Users affected by Compaq's decision to drop Windows NT on its Alpha servers will be offered trade-in programs and services to aid migration to Windows NT or Windows 2000 on ProLiant servers.
In the short term, customers can continue to use their existing systems with current applications and will have the option of upgrading to Service Packs 5 and 6 of Windows NT 4.0, according to the contents of an internal document dated August 25 that's being prepared for circulation to customers by Compaq and that was obtained by Computerworld.
A Compaq spokesman confirmed that such a letter was "in the works" but offered no further details.
Compaq will continue to support users with current NT-on-Alpha servers at least through the first quarter of 2001 but will recommend that customers take advantage of the trade-in and migration programs after that.
Tru64 Unix and OpenVMS customers who purchased their Alpha servers with the understanding that Compaq would support NT in the future will also be offered trade-ins to ProLiant servers - if they choose to move to Windows NT in the future.
Similar offers will be extended to customers of Compaq's Professional Workstations running Windows NT on Alpha and to customers of Compaq's Raid Array 8000 and Enterprise Storage Array 12000 storage product lines.