HP Announces Record Performance Benchmark on Geac SmartStream 4.1; HP Achieves 720,000 General Ledger Transactions per Hour.

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 17, 1996-- Hewlett-Packard Company today announced that its HP 9000 enterprise servers have achieved record-breaking performance with a benchmark of SmartStream 4.1 General Ledger from Geac SmartStream (formerly Dun & Bradstreet Software). HP's performance surpassed recent competitive benchmarks by 80 percent, reaching a record level of 720,000 transactions per hour.

The SmartStream benchmark, performed in cooperation with performance specialists from Geac SmartStream, was run on a PA-8000-based HP 9000 Model K460 server. The HP 9000 server was configured with four 180MHz CPUs, running HP-UX(1) 10.20. The benchmark ran the SmartStream 4.1 financial-records-posting process, part of the SmartStream Financials application suite, on Sybase System 11 RDBMS.

"The results of this benchmark demonstrate that HP not only understands the needs of Geac customers but that it also can deliver superior performance to those who are pushing the envelope with regard to their high-volume performance requirements," said Nancy Treaster, director of product management for SmartStream.

HP's K-class enterprise servers used in the SmartStream benchmark run on HP PA-8000 chips. HP's recently announced PA-8200 with a 220MHz processor, which is scheduled for shipment in HP systems beginning in the first half of 1997, is expected to boost commercial application performance by an average of 50 percent.

"This is an impressive evolutionary jump in HP PA-RISC and system technology, which will allow us to provide our customers with the most powerful means to drive their applications," said Richard W. (Rich) Sevcik, HP vice president and general manager of the Systems Technology Group. "Customers will be impressed by the performance in new PA-8200 systems, when they are rolled out in 1997."

The fact that the SmartStream solution was originally developed on HP platforms attests to HP's long history of working with Dun & Bradstreet Software and now Geac SmartStream. Geac recently acquired Dun & Bradstreet Software. Both companies have specialized resources that can offer a complete solution to customers on a worldwide basis. "HP is uniquely positioned in the market, with a proven track record in UNIX(R) system high-end performance, leadership with its NetServer systems and comprehensive interoperability with HP OpenView," said Steve Ely, vice president of marketing for Geac SmartStream. "We believe that customers are making a safe choice with HP."

HP is better positioned than any other company to help customers implement HP-UX and NT operating environments into MVS, AIX, OS/400, VMS, Solaris and other legacy computing environments. While continuing to lead the worldwide UNIX system market with the HP-UX-based HP 9000 workstations and servers, the company also will lead the development and deployment of NT solutions on HP NetServer products. HP is focused on being the best at designing and implementing key technologies and is broadening its consulting, education and support services to integrate mixed NT/UNIX environments.

HP is the world's leading supplier of open enterprise computing and is the second-largest computer supplier in the United States, with computer-related revenue in excess of $31.4 billion in its 1996 fiscal year. Since 1986, HP has been delivering PA-RISC(2)-based business computers with high reliability, data integrity, data availability and systems availability.

Geac SmartStream is a premier developer of client/server enterprise application software and services, including financial, procurement, human resources, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and decision support applications. For more information, contact Geac SmartStream at 66 Perimeter Center East, Atlanta, GA, 30346-1805. Or call 404/239-2000.

Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global manufacturer of computing, communications and measurement products and services recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 112,000 employees and had revenue of $38.4 billion in its 1996 fiscal year.

Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com . -0- (1) HP-UX 9.X and 10.0 for HP 9000 Series 700 and 800 computers are X/Open(R) Company UNIX(R) 93 branded products. HP-UX 10.20 is an X/Open UNIX 95 branded product.

(2) PA-RISC stands for Precision Architecture-reduced- instruction-set computing. -0-

Note to Editors: X/Open is a registered trademark, and the X device is a trademark of X/Open Company Ltd. in the UK and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited.

CONTACT: Hewlett-Packard Company

Bart Coddington, 408/447-1129

[e-mail]

or

Geac SmartStream

Ryan Hollenbeck, 404/239-3658

[e-mail]