News release

Arizona Earns First Place in HP Sponsored CIO Survey Examining How States Use Technology

Arizona Governor Jane Hull Accepts Award from HP at Special Ceremony

HP (NYSE:HPQ) today presented Arizona Governor Jane Hull with a first-place award for making the most progress among the 50 states in adopting digital technologies to improve delivery of services to citizens. Arizona was awarded the top ranking in the fifth annual Digital State Survey, sponsored by HP and conducted by The Progress & Freedom Foundation and the Center for Digital Government.

The 2002 survey explored how states use, deploy and manage information technology investments and examined digital technologies in eight categories: E-commerce and Business Regulation; Taxation and Revenue; Social Services; Law Enforcement and the Courts; Digital Democracy; Management and Administration; Education; and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Transportation.

"The innovative use of digital technology is essential in streamlining government, and this award confirms that Arizona is using technology to improve the delivery of government services to all Arizonans," said Governor Hull. "I'm honored to receive this award on behalf of the State of Arizona and all the state employees who have made this possible."

Over the last five years, Arizona has been ranked among the top 10 states four times, and last year ranked fifth. For 2002, Arizona earned a score of 92.7, winning in the Digital Democracy category and tying for first in four other categories: Social Services, GIS and Transportation, Education and Management Administration.

The overall scores for the other top-10 states are as follows: Michigan (89.2); Washington (88.8); Illinois (87.2); Wisconsin (85.5); Virginia (84.6); Utah (83.7); Indiana (83.0) and South Dakota (82.5). Maryland (81.4) and Connecticut (81.4) tied for the 10th spot.

"Despite cuts in state budgets and tough times in the technology sector, this survey shows that digital technologies are continuing to facilitate better government at lower costs to taxpayers," said Jeffrey A. Eisenach, president, The Progress & Freedom Foundation.

There has been a dramatic change in the world of electronic government. In 1997, when the Digital State Survey rankings began, only six states provided any sort of Internet access for at least half their workers, and only nine states used a digital storage system for tax records.

"This year's survey results show that the e-government revolution is becoming mainstream. Today, three-fourths of all states have substantial digital archives. This means that the competition in our annual survey has gotten tougher," said Cathy Martin, director for state and local government, HP Public Sector Organization. "HP applauds Arizona and the other states rounding out the top 10 for being ahead of the curve on the use of digital technology."

Results of the survey are published in a new report, The Digital State 2002, and available at http://www.pff.org. Highlights of the report, include:

• In Arizona, state social service caseworkers all have access to email and a range of digital technologies to improve overall communication with program participants. All Arizona caseworkers that serve the deaf have TTY modems.
• Ninety-three percent of states have equipped at least some officers with mobile devices, such as notebook PCs or HP iPAQ Pocket PCs, or voice-recognition devices that are connected to a digital communication system. Two-thirds of states have deployed these devices to more than half of their officers.
• In 31 states, more than half of the voting precincts use digital technologies to cast and tabulate ballots. In eight states, a majority of precincts still rely on manual paper ballots or mechanical means such as levers or punch cards.
• Sixty percent of the states surveyed have a computer system that integrates criminal justice and law enforcement information systems allowing an authorized user to retrieve data on identity, custody and a criminal offense.
• Twenty-six states post timely updates to the Web on road construction or traffic restrictions and information for all state maintained roads and bridges.

The 2002 ranking is based on a comprehensive survey that is distributed to the state chief information officer or equivalent official in each of the 50 states. Specific criteria in each of the eight categories are measured against pre-determined benchmarks. In addition to the survey, data is collected through personal site visits, interviews and correspondence and via the Internet through each state's official Web site and links provided in survey responses. The rankings show how well a state fares compared with other states.

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.