News release

HP Continues Strong Leadership in Worldwide Disk Storage

Quarterly Report Affirms HP's No. 1 Position in Key Storage Categories

HP (NYSE:HPQ) extended its lead over competitors in total disk storage systems factory revenue and held the No. 1 position in other major disk storage markets during the first quarter of calendar year 2003, according to a report issued today by IDC.⁽¹⁾

Overall, HP built its lead in worldwide disk storage systems factory revenue quarter-over-quarter with 26.3 percent share and maintained its No. 1 position in the total external disk storage system market. IDC also reported that HP led the external RAID market excluding network attached storage (NAS) and ranked second in external RAID including NAS.

In the growing market of open storage area networks, HP maintained its solid lead position for the third straight quarter, posting 28 percent share in factory revenue -- more than three points higher than the nearest competitor. Regionally, IDC reported that HP led the market in Western Europe, exhibiting strong growth and gaining share.

"HP has executed extremely well against the storage roadmap we articulated to the marketplace just over one year ago," said Bob Schultz, vice president and general manager, HP Network Storage Solutions. "Our sustained market leadership is a critical proof point that we're delivering on our promises and helping customers build the storage foundation of an adaptive enterprise."

During the quarter, HP broadened its StorageWorks solutions portfolio and customer base. Highlights included:

• Delivery of enterprise-class storage functionality to the midrange market with the HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array 3000. In addition, HP increased the capacity and performance of the midrange HP StorageWorks msl6000 and enterprise-class esl9000 tape libraries with HP StorageWorks Ultrium 460 tape drives.
  
  
• Enhancements to the HP OpenView Continuous Access Storage Appliance (CASA), improving the performance and scalability of its cost-effective, heterogeneous data replication and migration services. New customers citing the business continuity and disaster recovery benefits of CASA include EnergyUnited, San Juan Unified School District and National Medical Health Card Systems, Inc.
  
  
• A new world record in storage where HP achieved a sustained 3.6 terabyte per hour tape backup of an Oracle9i Database, exceeding previous industry performance metrics by nearly 40 percent.
  
  
• HP's interoperability conformance test became the first tool accepted by the Storage Networking Industry Association for multi-vendor use in assessing the conformance of industry products to the Storage Management Interface Specification.

More information on HP StorageWorks is available at http://www.hp.com/go/storage.

About HP

HP delivers vital technology for business and life. The company's solutions span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing for consumers, enterprises and small and medium business. For the last four quarters, HP revenue totaled $70.4 billion. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

⁽¹⁾ IDC, "Worldwide Quarterly Storage Systems Tracker," June 2003.