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October 23, 1997

HP, HITACHI AND NEC TO BRING ENHANCED RESILIENCE FOR MISSION-CRITICAL APPLICATIONS TO ENTERPRISE COMPUTING

- Joint Development Brings 3DA Mainframe-based Technology to the HP-UX Operating Environment -

"We have combined the mainframe-based technology expertise of Hitachi and NEC with the robust-kernel functionality of HP-UX to bring greater system reliability to our customers," said Janice Chaffin, general manager of HP's High Performance System Division. "This major milestone not only provides a more robust foundation for high-end servers to run mission-critical applications, but strengthens HP's UNIX (R) system leadership position well into the future."

3DA, HP's architectural blue print for defining the future direction of HP-UX, not only focuses on delivering advanced features in the areas of modularity, scalability and performance, but also on delivering features such as the exception infrastructure that enhance the robustness of the operating environment.

The new self-healing enhancements exploit features of PA- RISC(2) and future IA-64 systems-based hardware to enable the identification, isolation and recovery of unexpected software problems detected in the HP-UX kernel. These enhancements reduce planned and unplanned downtime, saving time and money. With the exception infrastructure, the kernel is expected to be more robust and able to withstand many kinds of unforeseen errors (that is, certain processes can be isolated without affecting the total workload).

Initially, the companies will work on the exception-infrastructure and recovery aspects within 3DA. This work will address extending kernel functionality that provides mainframe-type fault recovery. It is designed to take appropriate self-healing actions to maintain system integrity when an exception occurs. While maintaining system availability, HP-UX will intercept system-level faults and attempt to recover from the failure or blockade the failing resource. With this capability, HP-UX is expected to further expand into mission-critical system markets that require even stricter resiliency of the system, such as financial institutions and airline-reservation systems.

"I am delighted to contribute Hitachi's proven and advanced enterprise technology to this project," said Kenichi Furumaya, executive managing director and group executive of Hitachi's Information Systems Group. "Continuing to exploit HP-UX's competitive advantage will ensure that we meet the increasing demand for reliable, mission-critical systems and continue to provide the best solution for our customers."

"We are pleased with the successful progress of the joint development work with HP," said Akira Date, vice president and executive general manager of NEC. "NEC's contribution, including scalability and performance enhancements for HP-UX will benefit all HP-UX customers, and the companies' joint work will contribute significantly to leverage the importance of open, de facto HP-UX, especially in the high- end-server area."

Hitachi and NEC have provided UNIX system engineers to work exclusively in this project at their respective company sites as well as dedicated engineers on-site at HP.

Availability
The first components of the exception infrastructure produced by this joint development are expected to be available in HP-UX by the end of 1998.

(1) HP-UX 9.X, 10.0 and 10.20 for HP 9000 Series 700 and 800 computers are X/Open(R) Company UNIX(R) 95 branded products. HP is applying for X/Open UNIX 95 branding for HP-UX 11.

X/Open is a registered trademark, and the X device is a trademark of X/Open Company Ltd. in the UK and other countries.

UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited.

(2) PA-RISC stands for Precision Architecture-reduced-instruction-set computing.

Background

<Relationship with Hitachi>
Since 1989, HP and Hitachi have had a broad and long-term alliance, which included the joint development of HP's Precision Architecture RISC CPU chips and the design and building of Hitachi's PA-RISC(1) systems. Most recently, Hitachi developed the HP-UX(2)-based high-end server " Hitachi 9000V series VT 800" in cooperation with HP, and the two companies have undertaken cooperative marketing of the system. Today's announcement substantiates the HP and Hitachi broad cooperative software-development agreement made in January to enhance the HP-UX kernel for mission- critical systems. Hitachi is one of the top resellers of HP servers and workstations in the Japanese market.

<Relationship with NEC>
HP and NEC established a strategic relationship in February 1995, initially focusing on the area of large-scale UNIX system servers. The relationship has grown stronger, with a number of major successes, including the expansion of the NEC NX7000 product line, which is based on HP technology, and a commitment to work together on distributed-object technologies. Today's announcement supports the HP and NEC HP-UX development agreement of December 1996.

<About Hitachi>
Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 1996 consolidated sales (ending March 31, 1997) of 8.5 trillion yen (U.S. $68.7 billion). The company manufactures a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products, and power and industrial equipment.

For more information about Hitachi, Ltd., please visit Hitachi's Web site at http://www.hitachi.co.jp.

<About NEC>
NEC Corporation, founded in 1899, is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and has net sales of 4.9 trillion yen (U.S. $39.9 billion) in the 1996-97 fiscal year. NEC manufactures and markets a broad range of products, including computer systems, which extends from super computers to personal computers, communication systems, which extend from switching systems to cellular phones, and electronic devices, which extend from microprocessors to memory chips.

For additional corporate and product information, see NEC's home page on the World Wide Web at http://www.nec-global.com.

<About HP>
HP is the official information-technology hardware and maintenance supplier to the 1998 World Cup soccer tournament and the 1997 Tournament of France. Selected for its technology and skills to support and manage mission-critical applications, HP will help create an information-management infrastructure for handling game-scoring; media centers; personnel accreditation; hotel information; and various ticketing, stadium, warehouse and back-office operations.

Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global provider of computing, Internet and intranet solutions, services, communications products and measurement solutions, all of which are recognized for excellence in quality and support. It is the second-largest computer supplier in the United States, with computer-related revenue in excess of $31.4 billion in its 1996 fiscal year. HP has 120,500 employees and had revenue of $38.4 billion in its 1996 fiscal year.

Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.

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