Compaq Announces New Linux Initiatives and Extends Commitment to Open Source Community

Leads Industry with 30.5 Percent Linux Server Revenue Market Share

HOUSTON, June 18, 2001 - Building on its long commitment to the open source community, Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) today expanded its Linux leadership with six strategic initiatives to meet global customer demand for commercially viable Linux enterprise solutions--from the infrastructure to the edge of the network. Compaq's new Linux-focused initiatives and capabilities include high-performance Beowulf clustering, a program for interoperability and portability between Linux and UNIX, investment and participation in a Linux lab, training and certifying system engineers, contributing SSI clustering technology to the open source, and fostering development of Linux applications for handheld devices.

According to International Data Corporation (IDC), Compaq ProLiant™ servers are the industry-leading server platform for Linux, with 22 percent market share in server shipments for the first quarter of 2001--winning out over Linux servers from major industry competitors including IBM and Dell. For the year 2000, Compaq leads the industry with a 30.5 percent revenue market share for all Linux server shipments.

"As the Linux platform becomes more commercially viable, customers around the world are turning to Compaq for innovative technology, strong partnerships, and proven solutions," said Michael Winkler, executive vice president, Global Business Units, Compaq Computer Corporation. "Our ten years of experience with the open source community ensures customers that the Linux solutions they deploy on Compaq systems will dovetail easily with their existing IT infrastructures and offer the same superior levels of interoperability, manageability, and performance they expect from Compaq."

Industry's First Beowulf Clustering on Industry-Standard ProLiant Servers

Compaq is the pioneer of clustering technology, with more than 20 years of experience in both high-performance and high-availability clustering. Now, Compaq is drawing on its expertise in building high-performance technical computing clusters on AlphaServer™, and partnering with leading Linux players to deliver Beowulf clustering solutions on the industry-standard ProLiant server platform. This significant advancement enables small and large enterprises to build supercomputer-like clusters ranging from 16 to 512 or more servers (nodes) for high-compute applications such as those needed in the oil and gas, aerospace, finance, and biotechnology industries.

Compaq's new industry partners, whose expertise in Linux Beowulf clustering solutions include fully integrated Linux Beowulf operating systems, middleware and industry-specific applications, are: San Diego Supercomputer Center's NPACI Rocks; Scientific Computing Associates' Linda and Paradise middleware for parallel and distributed application development; Scyld Computing Corporation's next generation Beowulf Operating System; and Turbogenomics' Turbo Blast and TurboHub for Bioinformatics analysis.

Enhancing Development of Robust Enterprise Linux Solutions

Compaq is enhancing its long-standing global alliance with Oracle Corporation to advance development of Linux solutions, and will participate in the Oracle® Linux Lab to optimize kernel development and performance. Oracle last week demonstrated its recently released Oracle9i Real Application Cluster technology on industry-standard ProLiant DL580 servers running Linux.

"Oracle and Compaq continue to deliver leading-edge solutions to the enterprise," said, Mike Rocha, senior vice president, Oracle. "Working together in the Linux lab capitalizes on our respective strengths and expertise in developing more reliable and scalable next-generation Linux applications."

Providing the Industry's Best Linux and UNIX Interoperability and Portability

Compaq's new Linux and Tru64™ Affinity Program enables customers to combine the best in low-cost open source Linux solutions on ProLiant servers with the most robust, scalable, and easiest-to-manage UNIX in the market, Tru64 UNIX. Compaq's Linux and Tru64 Affinity Program will offer a comprehensive portfolio of software tools and services that allow both interoperability and application mobility within mixed Linux and Tru64 UNIX environments.

With the Linux and Tru64 Affinity Program, customers can seamlessly implement a mixed environment of Linux on Compaq ProLiant or AlphaServer systems and Tru64 UNIX with common user interfaces, applications, and management capabilities. In addition, customers can protect their investments by developing applications on Linux and moving them to Tru64 UNIX or vice-versa for increased reliability, availability and serviceability, and overall lower deployment costs.

Making Server Clusters More Manageable Through Open Source SSI

To make enterprise server clusters more manageable, Compaq has made its Single System Image (SSI) Clustering Technology available on Linux and is working with the open source community to make SSI clusters ready for production. SSI treats multiple servers as if they were one server, giving administrators and application users a single view of the cluster to simplify common system tasks such as load balancing, server expansion on demand, password sign-on, software upgrades, and application access.

Compaq will make key infrastructure pieces available first, and then the full SSI technology. The first components being released are a kernel-to-kernel communication subsystem and a kernel resident membership service that also enables more loosely coupled high availability and load balancing clusters.

Industry's First Linux Accreditation Program

To meet the growing demand for qualified Linux system engineers, Compaq is adding an Accredited Systems Engineer (ASE) certification level for Linux to the Compaq Accredited Professionals Program (CAPP) and aligning its certification requirements with partners Red Hat and SAIR with plans underway to include Linux Professional Institute (LPI). Compaq Accredited Professionals are trained to plan, deploy, troubleshoot and maintain their company's systems and solutions. They include Compaq customers, authorized resellers, service providers and integration specialists, plus information-management personnel responsible for Compaq solutions and systems.

Driving New Linux Applications for Handheld Devices with a Developers Contest

To drive development and adoption of Linux applications on handheld devices such as the Compaq iPAQ™, Compaq announced an application development contest for handheld devices. A number of contest winners including one grand prize winner will be announced at Linux World in August 2001.

Compaq Linux Solutions for the Enterprise

Compaq provides Linux solutions from the edge of the network to the heart of the IT infrastructure. From Compaq iPAQ handheld devices, to Compaq Professional Workstations to market-leading, industry-standard ProLiant servers and high-performance AlphaServer systems, Compaq offers the platforms more customers choose for their Linux-based solutions. Compaq supports customers not only by certifying platforms with the major Linux distributions, but also by providing global 24x7 support in Compaq call centers worldwide and professional services for IT assessment, architecture/design, implementation/integration and on-site management and training.

"At DataPipe, we promise our customers rock solid network reliability and unlimited scalability across a variety of technologies, applications and operating systems," said Robb Allen, chief operating officer of DataPipe. "Compaq ProLiant servers allow us to deploy our Linux based applications with confidence--their reliability and performance are second to none." DataPipe is a provider of outsourced Web hosting and managed application services for companies conducting business on the Internet.

More customers deploy Linux on Compaq ProLiant than any other server in the world. Compaq ProLiant architecture for Linux delivers the foundation of e-business to customers with high availability, scalable clustering solutions, multi-system enterprise management tools and ultra-powerful density optimized servers. For more information on Compaq's Linux initiatives, see http://www.compaq.com/linux.

About Compaq

Compaq Computer Corporation, a Fortune Global 100 company, is a leading global provider of technology and solutions. 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 that are sold in more than 200 countries. Information on Compaq and its products and services is available at http://www.compaq.com/.

Notes:

Compaq and the Compaq logo Registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others: market conditions, particularly in the U.S.; increased competitive environment and pricing pressures; disruptions related to restructuring activity and delays in the implementation of changes in delivery models. Further information on these and other factors that could affect Compaq's financial results is included in Compaq's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including the latest Annual Report on Form 10-K and the latest quarterly report on Form 10-Q.