"It is future-proof," said Jim Carlson, director of marketing of HP, at the launch of the system in India on Wednesday. He said it was a good investment decision for corporates because they would not have to junk their systems when IA-64 systems (based on the new architecture) entered the market, or continue with obsolete technology. "All you have to do is pull a card out of the box and insert a new one," he said.

HP is the only company to introduce such a server so far. Its competitors in the server market, Sun Microsystems and Compaq, have yet to announce similar products.

Work on the new architecture is being done jointly by HP and Intel, giving HP an edge when it comes to products based on this technology. Intel will market the new technology and licenseit to other companies, once the first processor, Merced, based on this architecture comes out. HP and Intel have the IPR for the architecture.

Ganesh Ayyar, president, HP India, said the new product would reinforce HP's leadership in the server segment and improve its market share further. HP had the highest market share of 40 per cent in the mid-range server segment in 1997-98, according to IDC (India) figures. He said HP had already sold 700 units of the server, worldwide, after its US launch on April 14. The Indian pricing for the server (average model) is likely to be around Rs 6,00,000.