HP Registers Record-breaking Performance with Its Enterprise Virtual Array.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 2002

StorageWorks EVA Outperforms Nearest Competitor by

More Than 50 Percent on Storage Performance Council Benchmark-1

HP (NYSE:HPQ) today announced record-breaking performance results from the testing of its StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) based on the Storage Performance Council Benchmark-1 (SPC-1).

Using the SPC benchmark, which was designed to represent real world application environments, the EVA's 24,005.54 input/output per second (IOPS) performance in a storage area network (SAN) environment was over 50 percent faster than its nearest competitors -- making it the industry leader in open systems workload environments.

"HP became the modular storage leader by delivering unbeatable price performance and these phenomenal EVA results prove that we're moving the bar higher every day," said Neal Clapper, vice president and general manager, online storage division, HP Network Storage Solutions. "HP is a strong supporter of open and independently audited benchmark testing such as SPC-1, and encourages all storage companies to participate in order to substantiate performance claims."

The record-breaking results are attributed in part to a new fibre channel loop switch approach as well as several other VersaStor Technology innovations that enhance performance capabilities through virtualization.

"The SPC benchmark results for the Enterprise Virtual Array are impressive," said John C. "Jack" Scott, managing partner, Evaluator Group Inc. "The performance of the EVA makes it applicable for a wide range of applications from high-performance environments to SAN consolidation solutions. The addition of the back-end loop switches to the device architecture of the Version 2 has added to the EVA's already impressive performance."

The EVA's virtualization functionality uses automatic block-level data striping and redistribution to tune its own performance without manual intervention from a storage administrator. The self-tuning occurs automatically in the background as the EVA spreads existing data across an expanded pool of disk drive actuator arms, improving user service levels.

Modular controller pairs, each servicing up to 240 individual hard disk drives, offer scalable capacity and performance for large databases. In contrast to traditional systems with a fixed number of performance "engines," EVA can scale the number of controller pair systems infinitely, thus offering the flexibility to match capacity and performance to particular application needs.

To additionally optimize performance, the EVA is configured to use 85 percent of its installed capacity.

HP is a strong supporter of open and independently audited benchmark testing such as SPC-1, and encourages all storage companies to participate in order to substantiate performance claims.

Specific SPC-1 Results

Tested storage configuration name: HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual
Array Model 2C12D

Metric                                             Reported result

SPC-1 IOPS                                         24,005.54
SPC-1 price/performance ($/SPC-1 IOPS)             $22.00/SPC-1 IOPS
Total application storage unit capacity (GB)       2,596.3 GB
Data protection level                              mirroring

More information about these benchmark results, specifications and the StorageWorks EVA is available at http://www.hp.com/products1/storage/index.html.

The Storage Performance Council (SPC) is a non-profit corporation founded to define, standardize and promote storage system benchmarks and to disseminate objective verifiable performance data to the computer industry and its customers. For more information on the Storage Performance Council is available at http://www.storageperformance.org/.

About HP

HP is a leading global provider of products, technologies, solutions and services to consumers and businesses. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. HP completed its merger transaction involving Compaq Computer Corp. on May 3, 2002. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the possibility that the market for the sale of certain products and services may not develop as expected; that development of these products and services may not proceed as planned; 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 quarter ended April 30, 2002 and reports filed subsequent to HP's annual report on Form 10-K, as amended on January 30, 2002, for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2001. If any of these risks or uncertainties materializes or any of these assumptions proves incorrect, HP's results could differ materially from HP's expectations in these statements. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.