HP Posts Leading Commercial Computing Performance Benchmarks on Itanium 2-based Server

HP (NYSE:HPQ) today announced it has posted industry-leading TPC-C, Oracle Applications Standard Benchmark and SAP benchmark results with the Itanium® 2-based HP Server rx5670 running the Oracle® Database. HP also has posted a set of record-setting benchmarks for SPECweb99_SSL on the HP Server rx5670.

Building on other recently announced record benchmark figures, these results demonstrate that HP's Itanium 2-based systems continue to deliver powerful scalability, availability and reliability that enterprise customers need in commercial applications across multiple operating environments.

TPC-C Benchmarks on HP-UX and Linux

The four-processor HP Server rx5670 has achieved two record-setting TPC-C benchmarks running HP-UX 11i and Linux, using the Oracle Database. These new benchmarks complement HP's recently published record-setting benchmark with Microsoft® Windows® on the server, demonstrating leading four-processor TPC-C performance across UNIX®, Windows and Linux.(1)

In addition, the HP-UX 11i benchmark achieved the best price/performance ratio for any UNIX-based Oracle Database TPC-C result.(1)

SAP Standard Application SD Benchmark on HP-UX 11i

In the two-tier SAP® Standard Application Sales and Distribution (SD) Benchmark, the HP Server rx5670 posted an industry-leading four-processor result of 600 SAP SD Benchmark users.(2) With 150 SAP SD Benchmark users per processor, the server offers more than 33 percent higher productivity per processor than competing systems with eight processors, including IBM's new p650 Power4 server and Sun's v880 server.(2)

Oracle Application Standard and SPECweb99_SSL Benchmarks

Achieving the world's best four-processor result on the Oracle Application Standard Benchmark, the HP Server rx5670 recorded a user count of 3,640.(6) The Oracle Application Standard Benchmark simulates realistic enterprise resource planning customer scenarios to demonstrate the performance and scalability of Oracle Applications.

Also, HP produced a set of world-leading results on the SPECweb99_SSL -- a critical benchmark for companies executing high volumes of secure transactions over the Internet -- working with Zeus, a leading expert on Internet infrastructure and performance, and RSA, a leading provider of e-security solutions.(7)

The HP Server rx5670 achieved a four-processor result of 1,888 simultaneous connections running HP-UX 11i. This is more than three times better than Sun's four-processor result and is nearly double IBM's four-processor Power 4 system. The HP Server rx5670 also has posted the fastest one-processor and two-processor results.(7)

Building on HP's Achievements with Itanium 2-based Processors

This year alone, HP has logged numerous milestones and benchmarks demonstrating the leading performance, price/performance ratio and multi-OS advantages of HP's Itanium 2-based systems.

Highlights include the introduction of the HP Chipset zx1, a cost-effective, high-bandwidth and low-latency solution for one- to four-processor Itanium 2-based workstations and servers, as well as the launch of a broad portfolio of Itanium 2-based servers that provide the multiple operating system functionality necessary to support the diverse workloads of today's enterprise data centers.

More information on the HP Server rx5670 and its record-setting benchmarks is available at http://www.hp.com/go/rx5670.

About HP

HP is a leading global provider of products, technologies, solutions and services to consumers and businesses. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. HP completed its merger transaction involving Compaq Computer Corporation on May 3, 2002. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com/.

(1) As of Nov. 13, 2002, HP Server rx5670 TPC-C benchmarks:

• HP-UX result with Oracle10i Database: 80,570 tpmC, $13.26/tpmC and TPC-C availability May 11, 2003;
• Linux result with Oracle10i Database: 80,494 tpmC, $4.84/tpmC and TPC-C availability May 11, 2003;
• Windows Advanced Server 64 result with Microsoft SQL Server Database: 78,455 tpmC, $5.16/tpmC and TPC-C availability Dec. 31, 2002. A complete list of all benchmarks is available at http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/ghp/gohpweb.pl/hpinfo/newsroom/exit.html?http://www.tpc.org/.

The SAP benchmarks referred to in notes 2-5 were certified by SAP and fully comply with the guidelines issued by the SAP Benchmark Council. Results referenced are current as of Nov. 13, 2002. More information on SAP Standard Application Benchmarks is available at http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/ghp/gohpweb.pl/hpinfo/newsroom/exit.html?http://www.sap.com/benchmark.

(2) Running the two-tier SAP Standard Application SD Benchmark, HP achieved the four-processor result of 600 SAP SD benchmark users with 1.99 seconds average dialog response time. This was achieved on an HP Server rx5670 running HP-UX 11i version 1.6, SAP R/3® Release 4.6C and Oracle9i Database Release 2. The configuration used four of the 1-GHz Itanium 2 processors with 3 MB of L3 cache and 24 GB of main memory. The measured throughput was 60,000 line items per hour and 180,000 dialog steps per hour with an average CPU utilization of 99 percent for the central server.

(3) 900 SAP SD Benchmark users for IBM's p650 server running R/3 Release 4.6C, DB2 UDB 7.2 and AIX 5.1. The configuration used eight Power4 processors at 1.2 GHz with 64 GB central server memory. Average dialog response time was 1.97 seconds at 90,330 line items per hour and 271,000 dialog steps per hour

(4) 860 SAP SD Benchmark users for IBM's p670 server running R/3 Release 4.6C, DB2 UDB 7.2 and AIX 5.1. The configuration used eight Power4 processors at 1.1 GHz with 65 GB of central server memory. Average dialog response time was 1.84 seconds at 87,600 line items per hour and 262,000 dialog steps per hour.

(5) 600 SAP SD Benchmark users for Sun's SunFire v880 server running SAP R/3 4.6C, DB2 UDB 7.2 and Solaris 8. The configuration used eight UltraSparc III CPUs at 900 MHz with 32 GB memory. Average dialog response time was 1.96 seconds at 60,330 line items per hour and 181,000 dialog steps per hour.

(6) As of Nov. 12, 2002: HP Server rx5670, four processors, Intel Itanium 2 at 1 GHz, Oracle Applications Standard Benchmark version 11.5.6, 3,640 users, 0.916s average response time. See detailed benchmark information at http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/ghp/gohpweb.pl/hpinfo/newsroom/exit.html?http://www.oracle.com/apps_benchmark/html/index.html?results.html

(7) SPECweb99_SSL: HP Server rx5670: 1,888 conforming simultaneous connections using four Intel Itanium 2 1-GHz processors. IBM eServer P630: 986 conforming simultaneous connections using four Power4 1.0-GHz processors. SunFire V480: 568 conforming simultaneous connections using four UltraSPARC III 900-MHz processors. HP Server rx5670: 990 conforming simultaneous connections using two Itanium 2 1-GHz processors. HP Server rx5670: 510 conforming simultaneous connections using one Itanium 2 1-GHz processor. Competitive benchmark results stated above reflect results published on http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/ghp/gohpweb.pl/hpinfo/newsroom/exit.html?http://www.spec.org/ as of Nov. 13, 2002. The latest SPECweb99_SSL benchmark results are available at http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/ghp/gohpweb.pl/hpinfo/newsroom/exit.html?http://www.spec.org/osg/web99ssl/. More information about HP's Zeus-based Secure Web Server is available at http://www.hp.zeus.com/. More information about RSA Security is available at http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/ghp/gohpweb.pl/hpinfo/newsroom/exit.html?http://rsasecurity.com/.

TPC-C and TPC-H are trademarks of the Transaction Performance Processing Council. Intel and Itanium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries. Oracle is a registered U.S. trademark of Oracle Corp., Redwood City, Calif. SPECweb99_SSL is Copyright 1995-2002 the Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. All rights reserved. Copying of SPEC material is by permission of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. SPEC and SPECweb are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. UNIX is a registered trademark of the Open Group. SAP, R/3 and all other SAP product and service names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and several other countries.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the possibility that the market for the sale of certain products and services may not develop as expected; that development and performance of these products and services may not proceed as planned; and other risks that are described from time to time in HP's Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including but not limited to HP's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 31, 2002 and reports filed subsequent to HP's annual report on Form 10-K, as amended on January 30, 2002, for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2001. If any of these risks or uncertainties materializes or any of these assumptions proves incorrect, HP's results could differ materially from HP's expectations in these statements. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.