News release

Compaq Announces Grid Computing Program;
Aligns with Platform for Grid-Enabled Solutions

Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) today announced a worldwide Grid Computing Solutions Program which will provide customers with Grid software, computer systems, and custom installation and support services to enable users to share computing, storage, data, software and other resources.

Through an alliance with Platform Computing, Inc., Compaq plans to utilize Platform's commercialized Globus Toolkit and Platform's Grid Suite to provide customers with a complete, integrated open Grid solution to take advantage of Compaq's powerful Tru64 UNIX AlphaServer systems, as well as industry-standard Compaq ProLiant servers running Linux. Compaq plans to sell, install and support Platform's Grid Suite when it becomes available.

Compaq already offers customized installation and support services for the open source Globus Toolkit, an open-architecture, open-source set of protocols, services and tools that is developed by USC's Information Sciences Institute and the Argonne National Laboratory. Compaq's alliance with Platform substantially enhances this current offering.

"Platform's Grid Suite, coupled with Compaq's Tru64 UNIX and Linux platforms, provides a powerful, Grid-enabled solution," said Robert Gordon, CEO, Platform Computing. "Through this partnership, we can accelerate commercial acceptance of Grid computing by delivering comprehensive, integrated solutions for high performance computing. Platform welcomes the opportunity to support Grid solutions on Compaq's powerful platforms."

"Grid computing is emerging as a major new capability for modern, high performance technical computing," said Bill Blake, vice president of Compaq's High Performance Technical Computing group, "and Grid computing makes possible new and previously unimagined collaborations and applications. Working with Platform Computing, Compaq will deliver best-in-class commercially supported Grid computing solutions and services for our customers."

Grid computing is a technology that uses the Internet as a basic wiring to let people share computing storage, data, and programs. For example, scientists and engineers with compute-intensive jobs can run them over a Grid to take advantage of all available resources and minimize time-to-results. Highly available, reliable and scalable, Compaq systems provide an ideal platform for production Grid computing.

To test and demonstrate these solutions, Compaq has established a globe-spanning internal Grid within its corporate firewall, connecting high performance computing sites in Marlboro (MA), Nashua (NH), Annecy (France), Galway (Ireland), and Tokyo (Japan).

As a platinum level sponsor of the Global Grid Forum (a community-initiated forum of individual researchers and practitioners working on Grid technology), Compaq is also participating in an "application test bed" being developed by the Forum's Applications Working Group. This test bed is a worldwide, open, multi-organizational Grid running experimental Grid applications.

In addition, Compaq has established an Advanced Center for the Study of Grid Computing in Nashua (NH) and is working with a worldwide virtual team associated with the Grid. The Center has a primary research focus on application development environments and solutions for the Grid which leverage Compaq's long-standing expertise in compilers and application development tools. The Center is also working with customers which are engaged in innovative research and development in the Grid arena, and evaluating third-party relationships with ISVs.

Compaq 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.