Microsoft Joins Forces With Comdisco To Deliver High-Availability Solutions For the Windows Platform.

Business Editors

ROSEMONT, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 2000

Alliance Designed To Ensure Availability as Companies

Rely More on Windows As the Platform of Choice

for Business-Critical and Web-Based Applications

Comdisco Inc. (NYSE: CDO) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced they will offer a suite of services to enable businesses to achieve the highest levels of uptime for their mission-critical and Web-based applications running on the Microsoft(R) Windows NT(R) platform as well as on the newly released Microsoft Windows(R) 2000 Server platform. The agreement combines Microsoft's operating system and application expertise with Comdisco's expertise, methodology and infrastructure for delivering high-availability solutions.

Under the agreement, the companies will jointly develop, market and deliver solutions designed to provide companies with availability for their Windows-based environments, including data, applications, hardware, networks and storage.

"Current availability approaches are narrowly focused on the hardware platform with some type of clustering or failover protection," said Dave Sloboda, senior vice president, Comdisco Marketing and Business Development. "But the only true measure of availability is availability measured from the point of use -- the individuals relying on their production Windows-based environment to support e-commerce, ERP, data warehousing or other critical business initiatives. They must have continuous access to those applications. The focus of our relationship with Microsoft is to create solutions that span the entire application environment, including not just the hardware, but the operating system, network, applications and data, to deliver truly available environments."

Through this agreement, organizations relying on Windows platforms will benefit from solutions that meet the continuous availability requirements of today's mission-critical and Web-based business applications. The jointly delivered services, which will be backed by service-level agreements, will focus on offering application availability with data integrity, systems availability and Windows application recoverability to ensure customers can maintain the required availability of critical applications. The jointly developed solutions will be implemented by Comdisco's Professional Services organization, which specializes in availability solutions and includes Microsoft Certified Professionals experienced in architecting and designing availability solutions in a heterogeneous hardware environment. The services will be sold through Comdisco's sales organization and Microsoft's Premier Support Services Group.

"Increasingly, organizations are deploying Windows NT and Windows 2000 for both business-enabling front-end and mission-critical back-office applications," said Kevin Johnson, vice president of Product Support Services at Microsoft. "Consequently, they require the same high level of availability and reliability as they would for their data center environment. Combining our expertise, Comdisco and Microsoft can ensure our mutual customers benefit from an integrated solution that focuses on the entire Windows environment -- the data, network and platform -- to maximize availability and reliability."

The alliance formalizes efforts previously undertaken by Comdisco and Microsoft for companies like Pennzoil-Quaker State Co., which helped establish the basis for this strategic alliance.

"We view the agreement between Comdisco and Microsoft to deliver high-availability solutions to Windows NT-based environments as positive news for any organization that is or plans to run business-critical applications on these platforms," said Britt Mayo, chief information officer for Pennzoil-Quaker State. "Comdisco has demonstrated the knowledge, experience and flexibility to deliver cost-effective solutions. With Microsoft, this team should give any organization the confidence to run business-critical applications on Windows NT and Windows 2000."

This agreement establishes Comdisco as a Microsoft Certified Support Center (MCSC) focused on high availability solutions. MCSCs deliver a full range of high-quality technical support services and work in conjunction with Microsoft to provide effective and valuable support to customers. The agreement also expands a Comdisco and Microsoft alliance formed last year with the opening of the Premier/Alliance System Center. The facility, located in Comdisco's Seattle Technology Service Center, offers software testing, load simulation and benchmarking services in an operating environment that reflects an organization's normal system demands.

About Comdisco

Comdisco (www.comdisco.com) provides global technology services to help its customers maximize technology functionality, predictability and availability, while freeing them from the complexity of managing their technology. The Rosemont, (IL) company offers a complete suite of information technology services including business continuity, web availability, managed network services, and IT Control and Predictability Solutions SM. Through its subsidiary, Prism Communication Services Inc., Comdisco is developing a high-speed, always-on digital network, which will provide customers with leading-edge connectivity. Comdisco also offers equipment services to key vertical industries, including electronics, communications, laboratory & scientific, and industrial automation. Through its Ventures group, Comdisco is a leader in providing equipment leasing and other financing and services to venture capital backed start-up companies. The company's revenue for the 12 months ended December 31, 1999, was $4.1 billion.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device.

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Microsoft, Windows NT and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Comdisco is a registered trademark of Comdisco Inc.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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