Compaq Poised to Expand and Enhance Clustering Market.

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 10, 1997--

Tandem Technologies and Services Strengthen ProLiant Clusters

The world's leading provider of clustered standards-based servers, Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ) today revealed new ProLiant Clusters it plans to offer worldwide to meet customers' data, application and server availability, performance, flexibility, scalability and price requirements.

The ProLiant Cluster Series F will use Fibre Channel storage to give customers an unprecedented combination of scalability, flexibility and throughput (see today's related Compaq news release). Fibre Channel is a scalable, high- capacity storage technology designed to keep pace with and simplify customers' increasing storage management needs.

"Fibre Channel storage will revolutionize clustering by providing a storage system that can help simplify customers' configurations and provide the scalability and capacity necessary to make clustered servers the foundation of their information system for years to come," said James Gruener, Senior Analyst, The Aberdeen Group Inc. "The forthcoming ProLiant Clusters will further establish Compaq as an enterprise provider for the Windows NT clustered server and storage markets."

The new ProLiant Cluster Series F will be the first in the industry to offer the reliability, scalability and performance of Tandem's ServerNet interconnect in a clustered environment. ServerNet is the optimal interconnect for customers who require the highest performance, most resilient interconnect and who plan to expand their clusters beyond two nodes. Compaq will also release the ProLiant Cluster Series S, which will feature SCSI storage offerings from Compaq - protecting customers' technology investments.

Integrated, Best-of-Breed Hardware/Software Solutions

Compaq and Tandem realize the importance that customers place on integrated, tested and proven solutions. Through contributing key technology components, definition of testing processes and early partnerships with Beta accounts, Compaq and Tandem have been helping to bring Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) to market and will continue to work closely with Microsoft in product delivery, support and next generation product development. The ProLiant Clusters, which are undergoing Beta testing at selected customer sites, have been designed to support MSCS, formerly known as "Wolfpack", and to provide the uncompromisingly high level of data, application and server availability needed to run business-critical software applications.

Compaq and Tandem have also partnered with industry-leading application developers BAAN, Cheyenne, Edify, Ericsson, Genesys, IBM, Informix, Lotus, Microsoft, Oracle, ProLogic, Raptor, SAP and Sybase to deliver integrated solutions featuring ease of implementation and use and maximum reliability.

"ProLiant Clusters give customers enterprise-class availability and performance at a cost and ease of ownership that RISC-based clusters simply cannot compete with," said Mike Perez, Vice President and General Manager, Server Products Division, Compaq Computer Corporation. "Compaq has worked closely with our industry partners to ensure that ProLiant Clusters offer the integration and flexibility customers need to keep a step ahead of their competition and maximize their data, application and server availability."

ProLiant Cluster Series F Provides Breakthrough Performance

The ProLiant Cluster Series F will give customers maximum availability and breakthrough performance by using Fibre Channel technology as the storage connection and either Ethernet or Tandem's ServerNet technology as the server interconnect. Fibre Channel technology provides much higher performance and much greater configuration flexibility than other storage technologies, making the ProLiant Cluster Series F the optimal solution for customer environments in which high performance, high throughput and online capacity expansion are vital.

In addition to enhanced performance, Fibre Channel will provide customers with greater data availability. The Fibre Channel in the Compaq cluster solutions can be used to store data at a remote site, which in the near future could be up to 10,000 meters from their server. The ability to store business-critical data remotely provides customers increased data availability in the event of a fire or natural disaster. The Cluster Series F is scheduled to be available in the first quarter of 1998.

ProLiant Cluster Series S Protects Customers' Technology Investments

The ProLiant Cluster Series S solutions are SCSI-based cluster configurations utilizing existing storage offerings from Compaq, so customers will be able to use their current storage systems. The ProLiant Cluster Series S, which utilizes Compaq's SMART-2 Array Controller family, will be available in the first quarter of 1998.

Multi-Node Clustering Gives Customers Expanded Scalability

In addition to Microsoft Windows NT Server clusters based on MSCS, Compaq will deliver Windows NT clusters that offer database performance scaling across multiple nodes to provide scalable transaction processing and data warehousing using industry-standard technology. Initially, these clusters will support Oracle Parallel Server (OPS), with future support planned for additional databases. These database solutions will address customers' needs for high availability in the event of a node failure and give them greater scalability than a single server can provide. These solutions are scheduled to be available in the first quarter of 1998.

ProLiant Servers: Designed for Maximum Availability

Compaq will qualify a variety of its award-winning ProLiant Servers - ranging from the ProLiant 850R to the ProLiant 7000 - for use within ProLiant Clusters to satisfy a broad range of customer requirements. Compaq ProLiant Servers offer many high-availability features such as Compaq- pioneered PCI Hot Plug, ECC memory and redundant network interface controllers, power supplies and fans. This combination of high availability technology provides unparalleled uptime for clustered servers.

Company Background

Founded in 1982, Compaq Computer Corporation, a Fortune 100 company, is a global information technology company. Compaq is the fifth largest computer company in the world and the largest global supplier of personal computers. With worldwide sales of $20 billion in 1996, Compaq develops and markets hardware, software, solutions and services, including industry-leading enterprise computing solutions, fault-tolerant business-critical solutions, networking 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 Compaq and its products can be found at http://www.compaq.com or by calling 1-800-OK-COMPAQ in North America. Product information and North America reseller locations can be obtained by calling 1-800-345-1518.

Compaq North America is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Its products and services are sold and supported through a network of more than 25,000 commercial and consumer marketing partners across the United States and Canada.

Historical financial results have been restated to reflect the pooling of Tandem. -0-

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

Ted Bockius, 281/514-0484

[e-mail]

or

Miller/Shandwick Technologies

Lisa Marafioti, 617/536-0470

[e-mail]