News release

IONA and Hewlett-Packard Expand Efforts to Deliver Next-generation Enterprise Integration Solutions Worldwide

Companies Expand Alliance with Plans to Release IONA Orbix E2A Web Services Integration Platform XMLBus Edition on HP-UX Operating System on the Itanium® Processor Family

Waltham, MA and Palo Alto, CA -- October 2, 2002

IONA®, a leading e-Business Platform provider for Web Services Integration (NASDAQ: IONA), and HP (NYSE: HPQ) today announced an expansion of their strategic alliance to provide next-generation enterprise integration solutions on the HP-UX operating system on the Intel® Itanium® processor family.

Building on its existing strategic relationship with HP, IONA intends to make its Orbix E2A Web Services Integration Platform - XMLBus Edition generally available on the HP-UX based Itanium® processor family, increasing the companies' portfolio of integrated hardware, software and services solutions for enterprise customers. With this release, IONA will be one of the few HP partners offering extensive support of its Web services, J2EE®, and CORBA technologies across HP operating environments. Additionally, IONA plans to certify its Orbix E2A Application Server Platform on the upcoming family of HP AlphaServer systems based on EV7.

As alliance partners, IONA and HP continue their joint sales, consultancy, and marketing efforts to identify and deliver e-business solutions utilizing IONA's Orbix E2A integration and application infrastructure platforms.

"Our alliance with HP is one of IONA's most strategic, as our long and dedicated product and services relationship testifies," said Bob Potter, executive vice president of business operations at IONA. "Since 1998, our relationship with HP since has resulted in measurable success for both organizations. We are increasing our work together in ways that will provide business integration solutions that deliver real value to our customers, and we're confident today's announcement is a signal of an even stronger alliance to come."

"HP's relationship with IONA is important because their service-oriented, standards-based solutions deliver confidence in the most challenging of today's heterogeneous, mission-critical IT environments," said Nigel Ball, vice president and general manager, HP Enterprise Solutions Partners. "Every customer is faced with a unique challenge that requires an enterprise integration solution suited to the specific business need. Whether the situation requires an HP NonStop server capable of processing large numbers of transactions per second, or a hardware, software and services solution that will help Global 2000 organizations squeeze maximum ROI out of every IT dollar - HP and IONA are working to deliver customer success."

In February, HP Services launched an enterprise integration practice dedicated to the delivery and implementation of IONA's Orbix E2A Web Services Integration solutions. To date, HP has completed training of more than 300 sales, architects, and delivery consultants on IONA's Orbix E2A solutions. Building on this relationship, HP Services and IONA have named each other as preferred partners for Web services integration between J2EE® and .NET.

In March, HP's Business Critical Systems global business unit selected the IONA Orbix E2A Application Server Platform Technology Edition as the core application infrastructure supporting HP NonStop systems, the choice of the world's leading financial, telecommunication and retailing companies. This will provide HP enterprise customers with one of the most powerful, integration-ready J2EE® solutions available in the marketplace today.

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.

About IONA:

IONA is the leading e-Business Platform provider for Web Services Integration with more than 4,500 customers worldwide. IONA Orbix E2A™, which consists of the award-winning Orbix E2A Web Services Integration Platform and Orbix E2A Application Server Platform, enables the flow of information across disparate systems and the liberation of application assets for new business opportunities.

Founded in 1991, IONA® (NASDAQ: IONA) is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, with U.S. headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts. The company had revenues of $181 million in 2001 and employs more than 800 people in more than 30 offices worldwide. For additional information about IONA, visit our Web site at http://www.iona.com.

IONA, IONA Technologies, the IONA logo, Orbix, E2A, End 2 Anywhere, End To Anywhere, Orbix E2A, IONA E2A, IONA e-Business Platform, iPortal Application Server, SureTrack, IONA XMLBus, Adaptive Runtime Technology, Orbacus, Orbix/E, IONA University and Total Business Integration are trademarks or registered trademarks of IONA Technologies PLC and/or its subsidiaries. Java and J2EE are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc in the United States and other countries. CORBA is a trademark or registered trademark of the Object Management Group, Inc in the U.S. and other countries. Intel and Itanium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including any projections of earnings, revenues, or other financial items; any statements of the plans, strategies, and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning proposed new products, services, or developments; any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance; statements of belief and any statement of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. The risks, uncertainties and assumptions referred to above include employee management issues; the timely development, production and acceptance of products and services and their feature sets; the challenge of managing asset levels, including inventory; the flow of products into third-party distribution channels; the difficulty of keeping expense growth at modest levels while increasing revenues; 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. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.