News release

HP Statement on Comdisco Inc. Bankruptcy Proceedings

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 24, 2001

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HWP) today announced that it has submitted a bid of $750 million to purchase substantially all of the assets of Comdisco, Inc.'s Availability Solutions operations.

The HP bid is fully supported by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors and has been approved by the Comdisco board of directors. Both the creditors committee and Comdisco have withdrawn their support of a prior bid by SunGard Data Systems Inc. The Department of Justice has also filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block SunGard's acquisition.

HP's bid is still subject to final approval at a sale hearing of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which has been rescheduled for Nov. 7.

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.

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 its 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 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, and subsequently filed reports. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.