Industry Leaders Unite for Mobile PC Standards; Mobile Advisory Council Attracts Leading Mobile Computing Vendors to Jointly Address Mobile Specifications.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 1998--Leaders in the mobile industry today announced the formation of the Mobile Advisory Council, an open consortium of mobile computing and peripherals vendors that functions as an advocate for mobile design requirements to existing standards bodies.

The rapidly growing demand for notebook PCs requires vendors to build, and enterprise IT groups to support, more mobile products than ever before. However, portable PCs bring a unique set of technical and design challenges that are not always met by industry standards, which historically have been authored to target desktop PC design. The Mobile Advisory Council (MAC), building on the knowledge and expertise of leading mobile industry players, provides a unified voice for input and feedback to the standards bodies that impact mobile products and peripherals.

The overriding objective of the Mobile Advisory Council is to foster the growth of the mobile computing industry with the following objectives: -0-

-    Facilitate timely agreement among platform vendors, peripheral
     and silicon manufacturers and software providers on key product
     and related industry issues;

-    Coordinate mobile requirements and consensus regarding existing
     industry standards;

-    Provide highly qualified mobile recommendations to standards
     bodies.

-0-

Mobile Advisory Council Members

The Mobile Advisory Council includes the following leading mobile PC and peripheral vendors: 3Com, Acer, Adaptec, Award Software, Compaq, Dell Computer Corporation, Fujitsu PC Corporation, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard Company, Hitachi, IBM, Phoenix Technologies, SystemSoft, TDK, Texas Instruments, Toshiba Corporation and Xircom. The Mobile Advisory Council is open to mobile PC and peripheral vendors, and expects additional members to join over time. The Mobile Advisory Council was founded by 3Com Corporation and Compaq Computer Corporation, who are current acting chairs.

"With the mobile computing industry gaining widespread acceptance, technologies to improve the mobile computing experience demand special attention," said Andrew Seybold, mobile analyst, and Chairman, Portable Computer and Communications Association. "I am pleased to see these mobile leaders working so closely and productively with Microsoft and Intel."

"We hope that Mobile Advisory Council recommendations will result in strengthened hardware and software designs that better support the mobile environment," said Rich Redelfs, vice president of marketing for 3Com's mobile communications division. "3Com is delighted that the Mobile Advisory Council has drawn all the major mobile players to the table to positively influence the definition of mobile standards."

"The Mobile Advisory Council will provide highly qualified mobile recommendations to the industry standards bodies," added Ted Clark, vice president of marketing, portable PC group, Compaq Computer Corporation. "Compaq is always committed to driving and supporting industry standards which will ultimately benefit mobile PC users. The MAC is a great example of positive industry cooperation focused on the customer."

"Dell supports the efforts of groups like the Mobile Advisory Council to help drive standards for mobile computing," said Doug MacGregor, vice president, Portables Business Unit. "Customers rely on standards to help reduce the cost of deploying and managing mobile computing solutions."

"The need for an industry forum that seeks to understand the unique concerns and requirements of the mobile computing user is critically important," said Phil Hester, vice president and chief technology officer, IBM personal systems group. "As a leader in mobile computing, IBM is committed to industry standards and the groups that foster them. As a voice in the Mobile Advisory Council, we will continue to drive, influence and support them in the future for the benefit of our customers."

Areas of Focus for Mobile Advisory Council

The Mobile Advisory Council has formed the following working groups to address specific issues encountered by mobile users: -0-

-    Power Management - extending the battery life of notebook
     computers;

-    Communications - addressing the communications needs of
     disconnected and occasionally connected computers;

-    Pre-boot - remote network management of client desktops;

-    Mobile IP - dynamic IP addressing to keep mobile users connected;

-    PC2000 - "think tank" group focused on the future design of
     mobile computers.

-0- Benefits to Standards Bodies, Mobile Industry and Mobile Users

"Microsoft is excited to work with the engineers from major mobile product vendors to address the key customer issues facing mobile computing," said David Williams, group manager, PC hardware strategy, Microsoft. "We appreciate the feedback the Mobile Advisory Council has already provided to make the PC99 System Design Guide the best it can be and look forward to continuing our close technical collaboration with the mobile industry leaders."

"Intel actively promotes broad industry involvement in the development of mobile PC platform guidelines and specifications," said Jason Ziller, platform marketing manager, Intel mobile and handheld products group. "We appreciate the work that groups like the Mobile Advisory Council are doing to provide additional inputs to the PC9x specification process."

Note to Editors: 3Com is a registered trademark of 3Com Corporation. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

    CONTACT:  3Com Public Relations
               Mark Bingham, 408/326-3439
               [e-mail]
                    or
               Compaq Public Relations
               Nora Hahn, 281/514-8316
               [e-mail]