HP Integrity

HP Integrity. The HP Integrity is a line of 64-bit servers and supercomputers introduced by Hewlett-Packard in 2001. Based on the Intel Itanium microprocessor architecture, the line was designed for mission-critical enterprise computing, offering high availability and scalability. Integrity systems were positioned as successors to PA-RISC-based HP 9000 servers and competed directly with high-end systems from IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Dell.

Overview

The Integrity family represented Hewlett-Packard's strategic bet on the Intel Itanium architecture, developed jointly with Intel under the IA-64 specification. These systems were engineered for mission-critical computing environments, such as large databases, enterprise resource planning applications, and complex scientific computing tasks. A key innovation was the HP sx2000 chipset, which provided a modular, cell-based architecture enabling flexible configurations from small blade servers to massive supercomputer partitions. The line was integral to HP's Adaptive Enterprise strategy, aiming to align information technology infrastructure with business processes. Integrity servers often operated alongside HP NonStop systems and were supported by comprehensive HP Services offerings.

Hardware

Integrity servers spanned a wide range of form factors, from rack-mounted and blade server models to large modular computing systems. The foundational hardware included processors from the Intel Itanium 2 and subsequent Itanium families, such as the Dual-Core Itanium 2 and Itanium 9300 series. High-end models like the Integrity Superdome and Integrity Superdome 2 utilized the scalable HP sx2000 chipset and later the HP sx3000 chipset, supporting hardware partitioning into multiple virtual or logical partitions. These systems featured advanced reliability, availability and serviceability technologies, including hot-swappable components, extensive error-correcting code memory, and redundant power supplies. Connectivity was provided through high-speed interconnects like InfiniBand and Fibre Channel.

Operating systems

A defining characteristic of the Integrity line was its multi-operating system strategy, supporting several major enterprise platforms. The primary and optimized operating system was HP-UX, HP's proprietary Unix system, which offered advanced features like HP-UX Workload Manager and HP Serviceguard for high availability. Integrity servers were also a major platform for OpenVMS, following Compaq's port of the operating system to Itanium prior to the HP-Compaq merger. Furthermore, select models supported Linux distributions from Red Hat and SUSE, as well as Microsoft's Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012 for Itanium-based systems. This multi-OS capability allowed customers to consolidate diverse workloads onto a common hardware architecture.

History

The line was announced in 2001, with the first systems shipping in 2002, marking a pivotal shift from HP's proprietary PA-RISC architecture. The development was closely tied to the Intel Itanium alliance, a partnership aimed at challenging the dominance of IBM POWER and Sun's SPARC architectures. A significant milestone was the 2003 introduction of the Integrity Superdome, which competed directly with the IBM pSeries and Sun Fire high-end servers. Following the HP-Compaq merger, the Integrity platform absorbed the Tru64 UNIX and OpenVMS roadmaps from Digital Equipment Corporation. Over time, as the Itanium market contracted in favor of x86-64 platforms like the Intel Xeon, HP merged the Integrity and HP ProLiant server businesses in 2008. Support and development continued for existing customers, but new Itanium processor releases from Intel became increasingly rare.

Market position and impact

The Integrity series secured a significant presence in sectors with stringent reliability requirements, including telecommunications, financial services, and government agencies. It was particularly successful in consolidating legacy HP 3000 and HP 9000 workloads, as well as AlphaServer and VAX systems running OpenVMS. The platform competed in the RISC/Unix server market against IBM Power Systems, Oracle's SPARC Enterprise M Series, and Fujitsu SPARC servers. However, the broader market shift towards industry-standard x86 servers, led by Intel Xeon and AMD Opteron processors, gradually eroded its market share. The Integrity line's legacy is its role in high-availability computing and its demonstration of a major, though ultimately declining, architectural alternative to the dominant x86 platform during the 2000s. Category:Computer-related introductions in 2001 Category:Hewlett-Packard hardware Category:Server computers