome or keystone.

I just had a class from HP regarding HPUX 11i v2 which was very enlightening... 11i v2 (11.23) is a vast improvement over 11i v1.

Of course, Midrange boxes arent good for personal use!

This is true at the 54xx/74xxlevel you will see very little difference and there is a slight improvement in processor performance. The initial Itanium machines 8440's.I was sent as test models all had a very nasty Cell Board issue when Npar'd. We never kept them. also shipped back the itanium version of the 4440 as it would randomly panic...all these issues have since been addressed it seems
The new processors are not interchangable with PARISC, they are diff motherboards and chipsets as well, HP had promised they would be even back in the N/V/L era but it never came to fruition. I see they even have Itanium superdomes now
O yes the itanium machines are a nice grey color too! much better than the standard HP "Quartz" color