HP Launches BladeSystem and Delivers the Next Phase of Utility Computing.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Modular HP BladeSystem Drives Down Blade Costs Through Management, Virtualization; Bausch & Lomb Sees Clear Benefits of IT Automation

HP (NYSE:HPQ)(Nasdaq:HPQ) today announced that it will deliver the next phase of utility computing capabilities through a portfolio of lower cost, modular offerings including the new HP BladeSystem. The HP BladeSystem is an integrated environment building on current HP blade servers, services and networking plus powerful new management software and virtualization tools to help lower the overall cost of blades ownership.

To accelerate adoption of the HP BladeSystem, HP will provide installation and start-up services of blade management software for a low price of just $1,600 per engagement.(1)

HP's modular approach to utility computing makes it easier for customers in volume markets to acquire and integrate the capabilities of the HP Utility Data Center into existing environments and deliver information technology (IT) as a service. In addition to the HP BladeSystem, the following modular utility computing offerings are available from HP:

--HP Virtual Server Environment -- automatically grows and shrinks vertical, scale-up resources in real time according to changing business priorities;

--HP OpenView Change and Configuration management solutions automate the change and configuration of IT resources to reduce operational costs of data center environments; and

--HP Utility Services delivers pay-as-you-go computing through HP Managed Services.

Bausch & Lomb deploys the HP BladeSystem

Bausch & Lomb has selected HP BladeSystem servers to bring greater value and overall efficiencies to its IT infrastructure.

"At Bausch & Lomb, we use HP blade servers to help us streamline our datacenter to better synchronize IT with evolving business needs," said David Della Vedova, vice president IT, Global Technology Services, Bausch & Lomb. "As a result, we improved efficiency, customer responsiveness and reduced datacenter costs by dramatically reducing deployment and ongoing management expenses. We chose HP, a pioneer in the blade server industry, because of its ability to offer a complete blade solution including hardware, software, services and virtualization capabilities."

Based on industry standards, integrated blade systems can deliver lower infrastructure costs -- often 25 percent less expensive overall than comparable traditional rack-mount infrastructures and, with automated control, lower annual support costs -- more than doubling the number of devices that can be managed with the same amount of staff. The HP BladeSystem is designed to build on this value by offering overall network management and virtualization through resource utilization and services, changing how customers look at a blade ecosystem.

"HP looks forward to extending the value of our BladeSystem family of solutions together with partners to meet the needs of enterprise and small and medium business customers. In fact, by 2008, we expect that 50 percent of HP's scale-out architecture business will be based on the HP BladeSystem," said Rick Becker, vice president and general manager, BladeSystem Division, HP. "HP's new, modular approach to delivering utility-like capabilities with the HP BladeSystem will put customers on a fast track to becoming an Adaptive Enterprise."

New management software tools, including a single, dynamic hub for blades

At the center of any infrastructure, companies need to implement strong management and virtualization tools to allow them to align IT resources with business needs. HP has integrated Utility Data Center capabilities into the HP BladeSystem management suite of tools, which is designed to manage, control and virtualize an existing IT infrastructure as one system from a single remote console in order to maximize utilization and automate complex, manual tasks.

Key new management software tools, integrated with HP OpenView technology, can be applied to existing or new blade infrastructures:

--HP Systems Insight Manager 4.2 (SIM) -- now optimized to manage the complete HP BladeSystem environment, SIM 4.2 is the single hub of control through one console for all system components and access to all tools for complete lifecycle management. SIM 4.2 is the first version of SIM to leverage plug-ins including HP OpenView technology, providing customers with a single, standards-based tool that enables client, storage, network and power management, server deployment, in addition to performance and workload management.

--HP Essentials Virtual Machine Management Pack -- integrated with SIM 4.2, the pack provides management, control and a unified view of virtual machines and associated host server resources, including virtual machine products from Microsoft(R) and VMware.

--HP Essentials Automation Controller Pack -- coordinates the actions of other HP management tools to enable simplified and automated event-based policy and tasks across the blade infrastructures including provisioning of compute nodes, operating systems, IP addresses, virtual local area networks (VLANs), load balancers and storage LUNs.

--HP Essentials Patch and Vulnerability Pack -- integrated into SIM 4.2 and utilizing HP OpenView Radia, the pack enables known software vulnerabilities to be automatically identified across the HP BladeSystem and permanently fixed using HP patch management technology.

--Other upcoming tools include the HP Essentials Intelligent Networking Pack, which detects and analyzes network bottlenecks; HP Essentials Insight Lights-Out 1.62, a built-in management processor for quick and easy setup of blade servers and enclosures; and power governing technology for Intel(R) Xeon(TM)-based blade servers that provides dynamic changes in processor frequency and voltage.

New services and financing to help implement the Adaptive Enterprise

Two new types of services are also now available, including defined installation and startup services as well as statement of work services. The new installation services provide detailed knowledge transfer in HP SIM fundamentals and help get HP BladeSystem management up and running in a pilot environment in a single day at $1,600 per session. The new statement of work services, charged at an hourly rate, are designed to deploy the HP BladeSystem management tools in a production environment over multiple days. Customers are assigned a service delivery specialist and provided with detailed documentation.

Customers also can finance a full range of HP solutions through HP Financial Services, and with the newly announced HP Jumpstart Success offer, companies can choose between low lease rates or deferring all payments until January 2005 at no additional cost. This special offer applies to all HP products and professional services -- including HP BladeSystem solutions, PCs, servers, storage devices and network and systems management software.

More information about the solutions and services described in this announcement is available at www.hp.com/go/bladesystem.

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended July 31, 2004, HP revenue totaled $78.4 billion. More information about HP is available at www.hp.com.

(1) Actual price may vary. Includes a one-day engagement for deployment on 1-5 servers of a pre-configured script, or an image captured from an existing HP ProLiant blade server. Additional statement of work services are available.

Microsoft is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Intel, Xeon and Itanium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they ever materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including the expected development, performance or rankings of products or services; statements of expectation or belief; and any statement of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the development, performance and market acceptance of products and services and other risks that are described from time to time in HP's Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including but not limited to HP's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended July 31, 2004 and other reports filed after HP's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 2003. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

(C) 2004 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.