News release

Borsa Italiana Deploys HP High-performance Solution to Manage Soaring Market Data and Control Energy Costs

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HP today announced that Borsa Italiana, the Italian stock exchange, has deployed an HP Cluster Platform supercomputer to reliably distribute trading information to financial institutions, consolidate its server systems and lower energy costs.

The No. 1 exchange in Europe by turnover velocity, Borsa Italiana is an electronic, order-driven, full-service stock exchange trading both stocks and futures. Borsa Italiana’s high-performance computing (HPC) solution includes 130 HP BladeSystem BL series servers powered by AMD Opteron™ multi-core processors in data centers in Milan and Turin.

The stock exchange turned to HP HPC technology to streamline its operations and reduce overhead. Since its HPC deployment, Borsa Italiana has reduced its total cost of ownership by 50 percent, representing €1 million in savings to the exchange. The savings include cutting power and cooling costs in half.

“We needed to do more with servers that could be easily deployed and managed, but at the same time, directly impact productivity and total cost of ownership,” said Alessandro Pelosi, senior engineer, ICT Department, Borsa Italiana. “We saw immediately that the new AMD Opteron-based HP BladeSystem would deliver improved manageability, faster automated system backups and generate far less heat, which allowed us to focus on integrating our servers instead of continuously adding new servers. The HP and AMD HPC solution gives us complete control of the infrastructure.”

Since deploying its HP Cluster Platform supercomputer, Borsa Italiana has experienced 100 percent uptime and total availability for its more than 140 European banking customers, boosting its reputation as one of the most reliable stock markets in Europe. In addition, the HP BladeSystem servers provide Borsa Italiana with flexibility for future expansion.

“HP’s high-performance computing solutions are a natural fit for companies like Borsa Italiana that demand unparalleled performance while needing to control costs across the board,” said Winston Prather, vice president and general manager, High Performance Computing, HP.

HP’s Cluster Platform provides the stock exchange with a high level of space efficiency and a very low level of power consumption, which results in significant cost savings, including reductions in hardware acquisition costs, floor space rental expenses, energy management, software installation and operations (including OS) costs, and overall expense on automatic case openings to repair hardware faults.

In addition, the back-office overhaul has dramatically reduced IT maintenance and installation time. HP BladeSystem also is easier to install and configure and much more adaptable to run the stock exchange’s distributed applications.

More information about HP high-performance computing is available at www.hp.com/go/hptc.

About BIt Systems

BIt Systems S.p.A. is the technological company of Borsa Italiana. The company is responsible for the management, maintenance and development of the group’s information systems. It also provides project management and systems integration services to private and public operators, financial institutions and to the exchange industry for the development and management of applications.

About HP

HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers – from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world’s largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $97.1 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2007. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

AMD and AMD Opteron are trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries could 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 but not limited to statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning expected development, performance or market share relating to products and services; anticipated operational and financial results; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the execution and performance of contracts by HP and its customers, suppliers and partners; the achievement of expected results; and other risks that are described in HP’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2007 and HP’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to HP’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 2006. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

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