News release

Oracle and HP Extend Global Alliance to Deliver Oracle9I Application Server on HP Platforms

Strategic Alliance Provides Joint Customers with Integrated J2EE Middleware Solutions

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) and HP (NYSE:HPQ) today announced a three-year, worldwide agreement to develop, market and deliver middleware solutions based on Oracle9i Application Server and HP's platforms. Today's announcement extends Oracle and HP's existing relationship that has long delivered proven, tested and reliable infrastructure solutions to enterprise customers. The agreement is designed to simplify the creation and integration of business applications and Web services on Linux, Unix, Microsoft Windows, and on Intelâ Itaniumâ-based systems with jointly tested and optimized J2EE-based Oracle9i Application Server solutions. Under the terms of the new agreement, Oracle will become a strategic application server partner for HP. Likewise, HP has been named a preferred platform partner for Oracle9i Application Server.

Specifically, HP will offer customers who purchase HP-UX systems or industry-standard HP ProLiant servers for Linux and Microsoft Windows, a free, special version of Oracle9i Application Server, which includes Standard Edition J2EE 1.3 server. Joint customers will receive complementary support for up to five incidents from Oracle for this free version of Oracle9i Application Server. Oracle and HP also offer cooperative technical support to customers who purchase support contracts and will train hundreds of HP sales representatives and technical consultants on Oracle9i Application Server. As part of this offering, HP will be drawing on its own experience of deploying the Oracle9i Application Server internally.

"By offering Oracle9i Application Server with HP-UX and ProLiant server shipments, our joint customers can more easily deploy a cost-effective, highly scalable middleware solution," said Charles Rozwat, executive vice president, Server Technologies, Oracle Corp. "The completeness of Oracle9i Application Server enables companies to simplify and consolidate their middleware infrastructure. This new initiative with HP delivers easy-to-implement, cost-effective, high-value solutions on leading HP hardware platforms to our joint customers around the world."

Oracle will support the HP OpenView software suite as a strategic management platform for Oracle9i Database and Oracle9i Application Server customers because it provides the tools to more easily manage their IT infrastructure solutions. Oracle and HP will also work together to develop unique integration between HP OpenView and the Oracle® platform. Oracle is establishing an HP-UX development lab for platform product development to help ensure that advanced new features of Oracle9i Application Server are available to HP customers as part of the first shipment of the product on Unix platforms. In addition, Oracle will use both industry-standard HP ProLiant and RISC-based servers for platform product development.

As a result of today's agreement, joint customers will be able to leverage the powerful combination of Oracle infrastructure software running on HP hardware to build mission-critical business J2EE applications and Web services that are scalable, reliable, and secure. Customers have the choice to deploy Oracle9i Application Server on different operating systems supported by HP, including HP-UX 11i, Linux and Microsoft Windows 2000.

"Today's announcement supports HP's objective of providing customers who want end-to-end Oracle solutions with a highly scalable and cost-effective middleware solution that will enable them to compete in today's economy," said Peter Blackmore, executive vice president, HP Enterprise Systems Group.

Proven Price-Performance Benchmark Underscores Customer Value

HP and Oracle have achieved the best price/performance result for the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporate Java Application Server (SPECjAppServer2001) in the MultiNode ⁽²⁾ category. Running Oracle9i Application Server Release 2 and Red Hat Linux Advanced Server 2.1 on HP ProLiant ML530 servers, HP and Oracle delivered price-performance results of 558.85 BOPS (business operations per second) with a price of $389.53/BOP. The SPECjAppServer2001 benchmark is an industry standard benchmark designed to measure the performance of J2EE application servers. For more details on this benchmark, visit http://spec.unipv.it/osg/jAppServer2001/.

About Oracle9i Application Server

Oracle solves the IT challenge of integrating fragmented middleware products to run an e-business by providing one product that can replace more than 12 separate point products from other vendors. Oracle9i Application Server features full J2EE 1.3 support, built-in enterprise portal software, high-speed caching, business intelligence, rapid application development, application and business integration, web services and more - all in one package. Oracle's extensive investment in application server research and development has enabled the company to deliver a lightweight J2EE engine and extended caching capabilities that allow companies to save on infrastructure costs by scaling with software.

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 Corporation on May 3, 2002. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

About Oracle

Oracle is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com.

Trademark

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. SPECjAppServer2001 is a trademark of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC). Competitive information shown reflect results published on www.spec.org as of November 12, 2002