News release

HP Positioned as "Leader" in Storage Assessment Report

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HP today announced that it has been positioned in the "Leaders" quadrant in the Gartner, Inc. "Magic Quadrant for Combined Storage Resource Management and SAN Management Software" report for 2005.⁽¹⁾

This year's report marks the first time Gartner has designated "Leaders" in the combined SRM/SAN (storage area network) management software space. According to Gartner, vendors listed in the Leaders' quadrant are performing well today, have a clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the market.

HP's October 2005 acquisition of AppIQ, previously an HP original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partner, resulted in HP Storage Essentials, a suite of advanced heterogeneous storage resource management tools. HP Storage Essentials plugs into HP Systems Insight Manager, the foundation of HP's unified infrastructure management strategy.

By combining server and storage management, HP is enabling customers to dramatically simplify their environments and significantly reduce operational costs, not just acquisition costs.

"With the acquisition of AppIQ, HP now possesses a combination of technology, financial strength, strategic OEM relationships, services and expertise to deliver industry-leading, heterogeneous SRM solutions," said Bob Schultz, senior vice president and general manager, StorageWorks Division, HP. "We are committed to maintaining this market position through additional investments in SRM technology, deep integration with the rest of HP's software, hardware and services portfolio, continued support for our OEM partners, and unrivaled execution."

HP continues to offer AppIQ's foundational StorageAuthority multi-vendor SRM and SAN management technology products through OEM partners Engenio Information Technologies, Hitachi Data Systems, Silicon Graphics and Sun Microsystems.

More information on HP Storage Essentials is available at http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storage/software/e-suite/index.html.

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended Oct. 31, 2005, HP revenue totaled $86.7 billion. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

⁽¹⁾ Gartner Research, "Magic Quadrant for Combined Storage Resource Management and SAN Management Software, 4Q05," by Carolyn DiCenzo, Dave Russell and Robert E. Passmore, dated Nov. 22, 2005.

Magic Quadrant Disclaimer
The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted Nov. 22, 2005, by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they ever materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including the expected development, performance or rankings of products or services; statements of expectation or belief; and any statement of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the development, performance and market acceptance of products and services and other risks that are described from time to time in HP's Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including but not limited to HP's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2005, and other reports filed after HP's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 2004. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.