Only One in Four Companies Adequately Prepared for Disaster, Poll Finds.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. -- HP (NYSE:HPQ)(Nasdaq:HPQ) today announced the results of a poll showing that while many companies have adequate business continuity, availability and disaster recovery systems in place, only 26 percent regularly review and test their plans.

The findings were revealed during a media event at HP's Alpharetta Recovery Center and come as the 2006 hurricane season officially begins this month and continues through November.

"No organization can fully prepare for every possible catastrophe, but those that do and regularly test their business continuity and availability plans are keeping the odds in their favor," said John Copenhaver, president and chief executive officer, Disaster Recovery Institute International.

To protect critical business processes and services before, during and after an event, HP Recovery Centers help customers plan, rehearse and recover from a disaster or major business interruption. Within the past two years, HP has invested more than $100 million in business recovery centers worldwide and has more than 60 HP Recovery Centers operating in 40 countries.

"We've used HP's Recovery Centers for the past four years to conduct training and prepare for any crisis," said Steve Steinbach, disaster recovery coordinator, Summit Information Systems, a services software developer for credit unions with a Florida-based data center. "When I declare a data center emergency, I do so with utmost confidence in the level of support and technical backing that HP provides."

To help companies gauge their preparedness for all types of downtime, HP has introduced a Rapid Risk Assessment tool. This free, self-assessment tool enables chief information officers and IT managers to conduct baseline risk assessments of potential business process failures and provides recommendations for next steps if scores are significantly low in a particular category.

The Rapid Risk Assessment tool is part of the HP Business Continuity and Availability assessment portfolio, which helps customers assess areas of risk that range from full-scale disasters to day-to-day operational risks that affect IT service quality and business performance. The BC&A solution portfolio also includes mission-critical services, which provide availability assessments and service improvement plans to help customers manage service quality and avoid preventable downtime caused by operational failures.

"In the face of a host of ongoing threats and risks, companies are challenged to develop resilient solutions that balance evolving business needs," said John Bennett, worldwide director, Business Continuity and Availability Solutions, HP. "HP's solutions help customers prevent downtime and quickly recover from disruptions while providing ongoing protection of their critical business processes."

In the poll, more than 340 chief information officers and IT managers worldwide responded to questions assessing their business continuity, availability and disaster recovery plans and the technologies being used to implement those plans. Seventy-four percent of the respondents represented companies with more than $100 million in annual revenue from industries that include manufacturing, healthcare, education and financial services.

The HP Business Continuity and Availability portfolio, an HP Adaptive Enterprise solution, helps customers reduce operational risk, significantly reduce unplanned downtime and ensure continuous operation of critical business processes. Specific offerings include business continuity solutions; high-availability management solutions; data protection and recovery solutions; and security and disaster tolerance solutions.

More information about HP's business continuity and availability solutions is available at www.hp.com/go/continuityandavailability.

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2006, HP revenue totaled $88.9 billion. More information about HP is available at www.hp.com.

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