News release

HP Offers New National Help Desk for K-12 Schools

Recognizing a growing need for high-level technology support in education, HP (NYSE:HPQ) is offering a new national help desk specifically for schools and districts serving students in grades kindergarten through high school.

The HP National K-12 Help Desk's dedicated toll-free 1-800 number provides expert, responsive support for desktop and notebook computers of most major brands and software support for more than 200 applications, including all Microsoft® Office packages.

"The integration of computer technology into our nation's classrooms has increased the need for support people who know how to run the equipment and software. At the same time, many school districts are feeling the pinch of budgetary cutbacks," said George Warren, director of K-12 line of business, HP Public Sector Organization.

"With technology becoming more robust, it also has become more complex, often requiring an expert to set it up or integrate it into other systems. The cost of providing PC support can be disproportionately high for a small school, so many do not have the luxury of tech support. This program fills that need," he added.

The HP National K-12 Help Desk, targeted primarily to school districts with fewer than 500 supported users, provides an innovative alternative to the traditional "on-site" PC help desk service without the traditional costs. Smaller districts and schools will have the ability to purchase user help desk support in quantities of 10, 25, 50 or 100 with the flexibility to modify services as their needs change and grow.

By leveraging HP's existing call centers and pooling smaller schools into a national group, the new K-12 help desk provides efficient and cost-effective technical support services to education customers who don't want or can't afford an in-house team of specialists or a custom outsourced solution.

For schools with 500 or more users, HP also offers broader customized options with three levels of support -- standard, enhanced and premium packages -- through its Per School Help Center Services. No matter which options are chosen, all K-12 education customers have a single point of contact and a single point of accountability and incident resolution.

"Our education customers want to make sure they are getting the best and the most from their investment in information technology. The complexities of today's IT environment make fast, expert support essential. HP's flexible approach makes this type of support accessible to this growing group of customers," said Frank Palacios, public sector solutions manager, Americas Customer Support, HP Services. "The result is a higher return on the customer's technology investment as end-users make optimum use of the technology tools available to them."

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.

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