Compaq resets portables landscape with broad product announcements; Launches new armada sub-brand for all portables.

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Editor's Summary

Compaq announced today:

-- The Armada 4100: a new 1.5-inch, slimline notebook family starting at approximately five pounds featuring an innovative design that offers the ultimate in flexibility for size- and weight-sensitive customers;

-- The Armada 1100: a value-priced, 100-MHz Pentium processor-based notebook family for the small office, home office user or for corporations looking to automate their sales forces;

-- New entry-level Pentium processor-based additions to the flagship LTE 5000 family which include 2.1-GB (gigabytes) hard drives, memory expansion to 80-MB and Multi-Bay ISA Expansion Base with an industry-leading 8-GB of storage;

-- Intelligent Manageability features with the LTE 5000 family of products featuring asset management, security management and fault management;

-- New SpeedPaq 288 Telephony Modem PC card, the industry's first 28.8 bps cellular modem with advanced telephony, offering customers global connectivity;

-- New Armada portables sub-brand designed to satisfy choices for customers, to enrich the value of the Compaq brand and leverage the marketing reach of a single portables name.

NEW YORK--June 17, 1996--Recasting its competitive market position to offer customers its widest-ever choice of portable products, Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ) announced a new range of notebook personal computers, communications options and a new sub-brand which will be used across its portables families.

In a press conference held today at The Tent in Lincoln Center, Mike Winkler, Compaq's senior vice president and general manager, Portable PC Division, outlined his intention to return Compaq to the number one market share position worldwide in portables through a renewed customer focus and commitment to innovation across its broad new line-up of portable PCs.

"Compaq has its eyes and ears relentlessly focused on our customers and on the technologies they're telling us they want," said Winkler. "Today's new product introduction, combined with the plans we have in place for the next 12 months, will clearly illustrate that Compaq's back in the competitive game with quality products and innovation that speaks for itself."

"Compaq now has in place the best variety of portable products in its history, offering notebooks for virtually every customer segment," he continued. "Whether it's a small business owner looking for a value-priced, workhorse notebook, a mobile professional who needs the fastest, most powerful notebook on the market, or the customer whose needs revolve around size- and weight-sensitivity, we have a notebook that fits the bill," Winkler noted.

"With today's announcement, Compaq is introducing the broadest product line-up in its history, and Compaq's customers have a lot to choose from," said Andy Seybold, President of Andrew Seybold Consulting and editor of The Outlook on Communications and Computing. "The Armada 1100 at $1,899 is well suited for workforce automation; the slimline Armada 4100's appeal is its light weight and flexibility; and the flagship LTE 5000 family provides power with its fast processors, large displays and two gigabyte drives. Compaq has taken the whole portable market into consideration with these new products."

Armada Brand Offers Single Identity (see separate release)

Leveraging the marketing impact of a single sub-brand, Compaq announced that its new portable personal computers will carry the Armada brand beginning with today's announcements of the Armada 4100 and the Armada 1100 (see separate product releases on each).

Defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as "a large group of moving things," Armada provides the imagery of strength and mobility that Compaq's broad portables line brings to customers.

Over the next year, Compaq will add products in every portable category under the new Armada sub-brand, followed by a numeric identity element. For future high-end flagship notebooks or even hand-held devices, all products will follow the same naming convention.

Armada 4100 Offers Ultimate in Flexibility (see separate release)

With its new innovative, flexible design, the Armada 4100 offers a no-compromise approach for customers for whom size and weight are the critical factors in notebook computing. The Armada 4100 transforms in seconds from a slimline notebook at 1.5 inches thin and about five pounds, to a standard notebook configuration with an integrated diskette drive at about six pounds, to a multimedia powerhouse -- all with the same advanced mobile design.

"Armada 4100 notebooks will satisfy both value- conscious individuals and performance seeking power users without compromising performance or mobility," Winkler explained.

The Armada 4100 line offers powerful 133 MHz, 120 MHz and 100 MHz Mobile Pentium processors; easily upgradeable hard drives in 810 megabyte (MB) and 1-GB; memory expandable to 40 and 48 MB, depending on the model; up to three long- lasting Lithium-Ion batteries; and a touchpad pointing device that easily interchanges with an optional optical trackball.

Priced from $2,599a to $4,599, the Armada 4100 will begin shipping in volume in July.

Armada 1100 -- Entry-Level Notebook Computing (see separate release)

For customers looking for a basic "workhorse" notebook, Compaq announced the Armada 1100, a 100 MHz Pentium-powered notebook ideally suited for students, small businesses or for large corporations looking to outfit their sales forces with a high-quality, Pentium-powered notebook at an economical price.

The Armada 1100 models feature 10.4-inch active- and passive-matrix color displays, an 810- megabyte hard drive and a full-size keyboard. Ranging in price from $1,899 to $2,299, the Armada 1100 began shipping today worldwide.

"Customers told us they needed a value-priced no-frills Pentium processor-based notebook, and the Armada 1100 offers just that," Winkler noted. "The Armada 1100 was designed to serve as a mobile workhorse offering a powerful combination of features at an exceptional price, tailored to meet the rigorous, day-to-day needs of individuals, small office/home office users and business customers."

Compaq Adds Breadth to LTE 5000 Flagship Family (see separate release)

Extending the reach of its portable notebook family, the company added three new notebooks to its flagship high-performance family.

The new LTE 5380 leads the pack featuring an impressive 2.16-GB hard drive, 12.1-inch color thin film transistor (TFT) display with 1024x768 resolution, 16-MB of random- access memory (RAM), and a 133-MHz Pentium processor.

Compaq also refreshed the entry-level end of the LTE 5000 family with two new models -- the LTE 5250 and 5150, which offer higher processing power than previous models.

Priced at $4,199, the LTE 5250 offers a 120-MHz Pentium processor, 16-MB RAM, a 10.4-inch color TFT SVGA display and an 810-MB hard drive.

The LTE 5150, priced at $3,199, provides customers with a 100-MHz Pentium processor, 16-MB RAM, an 11.3-inch color display and an 810-MB hard drive.

Today's new notebooks join Compaq's desktop and server families in offering the advantages of Intelligent Manageability. This Compaq-differentiated feature makes networked PCs easier to manage and less expensive to own by providing asset management, security management and fault management.

Asset management provides companies with an efficient networked inventory of PC hardware and software to help manage large fleets of notebooks. This is achieved through a combination of Compaq Insight Manager and industry- standard network management software to support features such as serial number identifications, ROM-level identification, and a record of software content and hardware configurations.

Intelligent Manageability offers customers special security features which help protect critical data if the notebook is lost. A unique, user-defined password must be entered to obtain secured data from the LTE 5000 notebook family in such an event. Several physical security measures such as notebook, hard drive and MultiBay device locking provisions, further protect the unit and its critical data from unauthorized access.

Through fault management, all LTE 5000 models are capable of being monitored on the network for temperature changes in case the notebook reaches a critical threshold, in which case both the notebook user and network administrators will be notified.

Intelligent Manageability features are expected to be available in the third quarter at no charge for LTE 5000 family users through upgrades on SoftPaq, Compaq's Internet home page (http://www.compaq.com), and on the Compaq forums on America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy.

In response to customer requests for ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) support, Compaq also introduced the new MultiBay-ISA Expansion Base for the LTE 5000 family. With this new docking station, customers will have the added benefit of using Token Ring Network cards, 3270 emulation and LAN (local area network)-based video conferencing. Combined with the 2.16-MB hard drives, the MultiBay Expansion Base offers an industry-first 8.6-GB of storage. Priced at $599, the new MultiBay Expansion Base is expected to begin shipping in July.

The LTE 5150 and 5250 are shipping today worldwide, and the LTE 5380 will begin shipping worldwide in the third quarter.

Compaq Offers Industry's Most Advanced Modem PC Card (see separate release)

Compaq, the world's fourth largest modem manufacturer, expanded its PC card offering with the introduction today of the Compaq 288 Telephony Modem Card, the industry's most advanced modem. The innovative card transforms Compaq's "telephony-ready" notebook PCs -- the LTE 5000 and Armada 4100 families -- into cellular communication workstations, offering advanced telephony features, global connectivity and the industry's most reliable cellular connectivity.

The Compaq 288 global telephony modem PC card is optimized for mobile customers who require real-time, landline and wireless access to data, regardless of where they are located. The PC card provides cellular and landline communications at up to 155,000 bps with compression, and its advanced communications software enables the user to effectively and easily manage data, voice and wireless communications.

Available in late summer, the Compaq 288 Telephony Modem Card is priced at $249.

Company Background

Compaq Computer Corporation is the world's largest supplier of personal computers, offering desktop PCs, portable PCs, servers and options. Founded in 1982, 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 DirectPlus 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. -0-

(a) All prices mentioned herein are estimated U.S. selling prices; reseller prices may vary.

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

CONTACT: Compaq Computer Corporation

Yvonne Donaldson

713-514-0484

[e-mail]

or

Miller/Shandwick Technologies

Lisa Gilbert

617-536-0470

[e-mail]