News release

Analysts Show Compaq is Top Storage Vendor

In today's tough economic environment, you would expect a storage company that consistently enables its customers to save lots of money, delivers immediate business impact, and provides the most flexible and scalable network storage architecture to be Number One.

According to a number of recent studies by Gartner Dataquest and IDC, customers are turning to Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) in large numbers for enterprise storage products. That's because Compaq storage products provide value and reliability for enterprise customers. The reports cover a variety of measurement categories, from number of storage area network (SAN) array units shipped to server-based storage revenue share and growth over the previous year. In almost all of the Gartner Dataquest and IDC findings, Compaq achieved top rankings. In addition, Compaq is one of only two storage vendors in the Leadership Quadrant of Gartner's highly regarded "SAN Integrator Magic Quadrant" analysis on enterprise storage leadership.

Although the various reports are based on data reflecting Y2000 performance, they offer ample evidence that a shift in customer attitudes is affecting the competitive landscape. "The enterprise storage space is going through significant redefinition in terms of what customers are buying," said Roger Cox, chief analyst with Gartner Dataquest.

"This information tells the whole story about current leadership in the storage industry," said Mark Lewis, vice president and general manager, Compaq Enterprise Storage Group. "Value is the name of the game, and value has many dimensions to the customer. Value speaks to the reliability of the products, the flexibility of the overall solution, and the investment protection provided. Will the investment you make today allow you to grow as rapidly as your business demands? Will that investment be more valuable next year than it is today? Will you have high availability of critical data? Compaq's market share in enterprise storage hardware and software grew as rapidly as it did in 2000 because we delivered value to our customers in every sense of the word."

Storage Market Share Data 2000

"These numbers confirm that Compaq is the strongest and best alternative to EMC," Lewis said. "Companies want cost-effective storage solutions that minimize up-front investments and are truly scalable in performance as well as capacity. That's what Compaq is all about.

"It also is increasingly clear what companies do not want. They are refusing to accept legacy architectures that cost big bucks to start up and are limited in scalability. Compaq's superior value proposition continues to attract EMC customers, and we feel confident that this trend will continue."

About Compaq Enterprise Storage Group

Compaq Enterprise Storage, the number one open storage solutions supplier, is the industry leader in the development and delivery of the Open SAN. Recognized for its vision and ability to execute, Compaq Enterprise Storage Group is committed to simplifying the Open SAN through its Enterprise Network Storage Architecture (ENSA), which enables customers to efficiently manage complex, mixed storage environments. More information on Compaq StorageWorks and SANworks solutions is available at http://www.compaq.com/products/storageworks/SAN/index.html.

Company Background

Founded in 1982, Compaq Computer Corporation ("Compaq") is a leading global provider of enterprise technology and solutions. Compaq designs, develops, manufactures and markets hardware, software, solutions and services, including industry-leading enterprise storage and computing solutions, fault-tolerant business-critical solutions, communication products, and desktop and portable personal computers that are sold in more than 200 countries. Information on Compaq and its products and services is available at http://www.compaq.com.