News release

Compaq Helps Customers Realize the Benefits of the Real-Time Enterprise

Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) today named nine leading independent software vendors (ISVs) as business partners in the Compaq Zero Latency Enterprise (ZLE) initiative. Compaq is the first to create zero latency technology to meet customer demand for solutions that enable business to be conducted in real time. Driven by the Internet, real-time computing requires that decision-makers have a single, integrated view of the business - and their customers - that is current up to the second.

Compaq said it has signed agreements with these vendors, the first software partners to be formally recognized as an integral part of the Compaq ZLE architecture. They are: Actional Corporation; Acxiom Corporation; Blaze Software, Inc.; Mercator Software; MicroStrategy^®Inc.; Protagona Worldwide, Inc.; SAS Institute Inc.; Savant Technologies, Inc.; and Trillium Software. Each ISV partner contributes valuable enabling technology to the base Compaq ZLE architecture, which forms the framework for market-specific Compaq ZLE solutions.

ZLE Brings Real Time to the Enterprise

ZLE is a transaction-oriented solution providing a single, integrated view of business and customer transactions as they occur, no matter where they occur in the enterprise, in real time. In a zero latency environment, the flow of internal information is accelerated to the point where transactions are instantaneously propagated within the enterprise and can be acted upon in real time. Gartner, which originated the zero latency concept, forecasts that almost every successful business will have some form of ZLE infrastructure. Compaq is building ZLE solutions today aimed at the highly competitive telecommunications, finance, and retail markets where immediate insight into customer actions and business transactions offers a compelling advantage.

Ross Altman, research director, Gartner, said, "Information that's fresh has the most value. In a real-time, zero latency enterprise, information is delivered to the right place at the right time for maximum business value." Altman continued, "Companies are going to move to reduced latency environments; it's just a question of when. The longer one waits, the worse it gets. The sooner an enterprise embraces and implements the concept of zero latency, the stronger its competitive position is likely to be."

Howard Elias, senior vice president and general manager of Compaq's Business-Critical Server Group, said, "The Internet business model has moved all of us to act and respond to our customers in real time. Compaq ZLE is the transformational technology that allows a business to truly enable a real-time enterprise.

Elias continued, "Integral to delivering ZLE are the strong partnerships with ISVs that provide advanced solutions technology, an understanding of customers' business needs, and real-world experience. We will grow these partnerships and will add new ones to help build ZLE-enabled solutions across different industries."

'Best-in-Class' ISV Partners are Integral Part of ZLE Solutions

Compaq ZLE deployment is based on a combination of Compaq servers and unique Compaq database and software technologies. The ZLE architectural framework combines leading enterprise application integration (EAI) technology and a real-time Operational Data Store (ODS). Surrounding these two key architectural constructs are the partner applications that are enabled to take advantage of real-time data. It is the work that has been done with these software developers, as providers of end-user applications, that exposes the benefits of the ZLE architecture to the end user.

Each of the nine ISVs announced today are key contributors to the ZLE architecture and each brings a valuable software technology, as well as real-world experience in developing an aspect of ZLE-based solutions. Compaq will continue to grow this list as it brings on board ISVs whose technologies and expertise add value to customers' ZLE solutions.

The ISV partner software can be grouped into three categories within the Compaq ZLE architecture: Core ZLE Services; Docking Applications; and Clip-On Applications.

Core ZLE Services are the central applications used for building a customer's ZLE solution and interfacing to the ODS. These are: a rules engine; message transformation; workflow management; message router and inserter; ETL (data extraction, transformation, and loading); as well as data mining and analytics.

• Blaze Software, a Brokat company, provides a real-time application of business rules, enabling Compaq's ZLE customers to manage, execute and maintain personalized e-business applications.
  
  
• Mercatorbrings powerful e-business data transformation technology that substantially reduces the time and effort required to implement and maintain new application interfaces across heterogeneous business environments.
  
  
• Savant Technologiesprovides the ETL technology for managing system performance in one tool by automatically collecting, analyzing, and condensing data into critical information.
  
  
• SASprovides industry-leading e-intelligence and data mining technology as well as extensive data warehousing experience and ETL capabilities that leverage the use of information in any ZLE environment.

Docking Applications enable a customer's existing applications to "plug-and-play" with ZLE implementations. A docking application does not require modification and works independently with other cooperating applications through the use of standard application adapters. Examples of typical docking applications include Siebel, SAP, Oracle, and Peoplesoft. Actional is announced today as a software partner providing application integration software that is used to connect to these docking applications.

• Actionalprovides its patented control broker™ technology to deliver the unique ability to provide direct real-time connections between applications.

Clip-On Applications are either standalone applications enhanced through tight integration with a core ZLE service or new applications built by an ISV or by Compaq, based on one of the core ZLE services. As announced today, these include:

• Acxiom^®enables a single view of the customer using AbiliTec™ Customer Data Integration software to link disparate sources of information into a single real-time view. InfoBase^®data can augment that view with real-time consumer and business information to better recognize, understand and market to customers.
  
  
• Protagona Worldwideprovides a full-featured high-performance marketing capability for planning, campaign management, workflow management, and touchpoint integration.
  
  
• MicroStrategyoffers a flexible and scalable Web-based business intelligence platform that includes a sophisticated analytical engine that supports multiple databases and provides access to information via Web, wireless and voice.
  
  
• Trillium Software, a division of Harte-Hanks, is an industry leader in data quality software solutions. The Trillium Software System can be completely integrated for accurate and consistent customer identification and relationship matching.

ZLE Leverages Compaq's Enterprise Fleet of Servers and Global Services

The Compaq ZLE initiative brings the strengths of its entire enterprise product line to bear in the development and deployment of a ZLE solution. Today, the ODS hub of the system is built on the highly scalable Compaq NonStop™ Himalaya™server and NonStop database. Existing customer database, data mining applications, and clip-on applications are generally hosted on Compaq Tru64™UNIX on AlphaServer™ systems and on Compaq ProLiant™ servers running Windows NT. This mirrors the heterogeneous infrastructure requirements of the business world, where specific technologies are leveraged to do what they can do best - in an environment that integrates and harnesses their collective power to serve the needs of the customer.

The Compaq ZLE initiative also leverages the skills and capabilities of Compaq's global services organization and its partners. Compaq Global Services provides complete life cycle services to help organizations rapidly implement, operate, and support ZLE-based solutions. Integration expertise is in place today for the wide range of ISV applications that are required in ZLE-based solutions. Business Critical Support services are specifically tailored for ZLE environments to provide the high availability that customers demand.

Additional information on the Compaq ZLE initiative, technology, and demonstrations is available athttp://www.compaq.com/zle.