Compaq Announces Professional Workstation Promotion For Softimage Toonz Users.

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 15, 1997--

Editors' Summary

-- Compaq is announcing a $600 rebate on select Compaq Professional Workstations for users of Toonz, Softimage's new 2D cel animation software which runs on the Microsoft Windows NT operating system.

-- The Compaq Professional Workstation was used by Softimage as the vehicle for software demos, press evaluations, and other marketing activities for the launch of Toonz at the National Association of Broadcasters' 1997 Conference (NAB97).

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Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ) announced today that the company is offering a special rebate of $600, in the U.S., on Compaq Professional Workstations in conjunction with the new Toonz Version 4.1 for the Microsoft Windows NT operating system. Toonz is the leading 2D cel animation software product from Softimage Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp.

This special promotion is available on select configurations of Compaq Professional Workstations that include single or dual 200 MHz Pentium Pro processors and an Elsa GLoria-L graphics controller. The rebate brings the estimated price of these powerful workstations down to an affordable $7,300 for a single-processor model with 64 MB of RAM and $9,200(A) for a model with dual processors and 128 MB of RAM. Toonz -- a leading 2D cel animation package for simplifying traditional cel animation production in films, video, broadcast and interactive games - was previously available only on the proprietary SGI IRIX platform. Softimage announced Toonz 4.1 for Windows NT in February and demonstrated the capabilities of Toonz for Windows NT in marketing activities and press evaluations in conjunction with NAB97 using Compaq Professional Workstations as the hardware vehicle for those activities.

"The Compaq Professional Workstation with Softimage Toonz is an ideal platform solution for professional animators, providing uncompromising performance and ease of use plus the assurance and flexibility that comes only with an industry leading platform," said Les Crudele, Vice President, Workstation Product Division, Compaq Computer Corporation. "With both affordable desktop PCs and high-performance Compaq Professional Workstations, Compaq offers a choice of platforms for an optimally priced Toonz Ink & Paint system and a powerful Toonz animation and compositing workstation on Windows NT. And, with this special promotion, Toonz users can take advantage of even more affordable prices on these powerful workstations."

"The combination of Toonz and the Compaq Professional Workstation offers a very attractive cel animation solution for animation studios and production houses," said Hugues Leveille Nizerolle, director of worldwide sales at Softimage. "The quality, reliability and productivity of Toonz combined with the high performance, scalability, and low total cost of ownership of the Compaq workstation offer competitive advantages to our customers through increased functionality and lower production costs. Compaq's Toonz promotion helps make these advantages even more attractive to current customers and a whole new generation of users." Promotion Details

The Compaq/Toonz rebate is available through June 30, 1997. Any Compaq customer can take advantage of this special rebate offer by shipping proofs of purchase for both a select Compaq Professional Workstation and Toonz software along with a copy of the special rebate coupon to:

Workstation/Toonz Rebate MS 580607 20555 SH249 Houston, TX 77070

Customers can receive promotional rebate coupons by sending a request by mail for the coupon to the above address. Compaq Professional Workstations available for the rebate come standard with one or two 200 MHz Pentium Pro processors, an ELSA GLoria-L graphics controller, Windows NT Workstation 4.0 and high performance features such as a Wide-Ultra SCSI controller, up to 512 MB of ECC DIMM memory, 8X CD ROM drives, an integrated NetFlex-3 autosensing network interface card (NIC) providing a 10Mbit/s or 100Mbit/s Ethernet connection, a 3-button mouse and a 4.3 GB hard drive.

Company Backgrounds

Compaq Computer Corporation, a Fortune 100 company, is the fifth largest computer company in the world and the largest global supplier of personal computers, delivering useful innovation through products that connect people with people and people with information. The company is an industry leader in environmentally friendly programs and business practices. Compaq is strategically organized to meet the current and future needs of its customers, offering Internet and enterprise computing solutions, networking products, commercial PC products and consumer PCs. As the leader in distributed enterprise solutions, Compaq has shipped over a million servers. In 1996, the company reported worldwide sales of $18.1 billion. Compaq products are sold and supported in more than 100 countries through a network of authorized Compaq marketing partners. Customer support and information about Compaq and its products can be found at http://www.compaq.com or by calling 1-800-OK-COMPAQ. Product information and reseller locations can be obtained by calling 1-800-345-1518. -0-

Additional information about Softimage and Microsoft can be found via the Internet at http://www.softimage.com/ and http://www.microsoft.com/, respectively.

(A) All prices herein are estimated selling prices. Actual dealer prices may vary. Supersedes all other promotions.

Compaq, Registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT: Compaq Computer Corporation

Gary Frazier, 281-514-0484

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Miller/Shandwick Technologies

Eric Grodziski, 617-536-0470

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MacKenzie Kesselring Inc.

Heidi Lowell, 503-225-0725

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