News release

HP Superdome Server and Oracle9i Database Deliver Record-breaking Data Warehousing Benchmark

Single-system TPC-H Benchmark Beats IBM's Clustered System Results and Competition in Performance Per CPU

PALO ALTO and REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Aug. 6, 2001

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HWP) and Oracle® Corporation (Nasdaq:ORCL) today announced a record-breaking data warehousing benchmark for the HP Superdome server, Oracle9i Database and the HP Surestore disk array XP512.

This new single-system 1,000 GB TPC-H benchmark beats the IBM RS6000 SP550 clustered system -- while using half the number of processors -- and delivers the best performance per central processing unit (CPU) against results from IBM, NCR and Sun Microsystems⁽¹⁾.

It also surpasses the HP Superdome server's previous world record⁽²⁾ by 35 percent, further illustrating the world-class power and return on investment that the HP Superdome server, Oracle9i Database and HP Surestore disk array XP512 are capable of providing to data warehousing environments.

A single-system 1,000 GB TPC-H benchmark of 13,160 queries per hour (QphH) was set, with a price performance of $713/QphH and an expected shipment availability date of Sept. 5. The TPC-H benchmark is an industry-standard test used to measure the capability of a system to execute complex ad-hoc queries against large databases. It is a real-world performance test for decision support and data warehousing applications.

"In today's intensively competitive world, companies need to know more about their customers, their products and their services," said Mark Hudson, worldwide marketing manager, HP Business System and Technology Organization. "This record TPC-H number illustrates that HP Superdome servers, HP Surestore disk arrays XP512 and Oracle9i Database have the raw power to not only provide faster results but also provide the foundation for corporations to unlock important information through the execution of extremely complex queries."

"The combination of Oracle and HP solutions delivers accurate and timely business intelligence with less technical complexity and investment. Not only does Oracle9i Database deliver more performance with half the processors, but IBM's DB2 costs three times more⁽²⁾," said Chuck Rozwat, executive vice president of Server Technologies, Oracle. "Oracle9i Database is the leading database server for data warehousing, and this benchmark illustrates why so many customers continue to choose Oracle over competing database products."

The test was performed on a PA-RISC 8600-based HP Superdome server with 64 processors running HP-UX 11i, 128 GB of memory, four HP Surestore disk arrays XP512 and Oracle 9i Database.

More information on TPC is available at http://www.tpc.org/.

About Oracle

Oracle Corporation provides the software that powers the Internet. For more information about Oracle, please call +1 650 506 7000.

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 all. 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 http://www.hp.com.

⁽¹⁾ As of Aug. 1:

• HP Superdome 64000, 64 processors; RDBMS Oracle9i Database with Partitioning Option, License and Support, $972,800: 13,160 QphH at 1,000 GB, $713/QphH at 1,000 GB, expected to be available on Sept. 5.
• IBM RS/6000 SP 550, cluster 128 processors, RDBMS IBM DB2 UDB 7.1, License and Support, $3,334,996: 12,866.8 QphH at 1,000 GB, $649/QphH at 1,000 GB available Aug. 15, 2000.
• Sun Fire 6800, 24 processors, RDBMS IBM DB2 UDB 7.2: 4,735 QphH at 1,000 GB, $581/QphH at 1,000 GB, expected to be available Oct. 31.
• NCR Worldmark 5250, cluster 128 processors, RDBMS Teradata, V2R41: 18,542 QphH at 1,000 GB, $693/QphH at 1,000 GB, available July 27.

Oracle is a registered trademark and Oracle9i is a trademark or registered trademark of Oracle Corporation, Redwood City, Calif.

TPC, TPC-R, TPC-H, TPC-C, AND TPC-W are copyright of the Transaction Processing Performance Council.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the possibility that the market for the sale of certain products and services may not develop as expected; that development of these products and services may not proceed as planned; 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, and subsequently filed reports. If any of these risks or uncertainties materializes or any of these assumptions proves incorrect, HP's results could differ materially from HP's expectations in these statements. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.