News release

HP Ranked No. 1 Outsourcer by Independent Survey of IT Professionals

HP Services Earns Top Marks for Overall Customer Satisfaction

A recent survey of business technology professionals has identified HP (NYSE:HPQ) as the top outsourcing company in terms of overall customer satisfaction. In a field of companies that included IBM, EDS and CSC, HP was ranked No. 1 and scored higher than any other company in the categories of reliability and service level agreements. HP also ranked second in the categories of cost and value, technical skill, and trust.⁽¹⁾

The "Analyzing The Outsourcers" survey, conducted by Information Week Research, asked more than 700 IT professionals to rank their outsourcing vendors in 10 categories. A recent headline in Information Week encapsulated the results: "Customers say they want reliability, trust, skill, and value from their outsourcers. And they give Hewlett-Packard top marks."

The survey rated HP as one of the top three outsourcing companies in eight out of the 10 categories (reliability, cost and value, technical skill, industry knowledge, SLAs, trust, innovation, and reputation). Comparatively, EDS (No. 6 overall) did not appear in the top three in any of the categories, and IBM (No. 7 overall) appeared in the top three in only two categories.

"The results of this survey confirm that HP Services is unique in terms of the close relationships we cultivate with customers -- relationships based on flexibility, reliability, trust and superior service," said Ann Livermore, executive vice president, HP Services. "We are gratified to see our approach validated by this survey and by the increasing number of organizations who are turning to HP Services for their IT outsourcing needs."

Using a collaborative and flexible approach, HP Services custom designs outsourcing contracts to accommodate the full spectrum of customers' outsourcing needs. HP Services acts as a trusted advisor to help customers transform their infrastructure to become more adaptive, creating a better return on IT investment and attaining greater business agility.

The InformationWeek report is available at http://www.informationweek.com/reports/IWK20021115S0004.

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.

⁽¹⁾ InformationWeek, Nov. 18, 2002, published by CMP Media LLC.