Athena Renewal Recommendation

The current hardware vendor selection for Athena deployment is distributed across three vendors: Sun Microsystems principally SunBlade workstations, and Sun Netra and Enterprise servers;

Athena Renewal Recommendation

Presented by Phillip D Long

on behalf of OWLSi

Introduction:

MIT periodically reviews the selection of computer hardware to support the MIT Student Computing environment represented by Athena Clusters scattered across campus The review process serves to ensure the Institute’s ability to deliver and maintain the Athena environment on which is based much of the core of undergraduate technology assisted education

The current hardware vendor selection for Athena deployment is distributed across three vendors: Sun Microsystems (principally SunBlade workstations, and Sun Netra and Enterprise servers); Silicon Graphics (note however the planned cessation of support for Silicon Graphics Athena workstations Summer of 2003); and, for Intel-based processor machines, Dell Computer.

This review of workstation vendor renewal was limited to Intel-based computers MIT has long and mutually beneficial relationship with Sun Microsystems Continuation of Unix workstation procurement through Sun was unanimously supported and approved.

The rapid change in the PC hardware market, along with on-going difficulties in achieving desired continuity in hardware components from the Dell PC products led this review to focus on the PC

hardware purchased for Linux Athena and possible WinAthena deployment in clusters and

recommendations for wider campus community purchases.

Review Criteria:

This year’s criteria for renewal were similar to years past:

• Intel based workstation in desktop form factor

• Vendor willingness and commitment to support Linux

• Notification with at least one month advance warning to changes in hardware architecture, and, willingness to provide a loaner sample hardware configuration that can be tested and qualified Preference for longer lead time with demonstrable process notification.

• Price equal to or less than current SunBlade 100 pricing

• Minimum three year warranty for parts included in price per unit

• Willingness to qualify MIT Hardware Services to do on-site warranty repair

• Performance criteria: (base set)

o 1.8 GHz or higher CPU speed

o 512 MB memory (or more)

o 20 GB IDE hard drive (or larger)

o 19 in Monitor with 1280x1024 with True Color (or equivalent)

companies with whom we have existing relationships If, on review of submitted hardware from these partners, we found our criteria for selection unmet or poorly met by any of the entries, a wider invitation

to other vendors would be considered Fortunately, this was unnecessary.

Results:

All vendors but HP submitted hardware that met all the base criteria for consideration The initial test machine from HP did not meet form factor or price guidelines Subsequently HP provided tower case that met price criterion but did not offer a desktop form factor case for their machine.

The results are summarized in Table 1.

Process Notes:

IBM:

The review team met with sales people and their customer advocate for higher ed – the equivalent of a customer sales engineer in Sun terminology The team had one phone meeting plus two in person

meetings They focused on the Intellistation line of workstations.

IBM presented product roadmaps produced monthly that demonstrated life cycle information about current, projected and end of life (EOL) products Initial machines demonstrated were EOL in Dec However, IBM went back and avoided recently introduced workstations which have a projected EOL of April 2003, including a speed refresh to be introduced this August and available for 12 months.

IBM Linux support – IBM has committed support for Red Hat on Intellistation line This means the maintain a qualification group for Linux configurations with both engineering and customer support components accessible by MIT technical staff.

HP:

The review team had several phone meetings with HP with sales and technical staff and one in-person visit Their understanding of hardware continuity was equal to that of IBM There was some concern about demonstrated changes to video graphics boards within a 12 month annual cycle HP agreed to at least one month’s notification of hardware changes but noted that the exact model of the hardware for video would likely change within a year’s time.

HP promised Linux support, as per stated information on their web pages They maintain a dedicated Linux in-house support team.

Distinguishers to IBM were price (initially) and form factor Their original hardware submitted for review was significantly more costly than acceptable HP later provided a last minute price reduction, but they could not provide a desktop form factor

in favor of ATI, again without notification to MIT This necessitated an unanticipated testing and

qualification effort to make Athena work with the ATI drivers Our warranty calls for price replacement with ‘equivalent’ parts We disagreed with their interpretation of ’equivalent’ in this case.

Price and form factor were competitive.

There was concern that in-house support for Linux was insufficient to insure coordinated development Linux OS support on the Dell hardware

Dell did not seem to fully appreciate how its proposed solution left some MIT requirements unmet Intangibles in the review:

IBM was one of the original Project Athena founders There is perceived value in re-establishing our relationship with them

HP relationship with MIT has multiple connections, which has potential value but not obligation.

Dell has had an exclusive market from MIT for PC purchases Nonetheless, this has not made for a smooth relationship, nor made business or technical conflicts easier to resolve.

Recommendation:

MIT should consider a multi-vendor strategy for Intel-based workstations for Athena renewals of Linux Athena and WinAthena computers The single vendor strategy for Athena deployments on Intel-based computers has not led to anticipated benefits in simplification of software development or hardware support Changing hardware components have required additional work in Athena testing and

development Further the hardware repair demands are driven as much by the diversity of brands that are representative of overall MIT user community, not simply the Athena Intel vendor choice Thus, PC Hardware Services already must support and repair a wide variety of hardware

Having multiple vendors more closely engaged with MIT in the continuing evolution of the Athena Linux port leveraged the Institute’s position to pursue Linux as a desktop alternative rather than being solely dependent on a single vendor whose commitment to Linux has not been strong IBM has made itself the poster-child of the Linux community which, while not always realized in ways MIT finds most beneficial is nonetheless a welcomed endorsement of open source software development that is better aligned with MIT core values.

Finally, this decision does not unilaterally impact on PC procurements It is focused on Intel hardware platforms that will support the Athena software environment This is the default academic computing environment, extending across public computing clusters, classrooms, and across department, labs and centers engaged in teaching using Athena software resources It does not necessarily influence office computing or other administrative hardware procurement decisions

Summary:

OWLs recommends the renewal of Athena Intel-based computers by purchase of a mixture of IBM and

HP PCs Desktop PC form factor computers should be acquired primarily from IBM until or unless HP provides an Intel-based PC in this form factor that supports Linux and for which HP is committed in its Linux support Tower case PCs should be acquired from either HP or IBM This recommendation should be applied to the next round of approximately 400 PCs to be acquired as part of the summer 2002 Athena replacement cycle, and for departments, labs, centers and individuals who want to take

advantage of the Linux Athena integration of Operating System, applications, and network services during the coming year.

Table 1 Summary of Vendor Product Reviews

Will guarantee graceful

migration if config changes:

Will give early warning of change: 30-90 days

Officially Supports Linux:

MIT $: 1406 Additional Terms: None Desktop or Tower: Desktop Configuration Lifetime: Dell will not say.

Will give early warning of change: Dell will not meet this requirement.

Officially Supports Linux: Yes.

Will guarantee graceful migration if config changes:

No improvement over previous failures in this area.

Recommendation: Do not

buy for Renewal Do not publish as a supported configuration.

Attachment 1 – IBM Quote

04/04/02

GARY ZACHIESS

MASSACHUSETTES INSTITUTE TECH Customer Number: 1044260

Quote Number: T01191 Thank you for your interest in IBM Please find below the price quote you requested

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE/EA TOTAL =============================================================================== 620441U E PRO SFF P4 2.0GHZ 40 256 ECC 1 1117.00 1117.00 MATROX G450 DVI

MFG Part#: 620441U

620451U E PRO SFF P4 2.2GHZ 40 256 ECC 1 1273.00 1273.00 MATROX G450 DVI

MFG Part#: 10K0046

22P6965 IBM 24X10X40 MAX BLACK 1 87.00 87.00 INTERNAL CD-RW DRIVE

MFG Part#: 22P6965

66344AN G97 19.0INCRT 18.0V BLK TCO 1 237.00 237.00 MFG Part#: 66344AN

Subtotal Without Shipping & Handling 2714.00 Miscellaneous + 0.00 Total after Miscellaneous 2714.00 Shipping Via 2-DAY STD AIR + 0.00

GRAND Total 2714.00 =======================

To purchase your quoted item(s) online, please click the below link: http://www.myorderstatusonline.com/orderstatus/login.cfm?cid=1044260&oid=T01191 If you have any questions, or require additional information, please do not hesitate to give me a call Thank you again for calling IBM Sincerely, James Kang

IBM Sales Rep

(800) 656-0833 x6909

Fax: (480)776-8618

jkang@ibm4pcs.com

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

This quotation supersedes any previous written or oral quotations

from IBM and is valid for thirty (30) days from the date of this letter

Acceptance of this quotation is subject to IBM's standard payment terms and

availability of the product Promotional items may be included in the quotation butare valid for (7) days from the date of this letter

Any part number beginning with the letter "W7", "W8", "W9", is to be considered a promotional part All sales are subject to IBM's terms and conditions of sales included with the products

Attachment 2 – Dell Quote

Customer #: 16205808 Quote Date: 3/21/02Date: 3/22/02 6:56:28 AM Customer Name: NECX/MIT

Product Subtotal: $1,406.00 Amount Leased: $1,406.00

Shipping & Handling: $0.00

Shipping Method: Ground Total Number of System Groups: 1

Base Unit: 1.80GHz/400MHz Front Side Bus,P4,Dell Precision 340 Small Desktop (220-8311)

Memory: 512MB,PC800 @ 400MHz,2X256, RIMM,Rambus Memory,Dell Precision 340,Factory Install (311- 2409) Keyboard: Enhanced Quietkey Keyboard, PS/2,3 Hot Keys,Dell PrecisionX30 (310-1420)

Monitor: Dell UltraScan,P992,19 inch Monitor with 17.97 inch Viewable Image Size,Gray,Dell Precision (320- 1522) Video Card: ATI,Rage 128 Ultra,32MB,VGA, Graphics Card,Dell Precision 340 Small Desktop (320-1530)

Hard Drive: 20GB Hard Drive,IDE(ATA-100) #1,1inch,7.2 RPM,Dell Precision 340,Factory Install (340-8561) Floppy Disk Drive: 3.5",1.44MB,Floppy Drive Dell Precision 530, Factory Install (340-3736)

Operating System: WINDOWS 2000 Pro,Service Pack 2,NTFS,Dell Precision, EnglishFactory Install (420-1536)

Mouse: No Mouse for Workstation Model (310-1247)

CD-ROM or DVD-ROM Drive: 24X/10X/40X CD Read-Write,IDE,Midnight Gray,Dell Precision 530/340,Factory Install (313-0853) Service: Type 3 Contract - Next Business Day Parts & Labor On-Site Response 2YR Extended (900-6212) Service: Type 3 Contract - Next Business Day Parts & Labor On-Site Response Initial Year (900-6940)

Installation: Standard On-Site Installation Declined (900-9987)

SOFTWARE & ACCESSORIES

Attachment 3 – HP Quote

Product Subtotal: $1,406.00 Amount Leased: $1,406.00

Shipping & Handling: $0.00

Shipping Method: Ground Total Number of System Groups: 1

800-274-7799 Email Address:

Andy_Meyer@Dell.com Phone Ext: 48366

Business Lease arranged by Dell Financial Services L.P., an independent entity, to qualified customers Lease payments based on 48 month FMV purchase option lease, and do not include taxes (which may vary from taxes on

purchase amount) and fees, or shipping charges No security deposit required A $55 documentation fee will be added to your lease Subject to credit approval and availability Lease terms subject to change without notice For your convenience, your sales representative, quote number and customer number have been

included to provide you with faster service when you are ready to place your order You may also

place your order online at www.dell.com/quote

This quote is subject to the terms of the agreement signed by you and Dell, or absent such agreement,

is subject to the applicable Dell terms and conditions agreement.

Prices and tax rates are valid in the U.S only and are subject to change

All product and pricing information is based on latest information available Subject to change without notice or obligation.

LCD panels in Dell products contain mercury, please dispose properly.

Please contact Dell Financial Services' Asset Recovery Services group for EPA compliant disposal options at US_DFS_AssetRecovery@dell.com Minimum quantities may apply.

4r1-16175-00

Your HP Sales Contact:

404-774-5633Paul Santangelo

Delivery Method

StandardDelivery Duty Paid

3/22/2002 2:09:56PM

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Quote Number

14r1-16175-00

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HP workstation x1100 Base SPU,Linux

19" Performance CRT monitor

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