Compaq Announces Support for Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 and a New
Price/Performance Record

HOUSTON, April 16, 1996 -- Continuing to leverage its technological
leadership and industry-standard approach to distributed enterprise
computing, Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ) -- the world's leading
server vendor -- today announced, around the world, record-breaking
price/performance for its ProLiant family of enterprise-class servers. The
company also announced the next phase of its partnership with Microsoft"
Corp. in developing high-availability computing solutions with the
delivery of Microsoft SQL Server for failover for Compaq Online Recovery
Server.

Announcement highlights include:

* Record-breaking TPC-C price/performance results of $148 per tpmC on the
ProLiant 4500 5/133 enterprise-class server, running Microsoft SQL Server
6.5, on Windows NT Server;

* The industry's best-ever recorded database performance on Windows NT
Server -- 3641 tpmC;

* Enhanced system availability with Microsoft SQL Server 6.5's support for
Compaq's Online Recovery Server Option.

New TPC-C benchmark results on the Compaq ProLiant 4500 5/133 running
Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 demonstrate that this platform delivers
measurably better price/performance results compared to more costly,
proprietary systems from Hewlett Packard, Digital Equipment Corporation
and IBM.

The ProLiant 4500 5/133 delivers the midrange-class performance required
for demanding application and database server environments in a
distributed enterprise, as well as the industry's best price/performance.
The ProLiant 4500 5/133 with Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 and Windows NT
Server delivered the best ever recorded transaction performance on Windows
NT Server-- measured at 3641 tpmC -- and a new price/performance record of
$148 per tpmC -- which is about at half the cost of traditional midrange
systems.

The ProLiant 4500 5/133 models support up to four 5/133 System Processor
Boards, each with a 2MB ServerCache-2, delivering excellent scalability
for data warehousing, decision support and OTLP applications.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           TOTAL 5 YR COST
SYSTEM                     TPMC    $/TPMC   OF OWNERSHIP    DBASE / OS

COMPAQ
PROLIANT 4500 5/133
(FOUR PENTIUM 133 MHZ)     3641     $148     $537,508    MICROSOFT SQL
                                                          SERVER 6.5 &
                                                          WINDOWS NT

Hewlett Packard
HP 9000 Model K410 c/s     3809     $364  $1,384,763    ORACLE 7 v.7.3
                                                        & HP-UX 10.01

Digital Equipment Corp.
AlphaServer 2100 5/300 c/s  3194     $196   $626,214    SQL Server 6.5
                                                             with
                                                       Windows NT 3.51

IBM RS/6000 PowerServer J30
(eight Power PC 601/75MHz)  3119     $349  $1,089,831  DB2 for AIX 2.1
                                                       and AIX 4.1.2

NCR (ATT) WorldMark 4100S
(eight Pentium 133 MHz)     2692     $489  $646,820    Informix
                                                       Online 7.12
                                                       with NCR UNIX
                                                       SVR4 MP-RAS 3.0
---------------------------------------------------------------------

MICROSOFT SQL SERVER 6.5 SUPPORT FOR COMPAQ ONLINE RECOVERY SERVER

Today, Microsoft also announced the availability of support for Compaq
Online Recovery Server. Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 will provide automatic,
unattended reconnection of clients and mapping of database tables,
allowing clients to transparently failover to the second server in a
Compaq Online Recovery Server system. Customers benefit from
high-availability business critical data without the requirement to have
on-site technical expertise. This solution utilizes a combination of
hardware and software to allow two ProLiant servers running Windows NT
Server to provide back-up processing for each other in the event of a
server outage.

"This new fast failover methodology allows customers deploying Windows NT
Server-based solutions to achieve the same uptime levels previously
available only to customers who deployed proprietary and expensive
database solutions. This level of cost-effective fault tolerance makes
Microsoft SQL Server an excellent choice for business-critical database
solutions," said Jim Ewel, group product manager for SQL Server, Microsoft
Corp. "We are delighted to be jointly defining and delivering a new high
availability industry standard solution previously only available in
proprietary midrange UNIX environments."

"This is the first of many breakthrough announcements on high availability
solutions to come from the Compaq and Microsoft partnership," said Jeff
Erramouspe, director of software marketing, Compaq Systems Division. "In
addition to the immediate customer benefit of providing increased system
availability with the Compaq Online Recovery Server and Microsoft SQL
Server 6.5 solution, we are working with Microsoft to deliver future high
availability solutions based on the Microsoft Windows NT Server clustering
APIs."

SMARTSTART MAKES MICROSOFT SQL SERVER 6.5 INTEGRATION EASY

Compaq will also optimize Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 via SmartStart, the
integration tool that optimizes platform configurations and simplifies the
installation of tested and reliable servers, relational databases, and
other client/server-related software.

COMPAQ AND MICROSOFT PARTNERSHIP

Compaq and Microsoft have partnered since 1983 to offer customers seamless
integration of leading-edge systems technology for distributed enterprise
computing environments. The joint work on database failover for Online
Recovery Server today and clustering solutions for the future represent
Compaq and Microsoft's ongoing commitment to supply customers with
industry leading performance, scalability and data availability for
deploying solutions utilizing the client/server model. Other best-in-class
partnership milestones include Compaq's support for Microsoft's Internet
Information Web Server, delivery of the industry's first Microsoft
BackOffice integrated bundle (Compaq ProLiant Model NT/Array) on Compaq's
leadership server platform, joint "Plug 'n Play" specification
development, first "Plug 'n Play" enabled PCs, Compaq named as the "Lead
Systems Partner for Windows 95", and record-setting benchmark results on
Compaq systems running Microsoft's Windows NT Server, Microsoft SQL
Server, and SAP R/3.

INNOVATIVE SERVICE AND SUPPORT PROGRAMS

Compaq and Microsoft share an extensive network of highly trained resellers
and service providers. The combined strength of this network is unmatched
in the industry with over 10,000 Microsoft Solution Providers and 38,000
Compaq marketing partners worldwide. By joining forces to share expertise
and to cross-train these support professionals, Compaq, Microsoft and
their channel partners deliver a level of consulting, integration and
support capabilities that cannot be matched by any single vendor.

COMPANY BACKGROUND

Compaq Computer Corporation is the world's largest supplier of personal
computers, offering desktop PCs, portable PCs, servers and options. The
company reported 1995 worldwide sales of $14.8 billion. Compaq products
are sold and supported in more than 100 countries through Compaq marketing
partners and sold 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-OK-COMPAQ.
Product information and reseller locations can be obtained by calling
1-800-345-1518.
 
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