News release

PALO ALTO, Calif., and FAIRFAX, Va., May 1, 2001

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HWP) and webMethods, Inc. (Nasdaq:WEBM) today announced a strategic alliance to co-develop software that improves the quality of customers' Internet business interactions. The HP OpenView software business unit will collaborate with webMethods to create software to help companies efficiently monitor and manage the performance of their business IT environment to meet their e-business needs.

The offering from HP OpenView and webMethods will help customers discover and correct problems in application connectivity and will enable better management of application interactions throughout the extended supply chain. While the current HP OpenView offering provides a dashboard for viewing the performance of networks, systems, applications and services, through collaboration with webMethods, HP expects to extend the management capabilities of HP OpenView to include business process management.

"webMethods is a proven leader in providing companies with business process automation software solutions," said Bill Russell, vice president, HP Software Solutions Organization. "HP and webMethods' advanced technologies and consulting expertise provide customers a solid foundation for building their e-businesses."

"HP and webMethods' joint development efforts will extend to business process management. HP OpenView has the ability to provide customers with a quick and convenient view of how well their entire IT infrastructure is performing, alerting them to potential problems and inefficiencies," said David Mitchell, president and COO of webMethods, Inc. "We look forward to collaborating with HP to develop and market a solution that charts new territory in collaborative commerce."

In addition to the joint development work, HP Consulting will recommend the webMethods integration platform as a preferred integration solution for the manufacturing and supply chain markets. HP and webMethods also have agreed to establish and fund a joint program management office to manage technology development, promotional activities and sales engagements.

About webMethods, Inc.

Founded in 1996, webMethods (Nasdaq: WEBM) is headquartered in Fairfax, Va., with offices throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific. webMethods has more than 625 customers worldwide including Global 2000 leaders such as Citibank, Dell, Eastman Chemical, The Ford Motor Company, Grainger, Motorola and Starbucks. webMethods' strategic partners include Accenture, Ariba, BroadVision, Commerce One, Deloitte Consulting, EDS, Hewlett-Packard Company, i2 Technologies, J.D. Edwards, KPMG Consulting, Microsoft, Oracle Corp., SAP AG and Siebel Systems. More information about webMethods can be found at www.webMethods.com.

About HP OpenView

HP OpenView of Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading provider of Internet and e-services management solutions. HP OpenView's suite of integrated solutions and services drives Internet business success by enabling Internet businesses of all kinds to provide fast and reliable customer experience. HP OpenView solutions are at work in more than 135,000 multivendor distributed computing environments worldwide. Together with offerings from more than 200 partners, HP OpenView offers a complete portfolio of services and management solutions for integrated service management on all major platforms. Information about HP OpenView and its solutions can be found on the World Wide Web www.openview.hp.com.

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 solutions for an Internet infrastructure that's always on.

HP had total revenue from continuing operations of $48.8 billion in its 2000 fiscal year. Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at www.hp.com.

webMethods is a registered trademark of webMethods, Inc.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of HP and webMethods and their consolidated subsidiaries to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including any projections of earnings, revenues, or other financial items; any statements of the plans, strategies, and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning proposed new products, services, or developments; any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance; statements of belief and any statement of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. The risks, uncertainties and assumptions referred to above include the ability of HP or webMethods to retain and motivate key employees; the timely development, production and acceptance of products and services and their feature sets; the challenge of managing asset levels, including inventory; the flow of products into third-party distribution channels; the difficulty of keeping expense growth at modest levels while increasing revenues; and other risks that are described from time to time in HP's Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including but not limited to the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Oct. 31, 2000, or in webMethods' Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including the quarterly report for the period ended Sept. 30, 2000, and, in each case, subsequently filed reports. HP and webMethods do not intend to update these forward-looking statements.