HP Ports Key E-Services Component to Windows NT and Linux; Online Retailers to Benefit From Enhanced Customer Management and Increased Stability

Business Wire, June 22, 1999

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 22, 1999--

Hewlett-Packard Company today announced the porting of its WebQoS product to Windows NT(R) and Linux. HP WebQoS is a key component of HP's e-services(1) strategy and allows online retailers to fortify their sites against potential crashes and provide their customers with consistently exceptional service.

"Server overload won't steal holiday profits from online retailers and suppliers that make the HP WebQoS family of products part of their customer-service strategy this year," said Roberto Medrano, general manager for HP's E-services Division. "E-commerce Web sites cannot afford a repeat of last year's missed business and customer opportunities. HP WebQoS is designed to keep that from happening."

By porting HP WebQoS to two of the most common Web-site operating systems being deployed today, HP is adding a major building block to its e-services package. According to industry analysts, Windows NT is the primary commerce/transactional operating system currently deployed by Internet service providers and is the most common platform for entry-level service vendors. Although Linux has less market share, it is the fastest growing operating system and is less complex. Porting to these two systems demonstrates HP's commitment to bringing strategic new technologies to the entire e-services marketplace.

The next chapter of the Internet, e-services, is intended to save people time, effort and money while building strong customer loyalty due to good online experiences. HP studies show that customer loyalty develops six times faster on the Internet than it does in the conventional retail shopping environment. HP WebQoS technology was designed to keep customers satisfied and maintain their satisfaction with vendors deploying HP's server- and customer-management solutions.

"We believe the Linux-based operating system is the perfect environment for HP's WebQoS mission-critical focus," said Paul McNamara, vice president of business development at Red Hat. "WebQoS enhances Red Hat Linux by providing reliability, scalability and overall mission-critical performance in the e-commerce space."

HP's WebQoS optimizes Web-site performance and capacity, and notifies customers on-the-fly and in real time as to the length of service delays. Some other industry solutions require e-commerce providers to maintain excess server capacity even during slow times, a solution that is expensive and inefficient.

HP WebQoS competency center serves as an ISV integration showcase for demonstrating products from HP WebQoS partners, such as BEA, BroadVision, Intershop and Smith-Gardner, and provides a one-stop shopping area that helps customers find solutions that best fit their needs.

HP WebQoS

HP WebQoS has a new tiered product line to bring customers the solution that best fits their e-commerce needs. This tiered structure allows WebQoS to grow as their businesses grow.

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--   HP WebQoS Peak delivers consistent performance and capacity. This
     is similar to the "take a number" method used in face-to-face
     customer-service situations. Peak technology prevents system
     overload and performance degradation, even during unexpected
     floods of requests, by prioritizing requests to maximize the
     number of completed business transactions.
--   HP WebQoS Priority helps ensure access and performance for key
     users and applications. This allows businesses to assign
     priorities and offer higher service levels to Web-site customers
     who are in the process of completing a transaction or who are
     premier customers.
--   HP WebQoS Premium allows businesses to always run at full
     capacity and lets service providers offer strong
     business-oriented service-level agreements.

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The HP WebQoS solution makes mission-critical service quality available to every e-commerce Web site. Several large-volume users include HP Shopping Village, LocalNet and Media General. Additionally, AT&T has endorsed HP WebQoS.

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.