Compaq and Oracle sign new global technical support agreement; Industry leaders join to deliver enhanced support to joint customers

Business Wire, Dec 9, 1996

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 10, 1996--Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) -- the world's leading server vendor -- and Oracle Corporation -- the world's leading information management software vendor - today broadened the scope of their strategic alliance by announcing the signing of a Global Technical Support Agreement (GTSA).

This agreement will enable both companies to better support customers running Oracle products on Compaq platforms. The GTSA is specifically designed to meet customers' growing distributed enterprise computing needs.

Building on a successful alliance which began four years ago, Compaq and Oracle's latest service and support agreement is designed to strategically align both companies from engineering to worldwide service and support infrastructures. This new support agreement will better provide mutual customers with solutions to complex technical issues in a timely manner.

"Compaq's leadership in systems technology and integration expertise, coupled with Oracle's top-line management solutions, provide a formidable combination for delivering powerful solutions across the enterprise," stated Ronnie Ward, Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise Solutions Division, Compaq Computer Corporation. "The end-user outcome of this agreement demonstrates Compaq and Oracle's dedication to providing high-availability solutions in complex environments, while reducing customer downtime."

"The Global Technical Support Agreement ensures that Compaq and Oracle are working together to solve complex customer issues," said Tom Carothers, Vice President, Customer Service, North America, Compaq Computer Corporation. "Customers can confidently deploy mission-critical applications with the knowledge that both companies provide reliable enterprise solutions backed by powerful information access and problem solving infrastructures."

Highlights of this agreement include:

-- Technical support contacts within each company designated to facilitate communications between Compaq and Oracle; -- Mutual training of technical support representatives within both organizations to better support combined products and services; and -- Shared access to each company's support databases providing reciprocal problemsolving information.

Compaq/Oracle Partnership

The Compaq/Oracle partnership focuses on four key areas: performance, availability, scalability, and support. The GTSA expands upon existing Compaq/Oracle developments such as the November 4, 1996 (see related release: Compaq First to Complete Oracle Warehouse NT Test-to-Scale Program) demonstration of industry standard clustering utilizing Compaq ProLiant servers, Oracle database solutions, Tandem ServerNet architecture and Microsoft Windows NT.

"The evolution of our partnership with Compaq is a natural one," said Randy Baker, Senior Vice President, Oracle Worldwide Customer Support. "The establishment of the Global Technical Support Agreement speaks directly to our mission statement, which is to ensure the business success of our customers."

The Compaq Products Division at Oracle, a dedicated product division inside Oracle, delivers proven and tested distributed enterprise solutions that are engineered and supported by both companies. The unit has been under operation for approximately three years. Previous accomplishments of the division include, the integration and optimization of Oracle7 Server and Oracle7 Workgroup Server with SmartStart for Microsoft Windows NT, Novell NetWare, and SCO OpenServer. Both companies have also worked in tandem to integrate Compaq's high availability On-Line Recovery Server technology with Oracle Fail-Safe. As further testimony to the seamless integration of Compaq/Oracle products, the Compaq ProLiant 5000 serves as a reference platform for Oracle's NT development.

Compaq and Oracle have also developed the Oracle System Sizer for Compaq Windows NT systems, a tool which enables IS managers and resellers to size Compaq networks for Oracle OLTP databases. Compaq is the first hardware vendor to have jointly-developed this unique tool with Oracle. The Oracle System Sizer is free and can be downloaded from Oracle's Web site at http://www.oracle.com .

Company Background

Compaq Computer Corporation, a Fortune 100 company, is the fifth largest computer company in the world and the largest global supplier of personal computers, delivering useful innovation through products that connect people with people and people with information. The company is an industry leader in environmentally friendly programs and business practices. Compaq is strategically organized to meet the current and future needs of its customers, offering Internet and enterprise computing solutions, networking products, commercial PC products and consumer PCs. As the leader in distributed enterprise solutions, Compaq has shipped 1 million servers. In 1995, the company reported worldwide sales of $14.8 billion. Compaq products are sold and supported in more than 100 countries through a network of authorized Compaq marketing partners. Customer support and information about Compaq and its products can be found at http://www.compaq.com or by calling 1-800-OKCOMPAQ. Product information and reseller locations can be obtained by calling 1-800-345-1518.