***** HP Company Confidential - Do NOT circulate outside of HP ***** DECnet/OSI Phase V Overview September 19, 1989 DECnet/OSI Phase V is Digital's next generation of networking. Phase V is Digital's formal acknowledgment of the importance standards in networking. This is good news for HP AdvanceNet !! (AdvanceNet has been standards based for many years) - but watch out - Phase V is a powerful Trojan horse. DEC is talking standards, but really selling proprietary DECnet services. DEC has been talking about Phase V for 3 years and an announcement is expected in late 1989 for VMS support and sometime later for Ultrix. DECnet/OSI Phase V looks like a powerful multivendor offering, but it falls short in several areas: SERVICES Proprietary DECnet services will always lead OSI services in the DEC environment. (Examples of DECnet services are: DEC proprietary remote logging, file transfer, and interprocess communications.) Running DECnet services on an OSI base provides no more interoperability than running DECnet on a DEC base as in Phase IV. HP, on the other hand, is solidly committed to multivendor interoperability: today, using ARPA services, and tomorrow using OSI standards. ARPA SUPPORT Phase V does NOT include ARPA. HP AdvanceNet, by contrast, is based on ARPA and OSI standards. ARPA defacto standards have the support of over 80 vendors. ARPA is the only true multivendor interoperable standard today. Excluding ARPA from Phase V illustrates DEC's refusal to recognize today's interoperability standards. DEC is ignoring today's most pressing and real multivendor need. UNIX SUPPORT Today, DEC does not support OSI or industry standard PC networking on Ultrix. The exact timing of OSI support for the Ultrix version using Phase V is unclear, and even more vague for standard PC networking. PC NETWORKING Phase V does not support PCs and is unlikely to in the short term due to its large program size and memory requirements (4-5 times Phase IV). How will DEC do PC-mini integration? HP has LAN Manager and LM/X. DEC is rumored to be "adding" LAN Manager to Phase V (so this means no more "one network" for DEC and hence validates HP's strategy). LOW END VAXes With Phase V being 4-5 times the size of Phase IV, it will not run well on DEC's lower end (and most popular) systems such as the MicroVAX II and VAXStation. NETWORK MANAGEMENT DEC is completely replacing its DECnet network management command language in Phase V. This will force customers to eventually rewrite their network management applications for Phase V. Not a trivial task! However, Phase V does have some strengths versus HP: STRONG STORY Phase V is a very strong marketing message. It shows real and focused commitment to OSI networking for the future. OSI BACKBONE DEC is the only vendor that can show an OSI backbone network in LANs, WANs, and in connecting LANs and WANs. To provide this OSI backbone, DEC is implementing some OSI protocols before they are fully defined, such as VTP and X.500. This could create problems for customers in the future. MIGRATION Since DEC controls DECnet Phase IV, they have defined a clear migration path from Phase IV to Phase V. Vendors that do not fully control their networking protocols and work in a multivendor environment (like HP) must work with other companies in the industry to define the coexistence/ migration path. DEC can do it alone for DECnet. Remember, customers want multivendor interoperability. On the surface Phase V appears to deliver it. However, after a more careful look, DEC is not providing any more interoperability than Phase IV. HP AdvanceNet with ARPA, OSI, and LAN Manager services is your customer's best choice for multivendor interoperability today and in the future!! ***** HP Company Confidential - Do NOT circulate outside of HP ***** ======================================================================= ***** HP Company Confidential - Do NOT circulate outside of HP ****** September 19, 1989 Questions About DECnet Phase V 1) With DECnet now being based on OSI, isn't DEC truly the leader in multivendor communications? DEC decidely is NOT the leader in multivendor communications !! DECnet/OSI Phase V is basically a trojan horse to get customers to use DEC's proprietary DECnet services. Remember, Phase V does not address the following key multivendor issues: a) ARPA communications (ARPA is the most widely used multivendor protocol today) - HP is very strong on ARPA; b) UNIX communications - Phase V is available on the proprietary VMS operating system only. HP has OSI, ARPA, and SNA communications on UNIX; c) PC Networking - Because Phase V is not capable of PC-to-Mini integration, DEC has licensed LAN Manager from Microsoft to support LAN Manager on VMS. This is a clear endorsement by DEC of HP's LAN Manager strategy. Only HP has a LAN Manager offering. Where is DEC's? 2) Now that DECnet is based on OSI, why shouldn't I build my backbone network on DECnet (does DECnet = OSI)? DEC is implementing a series of bridges and routers that use proprietary routing protocols as a backbone network. DEC is trying to push some of these proprietary protocols through the international standards committees. These protocols will NOT make it through the standard community unaltered. Thus when a customer purchases a backbone network from DEC, they are not purchasing a true Multivendor backbone because DEC is the only company that supports the routing protocols on the backbone. HP's solutions are based on true multivendor standards. For wide area networks, HP provides high performance PPN products based on the widely accepted X.25 standard. DEC pushes proprietary DECRouters. For local area networks both HP and DEC offer LAN bridges from companies such as Vitalink. 3) DEC has clearly articulated how they will migrate to OSI, how will HP migrate to OSI? Since DECnet is a proprietary product, it is relatively easy for DEC to develop a strategy for migration from DECnet Phase IV to DECnet Phase V. DEC totally controls DECnet. With HP standards-based AdvanceNet strategy, defining a coexistence/migration path is not under HP's or any other vendor's control. HP does not control OSI, ARPA, SNA, or other defacto standards (NFS, LAN Manager, etc) in the same way as DEC controls DECnet. We must move with the industry to migrate the customer's multivendor environment (not just the DECnet environment) from ARPA to OSI. The REAL issue for multivendor customers is not migration, it is coexistence. Customers are not about to throw away perfectly good ARPA- based networks and applications just to move to an incompletely formed OSI. ARPA will be very strong for at least another 10 years. Therefore the real issue is the coexistence of ARPA and OSI networks. HP plans to provide strong coexistence solutions. See the Network Sales Portfolio's white paper entitled "OSI Evolution" for more details on HP's coexistence strategy. Phase V does not address ARPA/OSI coexistence. 4) When will HP support DECnet services on its processors? HP will not offer proprietary nonstandard DECnet services to network processors because DECnet does not provide multivendor interoperability. However, we will provide interoperability with those parts of Phase V that conform to OSI standards. For example, HP FTAM and X.400 products will interoperate with the DEC FTAM and X.400 products that are part of Phase V. 5) With Phase V, I get good performance and a standards-based environment. Why should I consider anything else but Phase V? DEC will continue to provide the best performance and functionality with its proprietary DECnet services in Phase V. This is fine, for customers locked into 100% DEC computers exclusively, both now and in the future. However, if customers want true multivendor interoperability, ARPA and OSI services are the only way to go. Since Phase V does not include ARPA services, Phase V is not relevant to many of today's multivendor networks (DEC's ARPA services is not a part of Phase V). For DEC users wanting to use limited OSI services, Phase V is an acceptable solution and helps strengthen their move towards OSI and HP's AdvanceNet strategy. 6) When will HP use OSI exclusively for its transport layers (like Phase V)? ("Transport layers" refer to Layer 4 and below on the OSI model.) Due to market need, HP networks will run on both TCP/IP and OSI transports for at least 10 years. Most customers are not going to replace working ARPA/TCP/IP networks with OSI networks and applications overnight. Therefore, HP will offer both ARPA and OSI solutions for the foreseeable future to provide our customers with the highest degree possible of multivendor interoperability. Customers will be able to purchase a complete OSI solution from HP that can support relatively sophisticated applications (including Network Management and directory services) in the 1992 timeframe. Simpler applications that do not require OSI Network Management and Directory services will be available in 1990 on HP-UX and 1991 on MPE-XL. Again, remember that since HP AdvanceNet is based on industry standards in a multivendor environment, we cannot move over to an OSI transport as quickly as DEC can with a single vendor DECnet solution. 7) DEC has a clear direction on all of its processors (Phase V), what is HP's direction (things look very confusing)? First, DEC is backing off somewhat from their Phase V everywhere strategy. Currently, DEC is rumored to be "adding" LAN Manager to Phase V. It is unlikely that Phase V will run on a PC anytime soon (if ever). This validates HP's standards-based AdvanceNet strategy and in particular our LAN Manager direction. For its strategic minicomputer lines, HP plans to converge intersystem (between HP-UX and MPE-XL) and intervendor communications on ARPA and OSI services. For DOS/OS/2 platforms, HP will converge on LAN Manager. This will provide a solid foundation for intersystem and intervendor interoperability today and in the future. 8) What is DEC's position on ARPA and NFS? DEC provides ARPA and NFS on its VMS and Ultrix processors. Currently, the VMS implementation is not very robust, but there are third parties with stronger implementations. DEC's ARPA and NFS products are not integrated with DECnet Phase V. For example, NFS yellow pages directories are not integrated with the DNS directory that is part of Phase V. 9) What will DEC do in Phase V for virtual terminal support? Will they still use LAT and cterm (proprietary DEC solutions)? DEC may provide the OSI Virtual Terminal Protocol (VTP) with Phase V. However, DEC's VTP implementation is very slow and does not have many features. DEC will continue to aggressively sell proprietary solutions for terminal connect. 10) What processors will Phase V be supported on? DEC will support Phase V on all 8000, 6000, and DECStation 3XXX/5XXX series processors as well as the MicroVAX 3XXX series. Due to the increased size of Phase V over Phase IV (4-5 times), it is questionable if Phase V will be a realistic solution for DEC's popular MicroVAX II series. FOR MORE INFORMATION: HP is planning to offer a more detailed technical analysis of Phase V this Fall. Keep an eye on "Computer News" for an announcement. In the meantime, if you have further questions, contact: For US and Intercon: Paul Maybaum, Colorado Networks Division For Europe: Frank Mains, Grenoble Networks Division ###