News release

HP Unveils First Intelligent IT Infrastructure to Reduce Costs and Enhance Agility for Large Computing Environments

PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 5, 2001

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HWP) today introduced the first intelligent IT infrastructure solution encompassing software and services that can drastically reduce infrastructure deployment and operational costs for businesses with large computing environments.

The breakthrough HP Utility Data Center (UDC) solution enables customers to reduce costs significantly by improving IT asset use, decreasing the risk of IT over-provisioning and eliminating physical data center reconfigurations.

HP also announced new HP OpenView and HP Netaction software and global services to improve business and operational flexibility and robustness and dramatically improve customer service levels. Additionally, HP is making Web services pervasive across platforms by offering the HP Application Server for free as a download from http://www.hp.com (see related announcement, "HP Enhances Software Suites for Infrastructure Management and Revenue Generation Capabilities").

These offerings provide customers with the means to manage diverse environments and a platform to develop, integrate and deploy new revenue-generating voice and data services.

HP is also in discussion with BEA Systems to complete a global strategic alliance for enterprise e-business software solutions. The discussions include potential co-marketing and sales initiatives around BEA WebLogic software offerings and HP OpenView management solutions.

"With our growing emphasis on software and services, HP is able to help customers improve their IT asset use and better manage their ongoing operational costs, which increases return on investment," said Duane Zitzner, president, HP Computing Systems. "With the software and solutions announced today, we'll be able to help customers build and manage extremely cost-effective data centers that are integral parts of their always-on Internet infrastructures."

HP UDC with Utility Controller Software

The HP UDC can be reconfigured dynamically and simplifies data center management by allowing customers to consolidate and standardize IT resources and to automate data center processes.

The scaleable solution is ideal for businesses in industries dependent on IT infrastructure quality and flexibility, such as telecommunications and financial services enterprises, managed service providers and infrastructure application service providers. At the heart of the HP UDC is HP 's utility controller software, which simplifies the design, allocation and billing of IT resources for applications and services.

The HP UDC allows data center infrastructures to be wired once, then provisioned virtually and managed on the fly -- giving businesses the ability to deploy new applications and services rapidly, activate new customers faster and establish flexible usage-based billing. By pooling all data center resources into a single physical infrastructure, the HP UDC allows enterprises to dramatically reduce the over-provisioning of expensive IT assets while providing access to virtually unlimited compute capacity.

Based on open standards, the HP UDC can accommodate servers, storage and network equipment from HP and other vendors, enabling customers to make the transition from their legacy environments to HP 's flexible utility data center architecture. By combining the HP UDC with the HP Integrated Services Management solution, HP enables the complete automation of the provisioning of new services and applications and comprehensive measurement of service usage and performance from the infrastructure through to the application.

The HP UDC solution includes and is strengthened by relationships with key hardware, middleware and application software vendors. HP has selected Cisco Systems as a preferred networking partner in the HP UDC.

"We are very pleased to support the HP UDC solution as a strategic partner," said Eugene Lee, vice president, Worldwide Enterprise Marketing, Cisco Systems. "Our joint customers will clearly benefit in terms of overall cost savings and increased business agility."

The HP UDC is expected to be available worldwide in the first quarter of 2002.

"On average, data centers have asset utilization rates of just 35 percent," said Vernon Turner, vice president, worldwide commercial systems and servers, International Data Corporation. "In today's tough economic climate, businesses are desperate to find new ways to increase these rates closer to 75 percent and to reduce overall data center costs without jeopardizing service levels. HP has developed some very innovative software and expertise with open standards intellectual property that address these needs."

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, 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.