News release

HP Named Microsoft Partner of the Year for Fourth Time

HP today announced that it was named Microsoft Partner of the Year in the Enterprise Alliance category for the fourth time, marking the first time in the award's history a company has been honored more than three times.

In addition, PolyServe, a network-attached storage software provider HP acquired earlier this year, was named Partner of the Year for the Advanced Program Infrastructure Solutions, Storage Solutions category.

The Microsoft Enterprise Alliance Partner of the Year Award is given to the global services or technology partner that has demonstrated leadership and has been the most valuable global enterprise partner in delivering Microsoft solutions to mutual enterprise customers in the past year.

The Advanced Infrastructure Solutions for Storage Solutions Award recognizes partners that have storage infrastructure practices in designing and/or implementing storage solutions to solve customers' issues with data growth in their Windows environments.

Winners of the awards were announced Wednesday at the 2007 Microsoft Partner Conference in Denver.

"Winning this award for the fourth time is a true testament to the dedication of the people who foster this alliance within HP," said Andy Mattes, senior vice president and Chief Sales Officer, Technology Solutions Group, HP. "Every year we work hard to innovate solutions that have measurable, bottom-line impact for our customers and we'll continue that mission as we look to new markets and develop new technologies."

Microsoft Enterprise Alliance Partner of the Year

HP's demonstration as the Microsoft Enterprise Alliance Partner of the Year can be attributed to the recently launched HP & Microsoft Solutions for the People-Ready Business, a three-year strategic initiative that aims at driving customer adoption of Microsoft-based solutions built on HP technology and supported by HP Services.

"Targeted and differentiated initiatives like the HP & Microsoft Solutions for the People-Ready Business will help customers realize greater value from their existing IT investments, capitalize on next-generation technologies, and achieve a more agile and responsive business," said Peter Boit, vice president, Enterprise Partners, Microsoft Corp.

Advanced Infrastructure Solutions for Storage Solutions Award

PolyServe's win for the Advanced Infrastructure Solutions for Storage Solutions category is a result of its File Serving Utility for Windows solution, which delivers eight times the performance at a fraction of the cost of traditional NAS filers. The solution works with HP ProLiant servers and HP's portfolio of storage arrays to consolidate and virtualize network-attached storage, and it provides a flexible, scalable and available infrastructure based on Microsoft Server System to address storage growth.

"PolyServe has worked directly with Microsoft to ensure compatibility with the NTFS file system and provided scale out capabilities for the Windows platform," said Robert Deshaies, vice president, U.S. Partner Group, Microsoft Corp. "Their solution enables Windows to compete effectively in enterprises environments against dedicated appliances."

More information about HP StorageWorks products using PolyServe software is available at http://www.hp.com/go/storage.

The HP and Microsoft alliance spans more than 20 years and provides strategic technologies and services to customers within the consumer, small and medium business, and enterprise markets worldwide. More information about the alliance is available at http://www.hp.com/microsoft.

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.

© 2007 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.