Compaq, Microsoft and SAP ERP Solution Empowers the Retail Industry with World-Record Performance.

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 1999--

CompUSA Benefits from Industry-Leading TCO and Scalability of

Compaq ProLiant, SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Edition,

and SAP R/3 Solution

Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ), Microsoft Corporation and SAP AG, at SAP's SAPPHIRE `99 Users Conference today, announced the results of a record-shattering SAP Retail Module benchmark. The companies jointly produced a benchmark number of 3.01 million sales data line items per hour - the best result ever published for this benchmark on any platform. This record-breaking benchmark exceeds the previous record of 2.4 million line items per hour held by Sun Microsystems on their 32 processor UE10000. Large retailers now have access to a tremendously powerful point-of-sale solution that is based on Industry Standard technology, all at a fraction of the cost of previous proprietary mid-range platforms.

"This benchmark achieved by ProLiant and SQL Server 7.0 is further evidence that Microsoft and Compaq are working to drive NT to the highest levels of the enterprise," said Michael Capellas, President and Chief Executive Officer, Compaq Computer Corporation. "Add SAP R/3 to this combination and you now own a powerful Enterprise Resource Planning solution for the Retail Industry that is second to none.

With solutions like these from Compaq and Microsoft, it is time for Sun to take a long look over their shoulder."

Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation, speaking at the SAPPHIRE `99 Users Conference said, "The results of this benchmark are remarkable. Microsoft, Compaq and SAP continue to push the envelope to provide customers with increases in performance and scalability, with ever decreasing costs. Today, over six out of 10 new SAP customers prefer the Windows NT platform to run their mission-critical business systems. Microsoft and its partners are committed to continuously improving our platform to offer the best possible combination of cost and performance for our customers."

The SAP Retail benchmark measures inbound point-of-sales line item transactions, and as such it is analogous to a real-world retail sales transaction environment. CompUSA, one of the largest computer retailers in the United States with over 210 locations, recently went into production with SAP R/3 running on Compaq ProLiant Servers and SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Edition. CompUSA currently supports 1,100 concurrent users with this system and plans to scale up to 2,800 concurrent users in the first half of 2000. Honorio Pedron, Senior Vice President of Process Engineering, and CIO of CompUSA said, "This benchmark result demonstrates conclusively that the Compaq and Microsoft platform provides more than enough headroom for large enterprises like CompUSA. The three million sales data line item transactions achieved in one hour substantially exceeds CompUSA's requirements. We are confident in the scalability of the Compaq and Microsoft platform, and excited to benefit from its great TCO advantages."

The benchmark was conducted using 27 Compaq 8-way ProLiant SAP R/3 application servers running Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition, one ProLiant 7000 application server, and one ProLiant 8000 database server running SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Edition. The complete server configuration price as tested totaled $2.035 million, roughly half the price of the Sun configuration(1).

All of the products referenced in this powerful solution, including the new ProLiant 8-way servers are all currently available and shipping in volume. For more information on the products used in the benchmark, see http://www.compaq.com/8-way and http://www.microsoft.com/sql.

Compaq Background

Founded in 1982, Compaq Computer Corporation is a Fortune Global 100 company. Compaq is the second largest computer company in the world and the largest global supplier of personal computers. Compaq develops and markets hardware, software, solutions, and services, including industry-leading enterprise computing solutions, fault-tolerant business-critical solutions, networking and communication products, commercial desktop and portable products and consumer PCs. The company is an industry leader in environmentally friendly programs and business practices.

Compaq products are sold and supported in more than 100 countries through a network of authorized Compaq marketing partners. Customer support and information about these products are available at http://www.compaq.com or by calling 1-800-OK-COMPAQ. Product information and reseller locations are available by calling 1-800-345-1518.

Compaq, Registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. Xeon is a trademark of Intel Corporation. Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Microsoft, Windows NT is either a registered trademark or a trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

(1) Configuration for this benchmark consisted of one Sun Enterprise 10000 database server and three Sun Enterprise 10000 application servers.