HP Expands Dot.com Initiatives With Development Solutions for Internet Start-Ups; New Offering Provides Up to $1 Million in Financing for Internet Start-Ups - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Dec 6, 1999

Hewlett-Packard Company Wednesday further delivered on its e-services strategy with the announcement of its expanded dot.com program. HP is rolling out a dot.com development solution that provides Internet start-ups with the mission-critical infrastructure building blocks and financing they need to thrive and grow in the next chapter of the Internet.

HP's dot.com program combines dot.com initiatives from Oracle and includes Internet hardware and software, support services and training, in addition to attractive and flexible financing. In the coming months, HP will be announcing additional phases to HP's dot.com program.

"As the original garage start-up, HP understands how to move companies from the idea stage to Wall Street," said Janice Chaffin, general manager and vice president of HP's Business Critical Computing Business Unit. "Emerging dot.coms need to start with an infrastructure that can prepare them for the unprecedented growth they often experience once they go to market."

Attractive Financing Since February, HP has invested more than $100 million in qualified pre- and post-IPO dot.coms, including Colorstamps Inc., Intira Corp., USA.NET and The viaLink Company, providing cash-starved Internet players with funding for technology and services. The financing is provided by HP's own financing arm.

Through the dot.com development solution, HP is extending financing on HP products and services to a wider spectrum of Internet start-ups. As an integral part of the solution, HP is providing up to $1 million in financing for each qualified customer and is offering convenient, aggressive and flexible financing terms, such as no down payments and deferred payments for six months.

"HP was there for us a year ago when we were looking for a technology partner that could provide a mission-critical technology infrastructure, as well as support in the form of hosting services and financing," said Lewis B. Kilbourne, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of The viaLink Company, an Internet start-up that provides an e-service to companies that make up the retail supply chain. "We got cash when we needed it to scale our infrastructure."

Internet-enabled Development Architecture For dot.com companies at the development stage, HP is offering its Internet-ready servers with two Oracle solutions:

-- an inexpensive, Internet-enabled development architecture solution that includes Oracle's dot.com suite running on HP's recently introduced entry-level HP 9000 L-Class servers; and

-- a scalable development solution that includes Oracle's Internet Platform, including the Oracle8i(TM) enterprise database.

HP's Internet-ready servers come with HP's advanced Internet software, including e-speak, Java, WebQoS, security and other tools, making HP's servers ready for quick and easy Web deployment.

"Oracle leadership in e-business and aggressive financing by HP will let customers deploy an infrastructure that is strong and powerful from the very start," said Mark Jarvis, senior vice president, Marketing, Oracle Corporation. "The development dot.com solutions let customers focus on building and growing the next hot Web companies."

Critical to the success of an emerging Internet company is a development infrastructure that is both easily scalable to accommodate rapid growth, and highly available to help build customer loyalty and brand identity. HP is working with Oracle to deliver mission-critical Internet technologies that can scale to the next stage of development and enable emerging dot.com companies to easily innovate and create e-services.

The Venture-capital Community and Channel Partners HP is working to engage the venture-capital community to participate in the early stage qualification process for the development dot.com solution. Participating venture-capital firms will work with HP to recommend selected Internet start-ups for this program.

Availability HP's development dot.com solution is available in the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom directly through HP or through select, existing HP and Oracle joint resellers.

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 plans to launch Agilent Technologies as an independent company by mid-calendar 2000. Agilent consists of HP's test and measurement, semiconductor products, chemical analysis and healthcare solutions businesses, and has leading positions in multiple market segments.

HP has 83,200 employees worldwide and had total revenue from continuing operations of $42.4 billion in its 1999 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.