OpenMail To Support Linux; Free Beta Version Now Available for Download

Business Wire, August 2, 1999

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 2, 1999--

HP's Messaging/Collaboration Solution for the

Linux Operating System is Proven, Robust and Fully Functional

Hewlett-Packard Company today announced that OpenMail 6.0, HP's strategic business-messaging and collaboration solution for UNIX(R) system computers, also will support the Linux operating system. By supporting Linux, OpenMail 6.0 will provide its upgraded functionality and e-services(1) capabilities to the growing number of Linux-based businesses, offering a low-cost alternative to other enterprise-messaging solutions.

HP expects OpenMail for Linux to be available in September. A free beta version is available now on the Internet at www.hp.com/go/openmail.

"HP believes that many Linux-based businesses need the type of proven enterprise capabilities that today's OpenMail customers enjoy," said Nigel Upton, general manager of HP's OpenMail business. "OpenMail gives the Linux community a compelling alternative to 'generic' Internet e-mail servers."

OpenMail: Proven Capabilities and Robust Functionality

In addition to robust Internet e-mail-standards support, the Linux edition of OpenMail will include rich support for Microsoft(R) Outlook (including full wide-area calendar/schedule access) and OpenMail 6.0's new Web client.

As the only non-Microsoft server that supports the rich scheduling and collaboration functionality of Microsoft Outlook, HP's OpenMail 6.0 is a unique solution.

HP showcased OpenMail's flexible and functionally rich Web-based technology at the 1998 World Cup soccer tournament. One OpenMail server successfully provided communications for thousands of journalists and officials across the tournament's wide-area intranet in France.

Why Linux?

"As the credibility and popularity of Linux continues to increase, HP wants to provide customers running this operating system with our premier business-messaging product for UNIX systems," said Upton. "Uniting the power of OpenMail with the growing strength of Linux provides a compelling new solution for businesses to deploy cost-effective yet robust messaging."

This announcement is part of HP's strategic vision to take the lead as a provider of Linux and open-source solutions for the deployment of Web/e-mail/infrastructure servers. HP expects strong demand for alternative system solutions and will provide continued development in this area by promoting HP value-added features, support for the open-source community and an excellent Linux hardware offering with the HP NetServer line of Intel(R)-based servers. HP is a sponsoring corporate member of Linux International, a non-profit organization consisting of industry influencers dedicated to the continuous open-source development of Linux.

About OpenMail

OpenMail is HP's strategic Linux and UNIX system business-messaging and collaboration solution, based on Internet standards. It is a proven, robust technology for building e-services solutions, running on HP-UX(2), Linux, AIX and Solaris. OpenMail has an installed base of more than 11 million seats, with representation in 60 percent of the Fortune 1000. OpenMail is designed for the heterogeneous environments often found in large enterprises and is used by many world-class businesses as the core of their communications and e-services infrastructures.

More OpenMail information is available at on the Web at http://www.hp.com/go/openmail.

About HP's Communications Industry Business Unit

HP is powering the communications industry by supplying communications IT infrastructure to every Fortune 500 telecommunications company in the world today. HP and its partners deliver management, network intelligence, billing and customer-care solutions for UNIX and Windows NT(R) system platforms, enabling service providers to migrate from network- to customer-focused business models as the Internet and telephony worlds converge. More information is available on the Web at http://www.hp.com/telecom.

About HP

Hewlett-Packard Company -- a leading global provider of computing and imaging solutions and services for business and home -- is focused on capitalizing on the opportunities of the Internet and the proliferation of electronic services.

HP had computer-related revenue of $39.5 billion in its 1998 fiscal year.

HP plans to launch a new company consisting of its industry-leading test-and-measurement, semiconductor products, chemical-analysis and medical businesses. These businesses represented $7.6 billion of HP's total revenue in fiscal 1998. With leading positions in multiple market segments, this technology-based company will focus on opportunities such as communications and life sciences.

HP has 123,000 employees worldwide and had total revenue of $47.1 billion in its 1998 fiscal year. Information about HP, its products and the company's Year 2000 program can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.

(1) e-services -- HP envisions a world in which people and businesses derive new value from the Internet by moving beyond Web-based access to information to a world in which a rich array of nimble, modular electronic services, e-services, are accessible by virtually anyone and any device. HP has been working to solve the technical challenges that such a world presents -- inventing the devices and technologies that provide access, building the back-end systems that support the billions of Internet transactions generated, and developing the software that ensures information always is protected. The steward of distributed open systems, HP understand how to build this new open-services marketplace and will lead this next logical evolution of the Net, working closely with world-class partners.