News release

New Compaq Insight Management Suite and Services Enable Customers to Ensure Continuous Server Operations

Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) today introduced the Compaq Insight Management Suite as the first phase of its strategy to transform its management tools for market-leading Compaq ProLiant™ servers into a comprehensive software-based server management suite. Compaq Insight Manager 7, the newest version of Compaq Insight Manager software, is the cornerstone of the new suite. Compaq also announced new Version Control software; the extension of its Compaq Proactive Remote Service (CPRS) for StorageWorks™, now available for Compaq ProLiant servers; and new packaged 24x7 support services to complement CPRS.

The new Compaq services and software solutions expand customers' ability to achieve continuous operations and maximize IT resources, and enable them to respond easily to rapidly changing business conditions.

"Businesses require agility and speed of execution to remain competitive," said Mary McDowell, senior vice president and general manager, Compaq Industry Standard Server Group. "Customers look to Compaq to provide an entire solution with value added technology that enables them to anticipate and respond to changes in their IT infrastructure while protecting current investments. To this end, our new generation of advanced management technology is unrivalled in the industry."

The New Compaq Insight Management Suite

The Compaq Insight Management Suite builds on the success of Compaq Insight Manager and brings existing tools and next-generation software into one family. The suite simplifies planning, deployment, operations and change management for ProLiant server environments, making them highly reliable and providing the best value for customers over the server lifecycle.

The new Compaq Insight Manager 7 is an easy-to-use, flexible, scalable and secure solution that combines the best of Compaq Insight Manager and Compaq Insight Manager XE, to enable enterprise customers to maximize system availability and performance by proactively notifying IT staff of potential problems before their business is impacted. Compaq Insight Manager 7 will be shipped with a promotional release of new Compaq Version Control software, which simplifies the task of maintaining configuration currency and consistency across multiple Compaq ProLiant servers. This new software extends the version control features of Compaq Insight Manager to enable systems administrators to effectively manage server software and firmware to their own baselines and efficiently deploy needed updates.

Proactive Remote Monitoring and Support Services

In conjunction with Compaq Insight Manager 7, Compaq is extending its Compaq Proactive Remote Service (CPRS) to include support for Compaq ProLiant servers. Already available for Compaq StorageWorks, CPRS is a unique tools-based capability that increases availability and productivity levels by providing continuous, non-intrusive monitoring and automated reporting of detected hardware failure and pre-failure conditions.

CPRS sends problem notifications from Compaq Insight Manager 7 to Compaq Customer Support Centers, which remotely address and proactively resolve potential issues before business is affected. To provide efficient and highly secure communication between the customer's site and the Customer Support Center, Proactive Remote Service utilizes the Compaq Intelligent Services Link infrastructure, providing encrypted communication between sites.

Backed by best-in-class Compaq Global Services for customers who have purchased a Compaq CarePaq Priority Service Plan contract, CPRS enables medium to large enterprises to minimize unplanned downtime automatically, while reducing internal IT staff involvement.

By extending CPRS to support both StorageWorks and ProLiant servers, Compaq enables customers to easily expand their existing ProLiant server support agreements to include external enterprise storage with new 24x7 packaged support services. These new packaged support services include basic installation and enhanced, 24x7 on-site response as a standard attribute for Compaq Storage Arrays, Tape Libraries, and StorageWorks Array Controller Software (ACS). When used in conjunction with CPRS, the 24x7 packaged storage support services provide customers with increased levels of availability by combining the proactive monitoring and diagnosis of CPRS with round-the-clock on-site response.

Customer Availability

Compaq Insight Manager 7 and the new Version Control software will be available in November 2001. Information on early registration for the new tools is available at http://www.compaq.com/manage. Compaq Proactive Remote Services will be available in November 2001 to Compaq North America CarePaq Priority Service Plan contract customers. The new packaged storage support services are available now in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and will be available in the rest of the world beginning in 2002. For more information, please visit the Compaq Web site at http://www.compaq.com/products/servers/management/services/customers3.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.