As long as you find the right people. :-) I did the upgrade on the E2050B, and some firmware development on the E5810 before leaving Agilent. My buddy down the hall at TAMS (tamsinc.com) - which is the source of HPUX these days, was the E5810 project manager. So we have experience. :-)
You should be able to use the new E5810 with the old system. They both use the same protocols. It would be easier to support if you upgraded your library (available from TAMS), but it shouldn't be necessary. [EMAIL PROTECTED] (TAMS is our landlord, but other than that we are not associated)