News release

HP Takes No. 1 Position in External Disk Storage Systems Market

Industry Analyst Report Shows New HP is No. 1 in Total and External Disk Storage Systems Revenue

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 18, 2002

Leading analyst firm IDC today issued second quarter results on the worldwide disk storage market which showed that HP (NYSE: HPQ) is not only the market leader in total disk storage systems revenue, but also garnered the top position in the important external disk storage systems market.

"We said during the merger that the new HP would stay focused on our customers and execute an integrated product roadmap offering the industry's most complete portfolio of enterprise networked storage solutions -- and these numbers prove that customers see HP delivering on that promise," said Howard Elias, senior vice president and general manager, HP Network Storage Solutions.

When comparing the top five storage vendors in worldwide disk storage systems revenue alone, HP held a commanding lead during the second quarter, bringing in 35 percent more revenue than the No. 2 vendor and a staggering 45 percent more than the No. 3 vendor.

The report also stated that HP holds a "strong lead" in total terabytes shipped for the second quarter with 30 percent market share. Globally, HP took the No. 1 position in external RAID storage systems factory revenue in western Europe and Asia Pacific, excluding Japan, according to IDC's Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Tracker.

"While some predicted our business would go into steep decline, we have in fact continued to deliver on our commitments and we're not slowing down," said Elias. "Over the past several months, we have continued to introduce new products and solutions, signed interoperability agreements that allow us to manage nearly 90 percent of the world's enterprise storage, and just today, we've announced ENSAextended, an evolution of our award-winning Enterprise Network Storage Architecture, that will enable us to keep delivering the most robust portfolio of open, modular, enterprise networked storage solutions."

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. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

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 quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2002 and reports filed subsequent to HP's annual report on Form 10-K, as amended on January 30, 2002, for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2001. 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.