HP OpenVMS Systems

October 25, 2007 marks the 30^th anniversary of the release of VMS v1.0, the first version of the HP OpenVMS operating system. Three decades and three hardware platforms later, OpenVMS is better than ever, and ready to take on the future. In fact, we are preparing the next release of OpenVMS right now, with an expected ship date of November 2007.

In the years since the release of VMS v1.0, OpenVMS has been the power behind some of the most critical applications around the world, including:

• Processing trillions of dollars of financial transactions
• Sending more than two-thirds of the world's text messages
• Keeping railroads safe and running on time
• Distributing power
• Keeping hospitals and their clinical systems up and running

• Coordinating government and defense operations
• Controlling the manufacture of over 90 percent of the world's microprocessors
• ...and much, much more

Now OpenVMS runs on the most modern technology available, the HP line of Integrity servers, including the latest HP Integrity BladeSystem servers.

These pages celebrate the past, the present, and the future of the HP OpenVMS operating system, its applications, and most important of all, you, our OpenVMS customers.

OpenVMS: the future is secure
» A 30th-anniversary overview and strategy statement by Ann McQuaid, General Manager, HP OpenVMS Systems Division.

Read the latest article from InformationWeek:
» VMS Operating System Is 30 Years Old; Customers Believe It Can Last Forever

Use the tabs at the top of the page to continue the celebration. Scroll down or use the links below for more information.
» OpenVMS firsts
» 30^th anniversary guestbook
» Related sites

• First broadly scalable operating system—OpenVMS was the first operating system to prove that scaling from desktop to data center was practical, and the first to demonstrate that clustered systems could achieve levels of availability well beyond mainframes or fault- tolerant systems, according to Wes Melling, former Vice President of the Digital and Compaq Windows NT and OpenVMS Systems groups
• First VAX-11/780 system in the United States—in 1977, the first VAX-11/780 system in the United States was installed at Carnegie Mellon University
• First error correction coded system memory—in 1977, the VAX-11/780 memory design was the first in which error correction and detection code (ECC) was designed into the system
• First computerized remote diagnosis facility—in 1977, Digital opened the Digital Diagnosis Center (DDC) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the industry's first facility for computerized remote diagnosis
• First VAX 11/780 systems in Europe—in 1978, the first VAX 11/780 systems in Europe were installed at CERN in Switzerland and the Max Planck Institute in Germany
• First remote delivery of software updates—in 1983, the Digital Colorado Springs facility began the industry's first remote delivery of software updates
• First voice output—in 1983, entertainer Stevie Wonder introduced DECtalk, the first device offered by a major computer manufacturer that accepted ASCII text from an RS232C terminal port, and spoke the text rather than printing it
• First corporate Internet domain—in 1985, Digital was the first computer company to register an Internet domain, establishing dec.com; the link is still active today, though it redirects to the HP.com Web site
• First electronic equipment recycling—in 1996, Digital's Resource Recovery Center in Contoocook, New Hampshire, was among the first environmentally responsible facilities to recycle and dispose of outdated electronic equipment; Digital processed 30 million pounds of electronic materials per year, and less than one-half of one percent went into landfills

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