Title:

G-01: Reasonable Unisys Hardware Support Decommitment and Notice to the User Community

Background

Unisys has committed to UNITE and other user organizations, specific time frames for notice to users of future support termination for its products.

Unisys has announced termination of engineering support for NX4800 and NX4600 systems effective June 2002. This follows announcement of termination of new MCP release support effective with MCP 7.0 released in December 2001. This support termination appears to be less than 5 years from last sale of NX4800 and NX4600 platforms as new equipment. In addition, the notice for support termination is inadequate for migration planning for many Customers and do not meet the commitments made to Customers for notice of support termination.

UNITE Requirement

Whereas Unisys has a responsibility to its Customers to facilitate customer realization of a reasonable return on their investment in Unisys computer equipment, Unisys software, and customer software developed to operate on their Unisys systems, and to facilitate customer planning for migration to new computer systems and new software release levels.

Be it resolved that Unisys should adhere to the termination of hardware support and notice thereof committed to its Customers through Unisys commitments to the UNITE North American Users Association:

1. Hardware Support shall be available for a minimum of 5 years from the date of last sale and installation of computer system products sold as "new";

2. Unisys shall provide a minimum of two years advance notice of hardware support termination.

Be it further resolved that such notices not only be timely but also be published in a format readily understandable by Unisys Customers and Unisys Field Sales Staff, and distributed to Customers in both electronic and hard copy forms with distribution details left to Unisys discretion except that publication solely on the Unisys web site is an incomplete and unacceptable form of distribution.

Unisys should provide:

1. full hardware support, including Software/Hardware Engineering access for a minimum of 5 years from sale of equipment as new

2. at least 1 year notice for termination of new MCP release qualification on a platform

3. at least a 1 year notice for Engineering break-fix support termination

4. at least 1 year notice for GNS support termination

Unisys Response

In response to this requirement, Unisys has further documented the three phases of product support services. The services provided during each phase are outlined in the following table.

Phase Support Table

Products made non-orderable prior to December 31, 2002 had varying Phase 1 and Phase 2 Support termination dates.

For all products made non-orderable after January 1, 2003, our customers can expect to receive at least 5 years of Phase 1 Support and an additional 2 years of Phase 2 Support from the date of purchase of the equipment. This means that our customers will know substantially in advance what to expect and this somewhat mitigates the notification process issues raised.

The dates for termination of Phase 1 Support and Phase 2 Support will be established when a product becomes non-orderable. This will provide 5 years of Phase 1 Support and an additional 2 years of Phase 2 Support. At the end of that period the product enters Phase 3 Support.

ClearPath clients can expect to receive ClearPath MCP and OS2200 releases containing new features for at least 4 years after a ClearPath server becomes non orderable. The year of the final new feature release available for a particular server model will be determined when the server becomes non-orderable. Historically, the period of time between ClearPath feature releases has varied depending on customer business requirements. As a result, it will not be possible to accurately identify the number of a final feature release until the prior release achieves general customer availability. For example, if Release 12 is the final feature release available for a particular server model, this will be determined when Release 11 is made generally available to all users.

Clients can expect new storage solutions (disk and tape) and I/O adapters to be offered for at least 3 years after a ClearPath server becomes non orderable.

It is Unisys current business practice to not provide new feature releases of platform-related firmware and virtual machine software for a particular platform model. New fixes for these products are provided during the Phase 1 Support period.

It is Unisys business practice that the communication of Phase Support termination dates are the responsibility of the field sales and service organizations.

In addition, Unisys is taking action to more consistently present information about Phase 1 Support termination dates and final software releases on support.unisys.com and in software release documentation.

Finally, Infrastructure Maintenance Services (formerly Surety) charges for ClearPath software entitle customers to receive support for current as well as prior releases during the published release support period. They do not include entitlement to receive new software features. Such features are available for orderable servers and also for non-orderable servers for at least 4 years via Subscription services.

Unisys product life cycle policies and business practices are subject to change in response to business and market conditions and we will make every effort to provide customers timely notification of planned changes.

UNITE Response

UNITE accepts the Unisys response.

Title

G-02: Reasonable Unisys Software Support Termination and Notice to the User Community

Background

Unisys has committed to UNITE and other user organizations, specific time frames for notice to users of future support termination for it's products.

Unisys published termination of new operating system support for "LX5100 (DS/2)" and "LX5200 (DS/2)" systems effective with release MCP 7.0 (scheduled for release in November 2001) on Pages 7-10 and 7-11 of the MCP 7 Migration Guide, document 8999 9197-000 published in November 2001.

This notice of termination of new operating system support for the above LX5x00 systems was not previously published in MCP Migration guides as recently as the MCP 6 "service pack" 2 Migration Guide document 8999 7415 -002 published in September 2001 (see pages 7-6 and 7-7). In fact the MCP 6 guide references the LX5000 as a migration path for NX4200 systems (again see page 7-7).

This lack of adequate notice comes on top of the stealth decommitment of new operating system support for NX4800 / NX4600 platforms in March of 2001 where Unisys published notice internally of MCP support termination effective with MCP 6.0 (47.1) which had been released in December of 2000. Support termination for NX4800/NX4600 platforms was subsequently extended to the MCP 7.0 (48.1) release (available December 2001) with the notice that Software Engineering bug fix support will terminate in June 2002. These notice time frames are inadequate for migration planning for many Customers and do not meet the commitments made to Customers for notice of support termination.

UNITE Requirement

Whereas Unisys has a responsibility to its Customers to facilitate customer realization of a reasonable return on their investment in Unisys computer equipment, Unisys software, and customer software developed to operate on their Unisys systems, and to facilitate customer planning for migration to new computer systems and new software release levels.

Be it resolved that Unisys should adhere to the termination notices on hardware support and software support, which includes new operating system and bug fix support, committed to its Customers through Unisys commitments to the UNITE North American Users Association:

1. Hardware and Software Support shall be available for a minimum of 5 years from the date of last sale and installation of computer system products sold as "new";

2. Unisys shall provide a minimum of two years advance notice of hardware termination and a minimum of the longer of two years or two operating system release levels advance notice of software support termination.

Be it further resolved that such notices not only be timely but also be published in a format readily understandable by Unisys Customers and Unisys Field Sales Staff, and distributed to Customers in both electronic and hard copy forms with distribution details left to Unisys discretion except that publication solely on the Unisys web site is an incomplete and unacceptable form of distribution.

Unisys should provide:

1. full software and hardware support, including Software/Hardware Engineering access for a minimum of 5 years from sale of equipment as new

2. at least 1 year notice for termination of new MCP release qualification on a platform

3. at least a 1 year notice for Engineering break-fix support termination

4. at least 1 year notice for GNS support termination

5. a reduction in Software Surety cost upon cessation of new MCP release qualification and a further reduction in surety cost upon cessation of Engineering break-fix support.

Unisys Response

In response to this requirement, Unisys has further documented the three phases of product support services. The services provided during each phase are outlined in the following table.

Phase Support Table

Products made non-orderable prior to December 31, 2002 had varying Phase 1 and Phase 2 Support termination dates.

For all products made non-orderable after January 1, 2003, our customers can expect to receive at least 5 years of Phase 1 Support and an additional 2 years of Phase 2 Support from the date of purchase of the equipment. This means that our customers will know substantially in advance what to expect and this somewhat mitigates the notification process issues raised.

The dates for termination of Phase 1 Support and Phase 2 Support will be established when a product becomes non-orderable. This will provide 5 years of Phase 1 Support and an additional 2 years of Phase 2 Support. At the end of that period the product enters Phase 3 Support.

ClearPath clients can expect to receive ClearPath MCP and OS2200 releases containing new features for at least 4 years after a ClearPath server becomes non orderable. The year of the final new feature release available for a particular server model will be determined when the server becomes non-orderable. Historically, the period of time between ClearPath feature releases has varied depending on customer business requirements. As a result, it will not be possible to accurately identify the number of a final feature release until the prior release achieves general customer availability. For example, if Release 12 is the final feature release available for a particular server model, this will be determined when Release 11 is made generally available to all users.

Clients can expect new storage solutions (disk and tape) and I/O adapters to be offered for at least 3 years after a ClearPath server becomes non orderable.

It is Unisys current business practice to not provide new feature releases of platform-related firmware and virtual machine software for a particular platform model. New fixes for these products are provided during the Phase 1 Support period.

It is Unisys business practice that the communication of Phase Support termination dates are the responsibility of the field sales and service organizations.

In addition, Unisys is taking action to more consistently present information about Phase 1 Support termination dates and final software releases on support.unisys.com and in software release documentation.

Finally, Infrastructure Maintenance Services (formerly Surety) charges for ClearPath software entitle customers to receive support for current as well as prior releases during the published release support period. They do not include entitlement to receive new software features. Such features are available for orderable servers and also for non-orderable servers for at least 4 years via Subscription services.

Unisys product life cycle policies and business practices are subject to change in response to business and market conditions and we will make every effort to provide customers timely notification of planned changes.

UNITE Response

UNITE accepts the Unisys response.

Title

G-03: Reasonable Unisys Support Termination Notice to the User Community

Background

Unisys has committed to UNITE and other user organizations, specific time frames for notice to users of future support termination for it's products.

Unisys published termination of new operating system support for "LX5100 (DS/2)" and "LX5200 (DS/2)" systems effective with release MCP 7.0 (scheduled for release in November 2001) on Pages 7-10 and 7-11 of the MCP 7 Migration Guide, document 8999 9197-000 published in November 2001.

This notice of termination of new operating system support for the above LX5x00 systems was not previously published in MCP Migration guides as recently as the MCP 6 "service pack" 2 Migration Guide document 8999 7415 -002 published in September 2001 (see pages 7-6 and 7-7). In fact the MCP 6 guide references the LX5000 as a migration path for NX4200 systems (again see page 7-7).

This lack of adequate notice comes on top of the stealth decommitment of new operating system support for NX4800 / NX4600 platforms in March of 2001 where Unisys published notice internally of MCP support termination effective with MCP 6.0 (47.1) which had been released in December of 2000. Support termination for NX4800/NX4600 platforms was subsequently extended to the MCP 7.0 (48.1) release (available December 2001) with the notice that Software Engineering bug fix support will terminate in June 2002. These notice time frames are inadequate for migration planning for many Customers and do not meet the commitments made to Customers for notice of support termination.

An additional issue is the form of the de-implementation notice for the LX5x00 systems. The LX5x00 (DS/2) designation is particularly cryptic and confusing and the systems affected could have easily been more clearly specified with nomenclature understandable to Customers.

UNITE Requirement

Whereas Unisys has a responsibility to it's Customers to facilitate customer realization of a reasonable return on their investment in Unisys computer equipment, Unisys software, and customer software developed to operate on their Unisys systems, and to facilitate customer planning for migration to new computer systems and new software release levels.

Be it resolved that Unisys should publish timely notices on termination of hardware support and software support, which includes new operating system and bug fix support.

Be it further resolved that such notices not only be timely but also be published in a format readily understandable by Unisys Customers and Unisys Field Sales Staff, and distributed to Customers in both electronic and hard copy forms with distribution details left to Unisys discretion except that publication solely on the Unisys web site is an incomplete and unacceptable form of distribution and notice should be distributed from a centralized Unisys authority.

Unisys should provide:

1. full software and hardware support, including Software/Hardware Engineering access for a minimum of 5 years from sale of equipment as new

2. at least 1 year notice for termination of new MCP release qualification on a platform

3. at least a 1 year notice for Engineering break-fix support termination

4. at least 1 year notice for GNS support termination

5. Notice should be distributed to all customers from a central Unisys authority and not distributed only through field sales/support channels.

Unisys Response

In response to this requirement, Unisys has further documented the three phases of product support services. The services provided during each phase are outlined in the following table.

Phase Support Table

Products made non-orderable prior to December 31, 2002 had varying Phase 1 and Phase 2 Support termination dates.

For all products made non-orderable after January 1, 2003, our customers can expect to receive at least 5 years of Phase 1 Support and an additional 2 years of Phase 2 Support from the date of purchase of the equipment. This means that our customers will know substantially in advance what to expect and this somewhat mitigates the notification process issues raised.

The dates for termination of Phase 1 Support and Phase 2 Support will be established when a product becomes non-orderable. This will provide 5 years of Phase 1 Support and an additional 2 years of Phase 2 Support. At the end of that period the product enters Phase 3 Support.

ClearPath clients can expect to receive ClearPath MCP and OS2200 releases containing new features for at least 4 years after a ClearPath server becomes non orderable. The year of the final new feature release available for a particular server model will be determined when the server becomes non-orderable. Historically, the period of time between ClearPath feature releases has varied depending on customer business requirements. As a result, it will not be possible to accurately identify the number of a final feature release until the prior release achieves general customer availability. For example, if Release 12 is the final feature release available for a particular server model, this will be determined when Release 11 is made generally available to all users.

Clients can expect new storage solutions (disk and tape) and I/O adapters to be offered for at least 3 years after a ClearPath server becomes non orderable.

It is Unisys current business practice to not provide new feature releases of platform-related firmware and virtual machine software for a particular platform model. New fixes for these products are provided during the Phase 1 Support period.

It is Unisys business practice that the communication of Phase Support termination dates are the responsibility of the field sales and service organizations.

In addition, Unisys is taking action to more consistently present information about Phase 1 Support termination dates and final software releases on support.unisys.com and in software release documentation.

Finally, Infrastructure Maintenance Services (formerly Surety) charges for ClearPath software entitle customers to receive support for current as well as prior releases during the published release support period. They do not include entitlement to receive new software features. Such features are available for orderable servers and also for non-orderable servers for at least 4 years via Subscription services.

Unisys product life cycle policies and business practices are subject to change in response to business and market conditions and we will make every effort to provide customers timely notification of planned changes.

UNITE Response

UNITE accepts the Unisys response.

Title

NX-01: Unisys Should Announce Availability of ClearPath MCP "Supplemental Support Packages"

Background

We have just received the MCP 7 (SSR 48.1) materials and I have come to discover that there have been two "Supplemental Support Packages" (SSPs) issued for MCP 6 (SSR 47.1). My understanding was that Unisys no longer did periodic SSRs and that they were doing roughly one SSR release a year with Interim Correction tapes (ICs) and Flashes being issued, on an immediate basis, for critical problems. I had not realized that Unisys had formalized the processes of collecting ICs and Flashes into official "Supplemental Support Packages". Apparently this has been in place for some time.

As part of the SURETY Support Services, which we purchase for all ClearPath MCP software licensed from Unisys, we are entitled to access to new releases and product fixes. However, I only receive notices from Unisys about the availability of a new SSR. While my user profile is configured to receive all "User Messages", "Support Requests" and "Alerts" from the "Entitled Support" section of the "Unisys supportONLINE" service, I have never received any email or fax notification of an SSP becoming available. Nor have I ever received written correspondence on the availability of an SSP.

In that it is now 14 to 18 months between SSRs, Unisys needs to make customers aware of SSP ability and needs to make it easy for the SSP to be evaluated by the customer and, if necessary, ordered.

UNITE Requirement

Unisys should notify all customers, who have paid SURETY Support Agreements for ClearPath MCP software, of the availability of a ClearPath MCP release "Supplemental Support Packages". The notification can be by done in a fashion that is expeditious to Unisys (mail, email or fax). The notification should include the following information:

1. The SSP designation (eg. MCP 7 (SSR 47.1) SSP 2)

2. A specific URL, linking to the appropriate page of the "Unisys supportONLINE" service, that will enable the customer to find out the contents (fixes/enhancements) of the SSP.

3. The name and Unisys document number of the SSP Migration Guide and instructions on how to order the guide (including phone number, voice menu options, order department name, etc).

4. Specific instructions on how to request shipment of the SSP (including phone numbers, voice menu options, order department name, SSR/SSP product ID, etc).

Beyond providing notice of SSP availability, Unisys should also provide a detailed SSP installation procedure, that is included as part of the SSP media package, that can be easily found by the end-user. This procedure should correctly document what to do in all cases where an SSP is being applied (SSP by itself, SSP in conjunction with an SSR, etc).

Unisys Response

In response to this requirement Unisys is pleased to announce that starting with the HMP 8.0 release, scheduled for release on February 13, 2002, all subsequent interim releases (SSPs) will be announced with a full SRA (Software Release Announcement) as is done for the major releases. We expect this will markedly improve our clients ability to access these often business critical releases. SSP releases will continue to be provided on an approximately 3 month cycle after the major release. In addition, we are making another improvement in the SRA for the major releases. In the major release announcements we will provide a prospective look at features we expect to provide in the SSP releases. We believe this will help clients in the planning of their future ClearPath IT strategies.

UNITE Response

UNITE accepts the Unisys response.

Title

NX-02: Unisys ClearPath MCP Software Releases

Background

The MCP 7 Software Release Announcement was distributed at UNITE with an estimated November 16, 2001 , release date. I submitted a Unisys Support Request (USR) the week of Nov 19th and was told that they should be shipping release announcements sometime between November 16, 2001 and November 26, 2001 .

In early January I received an announcement that MCP 7 had been released. The announcement came through the Unisys eCommunity, which provides information but cannot be used for ordering. When I had received nothing, on January 10, 2002 , I submitted another USR as to the expected date for MCP 7. I was told it was released and that announcements were being sent out in batches. I was given an 800 number to call to order the software since I did not yet have my announcement/order number. I called the 800 number and ordered the release. I received it on February 1st.

Today, February 25, 2002 , I finally received the official announcement/order form. The form was dated January 28,2002.

Unisys' current notice to customers of new release availability is inadequate. A new mechanism should be put in place to provide:

• Projected release date estimates that are more accurate (In this case the projected date was 3.5 months different from the date we received the notice). In the case where a major slippage is unavoidable, then a notice of the corrected availability date should be distributed to all customers (with support contracts).

• Notice of release availability to existing customers (with support contracts) coincident with notice to the general market place (email notice would be highly desirable).

• A mechanism (either phone or on-line) that will then allow customers to immediately request materials

UNITE Requirement

Unisys ClearPath MCP customers, with up-to-date paid support agreements, should receive the following new-release notification services from Unisys.

• accurate estimates of new-release availability

• updates if the estimated availability dates will not be met

• notification of release announcements coincident with notices to the general market place
  the ability to order the software immediately upon receipt of the new release notice

Unisys Response

Unisys has a commitment to timely availability of new software releases. However, last year Unisys implemented a new strategic IT application suite. This transition occurred during the normal distribution of the announcement letters transmitted to clients. We believe that this is a one time event. We will carefully monitor the announcement of HMP 8.0 and will report to the UNITE board after the announcement is completed. In addition, Unisys senior management made a business decision to postpone the launch of HMP 7.0 from the planned date of November, 2001 to January, 2002. We will take steps to notify the CSC when our plans change.

UNITE Response

UNITE accepts the Unisys response.

Title

NX-03: COBOL85 “Automatic Insertion” De-Implementation

Background

The release documentation for HMP 7.0 (SSR 48.1) indicates that the COBOL85 compiler's automatic insertion functionality (AUTOINSERT compiler option) will be de-implemented in a future release. For example, when inserting dashes (-) in a social security number the picture clause is currently entered as 999-99-9999 for automatic insertion. Under the de-implementation plan customers will be required to redefine our picture clause in this example as 999I-99I-9999.

When moving from V-Series to A-series two years ago, we were required to manually remove all of the I's from our picture clauses because this was not supported in the A-Series COBOL85 compiler. Now we are will be forced to go back and insert these I's in all of our programs again.

Customers using the EVA migration tools from Unisys had the I’s automatically removed from the picture clauses for them by the tools Unisys created to assist them in converting their COBOL74 source code to COBOL85.

De-implementing AUTOINSERT would require all customers using this option to go through a significant amount of work to restore the I’s.

UNITE Requirement

Unisys should drop all plans to de-implement the AUTOINSERT compiler option.

Unisys Response

Unisys agrees to postpone the removal of the feature from the compiler.

Effective with software released after May 2004 (and the reference materials associated with that software): The default setting for the $AUTOINSERT option will be changed to FALSE. All references to the option and the Automatic Insertion Editing extension will be deleted from the documentation. This is the date and the same release for which the feature was originally scheduled for complete removal from the compilers.

COBOL85 users may set the $AUTOINSERT option in the INITIALCCI file used for COBOL85 compilation.

Unisys encourages the use of standard approaches consistent with COBOL language standards. In software released after May 2004, although the Automatic Insertion Editing feature will continue to function in both compilers, the reference materials will no longer describe it. The COBOL74 and COBOL85 compilers will issue warnings suggesting the use of Manual Insertion Editing whenever $AUTOINSERT is set explicitly in the program (or, for COBOL85 programs, in the INITIALCCI file) and whenever a PICTURE character-string makes use of the Automatic Insertion Editing feature.

UNITE Response

UNITE accepts the Unisys response.