News release

HP Chairman Addresses Creating Digital Dividends Conference

Company Announces World e-Inclusion Milestones to Deliver Internet-enabled Solutions to Poor in Developing Countries

SEATTLE, Oct. 17, 2000

In a keynote address at the Creating Digital Dividends Conference in Seattle, Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HWP) chairman, president and chief executive officer called for new, people-centered, sustainable approaches and partnerships to solve the problem of the world's uneven distribution of information technology, economic resources and wealth.

Debra Dunn, vice president, HP Strategy and Corporate Operations also speaking at the conference, announced further milestones in HP's efforts to deliver relevant, sustainable, Internet-enabled solutions to the poor in developing countries through HP World e-Inclusion, a new business strategy to broaden access to the social and economic opportunities of the digital age.

HP World e-Inclusion milestones include an agreement to work together with TeltecGlobal to deploy solar- and satellite-powered telecenters to provide essential services to poor communities in Africa and Asia; and the Development MarketSpace, an online service that brings together individuals and groups in developing countries with investors and technical professionals. To complement these alliances, HP is expanding its world-class research and development (R&D) operation by establishing research operations in India and China to generate innovations targeted at developing countries.

TeltecGlobal Project

HP and TeltecGlobal plan to work together to deploy telecenters and in-village services for the rural poor, helping to spur micro enterprise and economic development, including distance learning, telemedicine, banking, communications, and access to world markets.

A similar project is underway in partnership with the Foundation for Sustainable Development of Costa Rica -- led by former President Jose Maria Figueres Olsen. HP is also pursuing a project with Professor Muhammad Yunus' Grameen Bank to develop village telecenters -- this time in Bangladesh -- with an initial focus on reducing infant mortality and developing efficient transfer of funds, especially for individuals and small businesses.

Development MarketSpace

Using HP's e-speak software technology that allows the discovery and interaction of e-services over the Internet, the Development MarketSpace will link an ecosystem of communities where people and institutions can invest their knowledge, expertise, and money in ideas and programs that increase prosperity among people living in developing countries.

India Research Operation

HP is creating an India Research Operation to examine and explore the confluence of relevant social, cultural, economic and technological drivers in order to generate innovations targeted at the world's developing economies. The efforts at the India Research Operation will feed into and augment HP's World e-Inclusion effort.

HP Labs China

HP Labs China plans to focus research efforts on the intersection of the Internet and 3G wireless technology. The collision of technologies will yield opportunities for both World e-Inclusion and the emerging entrepreneurial small business community in China.

About World e-Inclusion

World e-Inclusion extends HP's business focus to traditionally excluded markets, with an emphasis on sustainable business ventures that improve the livelihoods of the roughly 4 billion people who have very low incomes in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America. HP is inventing and integrating the necessary technology, products, and e-services to deliver relevant solutions to benefit the poor in the developing world. Solutions focus on: health, education, information-based jobs, access to markets, and access to microcredit and other financial services.

To guide the new strategy, HP has formed an advisory board of respected experts in technology, public policy, and sustainable development.

About Creating Digital Dividends

Creating Digital Dividends is sponsored by the World Resources Institute to bring together a select group of leaders to explore untapped business opportunities by expanding digital technologies into regions, industries, and applications to unconventional markets in developing nations. Keynote addresses and panels of leaders from business, emerging markets and international agencies are featured. More information can be found at http://www.digitaldividend.org/.

About HP

Hewlett-Packard Company -- a leading global provider of computing and imaging solutions and services -- is focused on making technology and its benefits accessible to individuals and businesses through simple appliances, useful e-services and an Internet infrastructure that's always on.

HP has 86,000 employees worldwide and had total revenue from continuing operations of $42.4 billion in its 1999 fiscal year. Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.

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