News release

HP Announces ProLiant Essentials Software

Value Packs Help Maximize Server Uptime and Simplify Remote Deployment of Multiple Linux Servers

PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 6, 2002

HP (NYSE: HPQ) today announced the availability of new and enhanced HP ProLiant Essentials Value Packs that enable customers to quickly and easily adapt to changing business demands, while achieving the highest levels of server availability.

The new HP ProLiant Essentials Recovery Server Option (RSO) Pack maximizes server uptime and provides customers with reliable protection against hardware and operating system failures. Enhancements to the HP ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment Pack enable customers to simplify the remote unattended deployment of Linux servers.

Providing customers with a cost-effective, high-availability solution for non-cluster aware operating systems and applications, the new ProLiant Essentials RSO Pack creates an active-standby configuration of two servers in which a recovery server will initialize and take over when a fatal fault is detected in the primary server. <> The ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment Pack, an integrated HP and Altiris software tool that automates the process of deploying and provisioning server software, is now available with enhanced Linux support and new levels of integration with Remote Insight Lights Out products. The integration with Remote Insight Lights Out products further simplifies remote server deployments by providing ProLiant customers the ability to browse directly to the server console with full virtual presence and control during the deployment process.

The ProLiant Essentials Recovery Server Option is available starting at an estimated price of $899. The ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment Pack is available starting at an estimate price of $119 per server.⁽¹⁾ Existing Rapid Deployment Pack users can download upgrades of the software at http://www.compaq.com/rdp. New volume license options also are available for all ProLiant Essentials Value Packs.

More details on this announcement are available at http://www.compaq.com/products/servers/proliantessentials.

About HP

HP is a leading global provider of products, technologies, solutions and services to consumers and businesses. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. HP completed its merger transaction involving Compaq Computer Corp. on May 3, 2002. The company would have had combined revenue on a pro forma basis with the Compaq transaction of approximately $81.1 billion in fiscal 2001 and has operations in more than 160 countries. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

⁽¹⁾ Actual prices may vary.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the possibility that the market for the sale of certain products and services may not develop as expected; that development of these products and services may not proceed as planned; and other risks that are described from time to time in HP's Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including but not limited to HP's annual report on Form 10-K, as amended on January 30, 2002, for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2001, HP's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended January 31, 2002 (as filed with the SEC on March 12, 2002) and subsequently filed reports. If any of these risks or uncertainties materializes or any of these assumptions proves incorrect, HP's results could differ materially from HP's expectations in these statements. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.