Compaq Delivers Superior Price/Performance with Professional Workstation 5100.

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 9, 1997--

High-Performance Parallel System Architecture

Delivered in Affordable Desktop Design

Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ) announced worldwide today the new Compaq Professional Workstation 5100, the latest addition to Compaq's Windows NT-based workstation line, which delivers exceptional price/performance in a space-saving desktop design. The Professional Workstation 5100 provides the power of Compaq's Highly Parallel System Architecture, single or dual Pentium II processors, robust 2D and 3D graphics accelerators (including support for up to eight monitors) and Microsoft Windows NT -- all starting at an incredibly affordable $3,444(a). This combination of high- performance features and low price enables the Professional Workstation 5100 to offer equal or better performance than traditional RISC/UNIX workstations, such as Sun Microsystems and Silicon Graphics systems, at a half or even a third of the cost.

"The Compaq Professional Workstation 5100 delivers the uncompromising performance that our technical, financial and creative customers demand with a smaller physical footprint and a cost-effective price point," said Les Crudele, Vice President and General Manager, Workstation Division, Compaq Computer Corporation. "Its desktop form factor and support for two, four, or eight monitors make it ideal for financial traders, mechanical CAD engineers, graphics artists, electronics designers and other demanding users who require a powerful workstation with a range of graphics capabilities in a space-saving design. And, it is a tremendous value for any user that wants a high-powered desktop workstation at an affordable price."

High Performance at an Affordable Price

While its starting price is less than $3,500, the Compaq Professional Workstation 5100 nonetheless equals or exceeds the performance of much higher priced RISC/UNIX-based and other Windows NT-based workstations.

As an example, the Compaq Professional Workstation 5100, with one 300 MHz Pentium II processor, 256 MB of RAM, a 4 GB hard drive and an ELSA GLoria-XL graphics card completed the widely used Bench97 benchmark -- using the testing methodology prescribed in ProE: The Magazine -- in less than 68 minutes. To put that score in perspective, a dual 300 MHz UltraSPARC Sun Ultra2 model 2300 system with 256 MB of RAM, a 2.1 GB hard drive and Creator 3D graphics completed the same test in 77 minutes when tested by ProE: The Magazine. The price of the Compaq Professional Workstation unit tested here, including a 21-inch monitor is $9,754. The Sun machine with a 20-inch monitor costs nearly four times as much with a list price at $38,295.

Highly Parallel System Architecture

The Compaq Professional Workstation 5100 supports up to two Pentium II processors to optimize performance for multithreaded applications, such as Adobe Photoshop and Kinetix 3D Studio MAX. While other Windows NT-based workstation vendors ship systems with multiple processors, their systems' capabilities are limited because each CPU competes for access to critical subsystems (e.g. memory and I/O) whose bandwidth has not been correspondingly increased. This severely limits the beneficial effects of multiple processors on application performance.

Only Compaq Professional Workstations (6000, 8000, and 5100) deliver the Highly Parallel System Architecture, which addresses the need for greater overall system bandwidth by utilizing dual memory controllers, dual-peer PCI buses, and advanced multiprocessing support. This architecture delivers two to four times the memory bandwidth (1.07 GB/sec.) and twice the I/O bandwidth (267 MB/sec.) of other vendors' Intel processor-, Windows NT-based systems. Therefore, the Compaq Professional Workstation 5100 delivers greater application performance -- especially for demanding CAD, CAE, financial, DCC and EDA applications, which must move a lot of data very quickly through a workstation's memory and I/O subsystems.

Compaq Professional Workstation 5100 System Highlights

The Compaq Professional Workstation 5100 supports up to two 266 or 300 MHz Pentium II processors and up to 512 MB of system memory for optimum multiprocessing performance. The Compaq Professional Workstation 5100 also ships with an integrated Wide-Ultra SCSI controller and an integrated 10/100TX autosensing network controller, as well as a 24X MAX CD-ROM drive. All Compaq Professional Workstations ship with Windows NT Workstation 4.0 and support Windows NT 3.51 and Windows 95.

Customers can choose from a variety of high-performance graphics controllers. For 2D graphics users, the Compaq Professional Workstation 5100 ships with either the Matrox Millennium II or the multi-monitor support of the MVP Workstation graphics controller from STB Systems Inc. The Millennium II delivers the fastest 2D windowing performance in the market for applications such as CAD, electronics design and software development. The Millennium II supports up to 1920 x 1200 resolution to run Compaq's new 24-inch (22.5-inch viewable) P1610 monitor (see related Sept. 8 release), which offers maximum screen real estate to display two pages simultaneously or eliminate overlapping windows and tool bars.

For 2D users who need a lot of display area, the MVP Workstation graphics controller is an ideal solution. With MVP Workstation and additional daughter cards, users can drive up to eight display monitors from a single workstation, a capability that is especially useful for financial planners and analysts. And, unlike other system vendors offering the MVP Workstation, Compaq has done the integration and testing to ensure customers can confidently deploy this multi-monitor solution in their environment.

For high-performance 3D applications, such as Pro/ENGINEER, Softimage, and 3D Studio MAX, the Professional Workstation 5100 ships with the GLoria-XL from Elsa, Inc. The ELSA GLoria-XL offers up to 16 MB of frame buffer and 40 MB of texture memory for smooth, dynamic interaction with realistic 3D images. And, it also supports up to 1920 x 1200 resolution.

Despite its space-saving design, the Professional Workstation 5100 provides plenty of slots and bays for expansion. The system is delivered with five PCI and ISA expansion slots (three PCI, one ISA and one shared), only one of which is occupied. It also provides five drive bays for more than 22 GB of internal disk space, as well as two Universal Serial Bus ports.

Enterprise Management Capabilities

New with the Professional Workstation 5100 is an enhanced set of remote management tools that allow system administrators to remotely power on workstations to perform software downloads, remote ROM upgrades and remote security management. With these remote management features, customers can significantly decrease the true cost of owning a workstation.

The Compaq Professional Workstation 5100 also ships with enhanced versions of enterprise management features, including configuration management for remote management of system-wide desktop configurations, performance management for monitoring use of critical subsystems, fault management for detecting and controlling pre-failure events before they become critical, security management for deterring and detecting unauthorized access to sensitive corporate information and asset management for effectively managing computing assets.

Service and Support

For confident deployment in business critical environments, Compaq Professional Workstations are supported by Compaq's global network of service providers. These Compaq-trained and certified partners offer a wide range of flexible service and support offering for any size computing environment. Customers can choose a customized, cost-effective solution including system design and planning, installation and integration, maintenance or consulting services.

Easy Integration Into Existing Environments

Since many customers work in heterogeneous environments with diverse platforms, operating systems, and networks, Compaq is working to facilitate customers' integration of the Compaq Professional Workstation 5100 -- and Compaq's entire line of Professional Workstations -- into legacy environments. Compaq has joined with key interoperability software vendors to provide tested interoperability solutions to enable Compaq Professional Workstations to share files and data with Unix- or Macintosh-based systems and help customers transition existing Unix- or Mac-based environments to Windows NT.

In addition, Compaq has teamed with the leading application vendors in the CAD, CAE, financial, DCC and electronics design automation markets to test and certify their applications on Compaq Professional Workstations. As a result, customers can purchase workstations from Compaq with the assurance that these applications will not only run on our workstations, but run at peak performance.

Company Background

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-

(a) All pricing listed herein is U.S. estimated street price,

unless otherwise noted. Actual reseller price may vary.

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

281-927-8647

[e-mail]

or

Miller/Shandwick Technologies

Sue Vaillancourt

617-536-0470

[e-mail]