Compaq ProLiant 4500 Outperforms HP 9000 K-Series At Half the Cost

World's Leading Vendor of Industry Standard Servers Refreshes Entire Server
Product Line, Announces New Pricing

HOUSTON, February 5, 1996 -- Introducing an entirely refreshed server line,
Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ) today announced its new
record-breaking ProLiant 4500 5/166 enterprise-class server,
microprocessor upgrades in other high performance ProLiant and ProSignia
servers, Standby Recovery Server and On-Line Recovery Server Options which
now support the ProSignia family, and price cuts of up to 16 percent
across its entire server product line.

TPC-C1 benchmark results on the new Compaq ProLiant 4500 5/166 show the new
platform delivers better performance and superior price:performance over
more costly, proprietary systems from Hewlett Packard, Digital Equipment
Corporation and IBM.

Compaq also introduced enterprise-class network storage solutions including
the SMART-2 Array Controller, a DLT Tape Array, and a 15/30 GB DLT Tape
Drive.

"The Compaq ProLiant 4500 5/166 holds the performance record and delivers
price:performance superiority over any published four- processor system,"
said Gary Stimac, senior vice president and general manager, Compaq's
Systems Division. "For example, it exceeds the performance of Hewlett
Packard's highest-performance 4-way system, the K410, at less than half
the cost. The performance capabilities of the ProLiant 4500, coupled with
the high-availability and fault-tolerant features of this high-end
platform, confirm its place as a serious contender for midrange
applications."

COMPAQ SETS RECORD TPC-C PRICE:PERFORMANCE

The ProLiant 4500 5/166 delivers the midrange-class performance required
for demanding application server environments in a distributed enterprise,
as well as the industry's best price:performance. The ProLiant 4500 5/166
with Oracle 7 version 7.3 delivers midrange-class transaction performance
-- measured at 3849.17 tpmC -- and record-setting price:performance of
$161 per tpmC at more than 50 percent2 less than other traditional
midrange systems. These results rival traditional midrange systems such as
the HP 9000 K410 (3809.46 tpmC -- $364 per tpmC), IBM RS/6000 PowerServer
J30 (3119.16 tpmC $349 per tpmC), and DEC's AlphaServer 2100 5/300 (3194.4
tpmC -- $194 per tpmC) at significantly lower price points. The ProLiant
4500 is optimized to be the best server platform for all industry standard
operating systems -- Windows NT, NetWare SMP, UnixWare, SCO UNIX, OS/2,
and VINES.

SYSTEM                       TPMC     $/TPMC  TOTAL$       DATABASE
---------------------------------------------------------------------
COMPAQ                                                     ORACLE 7
PROLIANT 4500 5/166         3849.17    $161   $619,447     V7.3

Hewlett Packard                                            ORACLE 7
HP 9000 Model K410 c/s      3809.46    $364   $1,384,763   V7.3

Digital Equipment Corp.                                    SQL Server
AlphaServer 2100 5/300 c/s  3194.4     $196   $626,214     6.5

IBM                                                        DB2 for AIX
RS/6000 PowerServer J30     3119.16    $349   $1,089,831   2.1
---------------------------------------------------------------------

THE PROLIANT 4500 5/166

The ProLiant 4500 5/166 models, featuring a QuadSpeed CD-ROM drive, support
up to four 5/166 System Processor Boards, each with a 2MB ServerCache-2,
delivering excellent scalability for database and OLTP applications. In
addition, Compaq provides the Model NT/Array to bring together the
ProLiant 4500 5/166, the new SMART-2 Array Controller, Microsoft
BackOffice and Cheyenne ARCserve for Windows NT, providing the highest
levels of integration and ease of ownership.

Compaq delivers best-in-class departmental server performance with the
introduction of the ProLiant 1500 5/166. The ProLiant 1500 5/166 includes
a FlexSMP 5/166 Dual Processor Board, a NetFlex-3/P Network Interface
Controller, SMART-2 Array model and a new QuadSpeed CD- ROM. The FlexSMP
processor board is dual processor capable and features the new 166 MHz
Pentium processor. The 166 MHz Pentium processor delivers greater
processor performance, up to 25% faster than the 133 MHz Pentium processor
(Intel iSPEC benchmark). These new models continue the ProLiant 1500
tradition as the affordable, business- critical server for departmental
file and application servers.

Compaq delivers unprecedented price:performance in a NetWare server with
the introduction of the ProSignia 500 5/150. The ProSignia 5/150 includes
the 150 MHz Pentium processor, a QuadSpeed CD-ROM, increased standard
memory and support for the Recovery Server Option. The new 150 MHz Pentium
processor delivers greater processor performance, up to 44% faster than
the 100 MHz Pentium processor (Intel iComp benchmark). This new addition
to the ProSignia 500 family reinforces its position as the world's most
popular NetWare server.

The new ProSignia 300 5/120 is designed especially for businesses requiring
a high-performance, aggressively-priced server for small networks. Compaq
enhances the ProSignia 300 family of small workgroup servers with the 120
MHz Pentium processor, a QuadSpeed CD-ROM, and support for the Recovery
Server Option, delivering true server performance and functionality for
the price of a desktop computer. The 120 MHz Pentium processor delivers
greater processor performance, up to 23% faster than the 100 MHz Pentium
processor (Intel iComp benchmark). In NetBench 3.0 tests, the ProSignia
300 5/120 outperforms the HP NetServer LC 5/133 by greater than 17
percent, at a price that is approximately 18 percent less. When compared
to the IBM PCServer 310, the ProSignia 300 offers 78 percent greater
performance a price point that is only 3 percent more.

ProSignia 300 customers receive server-oriented features like Integrated
32-bit Fast-SCSI-2/P Controller and an integrated 32-bit Ethernet
Controller, that deliver faster response time when users access files from
the server. Similarly, instead of a computer optimized for running Windows
desktop applications, the ProSignia 300 has been optimized for running
network operating systems like NetWare. Users will find true server
features, like Automatic Server Recovery and ECC memory, that desktop
computers lack.

SMARTSTART AND INSIGHT MANAGER ENHANCEMENTS EASE INTEGRATION AND
MANAGEMENT

As part of the Enterprise Computing Partnership with Novell, Compaq was a
key partner in many activities surrounding the development of NetWare 4.1
SMP by providing test support for Multiprocessing (MP) certification, MP
driver certification for Compaq products, and pre-beta development
versions of Novell multiprocessing technology. Compaq also developed the
Compaq platform specific module (PSM) and comprehensive information and
integration tools for NetWare 4.1 SMP, including Compaq Insight Manager
and SmartStart.

Compaq, the leading provider of NetWare servers, will deliver NetWare 4.1
SMP via SmartStart, its CD-ROM based integration tool for configuring,
installing and optimizing network operating systems, relational databases
and other client/server-related software. NetWare 4.1 SMP solutions have
been optimized to take full advantage of Compaq's multiprocessing servers.
SmartStart 2.50 has been enhanced with new hardware support and the latest
software integration. New software products on SmartStart 2.50 include the
Japanese version of Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51, NetWare 4.1 SMP,
OS/2 CID Server Setup, Cheyenne JETserve 3.3 for NetWare and ARCserve 6
for NetWare. SmartStart provides customers with an integrated and robust
platform for running high-performance, scaleable, business-critical
applications on the network.

Compaq Insight Manager 2.61 will also support NetWare 4.1 SMP to offer
customers a robust set of monitor, alert and control features, as well as
remote maintenance, in network environments. Insight Manager 2.61,
Compaq's comprehensive server management tool, monitors and controls the
operation of Compaq servers and desktop PCs, and provides real-time fault
management for the full line of Compaq server products and Compaq Deskpro
PCs. For Compaq servers, Insight Manager provides pre-failure alerting on
all major subsystems, including CPU, mass storage, NICs, and memory.

SYSTEM REFERENCE LIBRARY CD

The Company also announced that all Compaq servers will now be shipped with
the new Systems Reference Library CD -- an easy-to-use, Windows- based
utility containing online Compaq server documentation with full-text
search capabilities for fast retrieval of information.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

All platforms announced today will be available immediately, except for
Array models which will be available within 30 days. Prices of new servers
start at $2889 for the ProSignia 300 5/120-1; $4439 for the ProSignia 500
5/150-1; $7589 for the ProLiant 1500 5/166- 1; and $13,069 for the
ProLiant 4500 5/166-1. Compaq also announced price reductions averaging
nine percent, and up to 16 percent, across its entire ProSignia and
ProLiant Server lines.

Representative pricing adjustments include cutting the price of the
ProLiant 4500 5/133-1 from $13,069 to $11,139 (15 percent); the ProLiant
4500 5/100-1 from $8,859 to

$7,899 (11 percent); the ProLiant 1500 5/133-1 from $7,269 to $6, 789
(seven percent); and the ProSignia 300 5/75-1050 from $2,719 to $2,589
(five percent)

COMPANY BACKGROUND

Compaq Computer Corporation is the world's largest supplier of personal
computers, offering desktop PCs, portable PCs, servers and options. Compaq
products are sold and supported in more than 100 countries throughout the
world. Compaq also sells directly to customers through Compaq Direct Plus
at 1-800-888-5858. Compaq provides 24-hour customer support and can be
reached through the Compaq forums on America Online, CompuServe, Internet
(http://www.compaq.com), and Prodigy, or by calling 1-800-345-1518.
 
 =========================================================
 From the 'New Product News' Electronic News Service on...
 AOL (Keyword = New Products) and Delphi (GO COMP PROD)
 =========================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the
 company/author mentioned. For additional details, please
 contact them directly at the address/phone# indicated.
 Trademarks are the property of their respective owners!
 =========================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  USA
 Email:   rbakerpc@aol.com   --or--   rbakerpc@delphi.com
 =========================================================
