PALO ALTO, Calif.--June 27, 2002--HP (NYSE:HPQ - News) today announced that industry-standard HP ProLiant servers have achieved record levels of performance benchmarks results in multiple categories of MMB2, TPC-C and TPC-H testing -- consistently outperforming IBM and other competitors' servers.

Most recently, the next-generation ProLiant DL580 server eclipsed the IBM x440 server and other competitive offerings by achieving a record performance benchmark for a server running on Microsoft(R) Exchange 2000. The ProLiant DL580 server runs on Intel(R) Xeon MP processors with the ServerWorks Grand Champion HE chipset. The IBM x440 server runs on the same processor and the IBM Summit chipset.

In the TPC-C benchmark, the next-generation dual processor-based HP ProLiant ML530 server achieved a record result for systems configured with two processors, exceeding the performance of the IBM Summit-based x360 server by an average of 49 percent.(1) The ProLiant ML530 server also operates on the ServerWorks Grand Champion HE chipset.

"These rigorous performance evaluations underscore what our customers already know: HP ProLiant servers continually hit the sweet spot with the right combination of performance, manageability and advanced technologies to meet their dynamic business requirements," said Brad Anderson, vice president of mainstream servers, HP Industry Standard Servers.

"These latest benchmark results once again prove that ProLiant is the world's most highly optimized platform for deploying Microsoft Exchange 2000 and Microsoft SQL Server database platforms. These strong baseline references demonstrate the competitive advantages HP offers versus IBM and other vendors."

The HP ProLiant DL580 server also recently achieved an industry-best average CPU utilization rate of 78.9 percent during the 11,400 MAPI Messaging Benchmark 2 (MMB2) test. The HP ProLiant DL580 is a high-performance, density-optimized 4-way server for enterprise data centers and is the first server in the industry to support Hot Plug Memory capabilities, providing customers enhanced fault resilience for business-critical enterprise applications.

Record-setting Benchmark Performance Results On June 25, the HP ProLiant DL580 server achieved the first TPC-H benchmark with a transaction price of under $100 per transaction. The ProLiant DL580 achieved 1,695.0 QphH@100GB at $82/QphH@100GB. This is a 14 percent performance advantage for 32 percent less cost than an IBM xSeries 440 published on the same benchmark.(2)The HP ProLiant ML530 server set a record TPC-C benchmark on April 23 running Microsoft Windows(R) 2000 Advanced Server with a result of 34,473.15 transactions per minute (tpmC) with a competitive price performance of $6.27/tpmC.(3)On June 11, the ProLiant ML530 server achieved record performance benchmarks for a dual processor server running on Microsoft Exchange 2000. The ProLiant ML530 server achieved an average CPU utilization rate of 90.1 percent during the 8,010 MAPI MMB2 test, eclipsing results from Dell and IBM(4).HP has led the industry since Sept. 19, 2001, in overall performance leadership as measured by the TPC-C benchmark with 709,220 tpmC at $14.96.

More information on all of HP's record performance benchmarks is available at http://www.hp.com/products/servers/benchmarks.

About HP

HP is a leading global provider of products, technologies, solutions and services to consumers and businesses. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. HP completed its merger transaction involving Compaq Computer Corp. on May 3, 2002. The company would have had combined revenue on a pro forma basis with the Compaq transaction of approximately $81.1 billion in fiscal 2001 and has operations in more than 160 countries. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com. (1) HP ProLiant ML530 published a result of 34,473.15 tpmC at $6.27 per tpmC on April 23, 2002. The IBM xSeries 360 published a result of 23,027.66 tpmC at $4.41 per tpmC on March 11, 2002.(2) IBM xSeries 440 TPC-H published March 11, 2002 1,486QphH@100GB at $122 per QphH@100GB.(3) HP ProLiant ML530 published a result of 34,473.15 tpmC at $6.27 per tpmC on April 23, 2002. The IBM xSeries 360 published a result of 23,027.66 tpmC at $4.41 per tpmC on March 11, 2002.(4) MAPI Messaging Benchmarks, June 2002, www.microsoft.com/exchange/techinfo/planning/2000/PerfScal.asp

Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Intel is a U.S. registered trademark of Intel Corp.

Contact:
HP
Tim Willeford, 508/467-4120
tim.willeford@hp.com