News release

Compaq Scores Storage Software Win

A new report of enterprise storage area network (SAN) management solutions determines that Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) exceeds many of its major competitors, ranking number one in study criteria including program completeness, services and return on investment.

The report conducted by D.H. Brown Associates provides a comprehensive review of the SAN management offerings of Compaq, IBM and SUN Microsystems in the context of how SAN fits into wider enterprise issues. It is written from the point-of-view of IT managers who scour available products to identify what is best for their organizations.

"The D.H. Brown report provides detailed insight as to why Compaq is the fastest growing major storage software vendor in the market today," said Mark Sorenson, vice president of Compaq Enterprise Storage Group's Storage Software and Solutions division. "Our SANworks products are clearly providing customers more of what they need from their storage management software vendor—superior technology, an integrated architecture and an intense focus on investment protection and ROI."

D.H. Brown concluded that Compaq's ENSA architecture is the most well defined and comprehensive as both a technical and business-oriented architecture. It describes Compaq's SANworks product suite as the most complete and its solutions as well-integrated. Compaq has most clearly defined its intent with its SAN management program and its customer objectives, say the report authors.

The study notes that Compaq has clearly identified ROI as an objective. Compaq's SAN Business Value Tool provides methodology for combining cost, technology, and business modeling to predict value of infrastructure change to business results.

"The D.H. Brown report findings are further validation that Compaq delivers value through simplified storage management solutions and customer investment protection," said Mark Lewis, vice president and general manager, Compaq Enterprise Storage Group. "As the world's leading SAN supplier, Compaq is redefining enterprise storage, making management simpler and more cost-effective as we also demonstrate the SAN's burgeoning preeminence over legacy mainframe-architected storage. As management software emerges as the increasingly vital component of SANs, Compaq will continue to lead the industry in vision and execution."

The D.H. Brown analysis found that IT managers are focused on supporting business growth within the broader context of fitting IT into the corporate structure. This encompasses such demands as speeding time-to-market, consistently delivering high quality, lowering the cost of production, enhancing productivity, reducing complexity, supporting high-speed Web services and competing in a global market.

"While SAN management is still in its formative stage, Compaq already has integrated its elements to an impressive extent," said John Young, chief analyst for D.H. Brown Associates. "The criteria that define excellence in this important storage arena are coming into sharp focus. Improving SAN manageability is one of the most critical of these emerging criteria."

About Compaq StorageWorks

Compaq StorageWorks, the number one global storage solutions supplier, is the leader in the development and delivery of the enterprise SAN. Recognized for its vision and ability to execute, Compaq StorageWorks is committed to driving radical simplification and investment protection for enterprise and SMB customers. By continuing to extend its Enterprise Network Storage Architecture (ENSA) in key areas such as virtualization, automation, universal network storage and life cycle data management, StorageWorks enables customers to efficiently manage complex, mixed storage environments. More information on StorageWorks and SANworks solutions is available at http://www.compaq.com/storage/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.