News release

Citrix and Compaq Benchmark Test Establish Record Performance Levels for Enterprise Application Delivery

Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS), a global leader in application serving and portal software and services, and Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ), today announced record performance benchmark test results for Citrix® MetaFrame XP™ application serving software running on industry-standard Compaq ProLiant™ servers. Measurement of key user performance variables support that the solution is designed to scale to more than 1,000 servers in a single server farm and support more than 100,000 concurrent users.

Validated by independent analyst and consulting firm Doculabs, Inc., the results demonstrate the exceptional growth and management capabilities of MetaFrame XP for large-scale application serving implementations on ProLiant servers. MetaFrame XP delivers a comprehensive platform for application deployment and management, and customers benefit by dramatically reducing the cost and effort required to administer a world-class IT system.

"One of the primary design objectives for MetaFrame XP is to provide organizations with unparalleled enterprise manageability and scalability. Based on the results of our benchmark tests with Compaq, we estimate that customers may be able to scale to more than 100,000 concurrent users in a single server farm," said Russ Naples, vice president of product development for Citrix. "The performance levels achieved during these tests demonstrate the strategic technical value that MetaFrame XP brings to large enterprise organizations that need to deploy and manage their Windows-based applications easily and cost-effectively from a single point."

"Compaq is working with vendors like Citrix to provide customers with optimized, business critical solutions for their constantly evolving data center requirements," said Rhonda Rubinstein, acting vice president of Solutions, Compaq Industry Standard Server Group. "With this initiative, Compaq and Citrix continue to provide greater simplification, unprecedented scale-out capabilities and faster time to solution for our customers."

Record Setting Benchmark Test

The benchmark test was performed in the Citrix eLabs. The test configuration consisted of a farm of 500 load-balanced single and dual processor Compaq ProLiant servers all running Citrix MetaFrame XPe with Feature Release 1 on Microsoft® Windows® 2000, and supported by an 8 processor Compaq ProLiant server data store. The weeklong stress test used a series of exhaustive scenarios designed to reflect the most demanding enterprise deployments. The 500 ProLiant servers running MetaFrame XPe sustained more than 2 million connections with 5,000 concurrent, simulated users exercising the features of Microsoft Office applications and Internet Explorer. Additionally, the test results indicated that in a single 1,000-plus server farm of fully configured Compaq ProLiant DL360 servers, each hosting 100 users, the ProLiant servers could also easily host more than 100,000 concurrent users.*

"Providing scalability to the level that Compaq and Citrix have achieved ensures that we can offer our most demanding hosting customers the capacity required to accommodate their anticipated enterprise-wide application deployments," said Keith Langridge vice president of Product Management at BT Ignite Content Hosting. "Scalability is essential to our business, and the combination of Citrix MetaFrame XP running on Compaq ProLiant servers will allow us to reliably and cost-effectively deliver the scalable solutions our customers need regardless of the size of their business. This announcement demonstrates that Citrix can scale to every customers need."

Citrix has selected Compaq ProLiant servers as the reference platform for the design, testing and development of best practices documentation for Microsoft® Windows NT and Windows 2000 deployments. Citrix and Compaq provide customers, resellers and partners with the most advanced information and tools required for planning, deploying and operating thin-client and server-based computing solutions. Additional information about the Compaq solution with Citrix MetaFrame XP is available at www.compaq.com/activeanswers.

* The testing assumed moderate automated user load so individual enterprise production performance may vary depending upon specific server scenarios and extrapolations made during the testing. No promise of specific performance is intended or implied in this release.

About Citrix

Citrix Systems, Inc. is a global leader in application serving and portal software and services that provide personalized access to any application or information source - whether Windows®, UNIX® or Web-based - through any device, over any connection. Companies worldwide use Citrix technologies to integrate applications, content and business processes into a pervasive digital environment - a virtual workplace - offering seamless connectivity and a consistent user experience across the Internet, intranets, extranets, WANs, LANs and wireless networks. Citrix solutions drive cost efficiency, productivity and enhanced e-business opportunities by enabling companies to leverage existing IT resources and extend personalized information access to employees, partners, customers and suppliers.

Citrix products offer rapid, cost-effective deployment and include MetaFrame® application serving software, NFuse™ application portal software, XPS™ portal software, application management products, and Citrix Independent Computing Architecture (ICA®), a core application serving technology. The company markets its application serving products through a well-established reseller channel and sells its portal software products directly to customers to provide the level of customization they need. Citrix is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market^SM under the symbol CTXS, and is part of the Standard and Poor's 500 Index. Citrix is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. For more information, please visit the Citrix Web site at http://www.citrix.com.

About Compaq

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.