NEWS BRIEFS

Houston, TEXAS — Compaq Computer Corporation unveiled enhanced products and services that will provide new, industry- leading levels of manageability, ease of deployment and performance for Compaq Tru64 UNIX, TruCluster and AlphaServer platforms. With these enhancements, Compaq provides e-business customers the ability to speed the deployment of the highly available and scalable systems their business demands without adding complexity to IT departments.

“The market has been responding to Compaq’s UNIX offerings as evidenced by the 27 percent revenue growth (Q3Y/Y) in our Tru64 UNIX server business, more than double the rate of the market,” said Bill Heil, Vice President and General Manager of Compaq’s Business Critical Server Group. “Today’s product enhancements, coupled with our innovative cluster programs and partnership with Oracle, will continue to drive our momentum in this arena. With this announcement, Compaq raises the bar and sets new standards for delivering a range of high performance, manageable systems that grow to keep up with changing e-business demands, regardless of the size of business.”

Enhanced products and services announced today include the following and are detailed at http://www.compaq.com/alphaserver/announce/oct00.html :

— Extended clustering, performance, Internet and management capabilities with new versions of Tru64 UNIX and TruCluster Server

— Developer’s TruCluster Program for ISV applications

— An Oracle Parallel Server (OPS)-ready Alpha ES40 Parallel Data Server

— Strengthening Global Services well established Guarantee Program goals to include up to 99.999% availability for AlphaServer GS Series systems running Tru64 UNIX and OpenVMS

— Completion of performance enhancements across the full AlphaServer line with the introduction of the Alpha-based DS10/DS10L systems featuring next generation Alpha processor technology and AlphaServer GS80 system availability

— The worldwide Internet debut of Compaq’s UNIX Games, a contest featuring $100,000 worth of prizes that challenges customers’ knowledge about enterprise UNIX technology and solutions.

Building on April’s high availability announcement, Compaq today unveiled Tru64 UNIX V5.1, TruCluster Server V5.1, new programs and services with enhanced features to help IT managers better utilize resources, reduce the cost of ownership, and speed and simplify the deployment. New features in Tru64 UNIX and TruCluster Server exploit the innovations of the new AlphaServer GS Series to provide superior scalability and continued Java performance leadership for UNIX environments. The latest Internet technologies are supported on Tru64 UNIX, including a production-ready version of IPv6 and expanded support for LDAP and security features.

TruCluster Server V5.1 offers enhanced single system imaging, which enables customers to manage once across the cluster, reducing management time and effort. When combined with AlphaServer Systems, it provides an ideal solution to reduce the cost of IT operations through server consolidation.

Compaq has enhanced TruCluster Server V5.1’s portfolio of failover support for popular applications, including those for Oracle and SAP. In addition, Compaq has launched a comprehensive developer and ISV application program, providing an easy and cost effective way to use e-business applications in a clustered environment. The program includes additional scripts for failover and in some cases load balancing; training; equipment access and engineering assistance.

Compaq also facilitates installing, configuring and purchasing an Oracle Parallel Server (OPS) in a UNIX environment easier than any other vendor. The AlphaServer ES40 Parallel Data Server for Tru64 UNIX V5.1 is a pre-configured, base system specifically tuned and designed for OPS that can handle several hundred users, based on a mix of Oracle applications. Compaq conducts hardware and software factory integration and testing to allow customers to rapidly deploy the systems and assure e-business continuity.

“With Tru64 UNIX 5.1, along with TruCluster Server 5.1, Compaq has developed one of the most reliable UNIX environments for Oracle Parallel Server available today,” said Juan Jones, Vice President, Systems Products Division at Oracle. “Compaq is meeting the needs of our customers with the new Oracle Parallel Server-Ready TruCluster Package – taking the design, configuration, and set up of Oracle Parallel Server in a UNIX environment to a new level of simplicity – enabling them to deploy highly available, scalable e-business solutions.”

Compaq delivers a powerful combination of world-class services and industry-leading technology to keep businesses up and running continuously. Backed by a worldwide network of expert Business Critical Consultants, Compaq Global Services takes a holistic approach to managing availability by looking at technology, services and management practices across multiple domains. Compaq works in partnership with the customer to implement a plan that achieves their highest availability goal. With its industry leading products and comprehensive services portfolio, Compaq has expanded its well established Guarantee Uptime Program to include up to 99.999% availability for clustered AlphaServer GS systems running Tru64 Unix and OpenVMS.

Compaq’s announcement of the upgrades to the AlphaServer line provides customers with clear product choices to meet their changing e-business needs regardless of their environment. The AlphaStation DS10, AlphaServer DS10 and AlphaServer DS10L systems now offer enhanced next generation Alpha processor technology (EV67). This completes the performance upgrade of the AlphaServer family to EV67, providing customers with an ideal entry-level platform with the same advanced technology and performance as the rest of the product line.

With AlphaServer GS80 systems availability, customers have a low-cost of entry into all the scalability, performance, manageability and data center attributes of the AlphaServer GS series. With this announcement, the entire AlphaServer GS series is now available and can take full advantage of the system partitions and resource management features of Tru64 UNIX V5.1 and OpenVMS Galaxy, allowing IT administrators to rapidly and efficiently respond to changing e-business demands. The AlphaServer GS series supports rapid business growth through capacity on demand, which allows customers to activate reserve processing power for information systems without disrupting running applications.

Compaq has also launched UNIX games, a state-of-the-art web-based game designed to educate ISVs and customers about the power of Tru64 UNIX and clustering. The “xtreme cranium sports” takes contestants through a series of five quizzes over the next five months testing their knowledge of enterprise UNIX products, solutions and services. Eligible contestants worldwide can register today at http://www.compaq.com/unixgames for a chance to share in $100,000 in prizes.

Compaq Computer Corporation, a Fortune Global 100 company, is the largest supplier of computing systems in the world. Compaq designs, develops, manufactures and markets hardware, software, solutions, and services, including industry-leading enterprise computing solutions, fault-tolerant business-critical solutions, and communications products, commercial desktop and portable products, and consumer PCs.

Compaq products and services are sold in more than 200 countries directly to businesses, through a network of authorized Compaq marketing partners, and directly to businesses and consumers through Compaq’s e-commerce Web site at http://www.compaq.com .

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