Compaq Leak-Engine continues

FOR THE DELECTATION OF OTHER news wires who can't seem to get the story themselves (Hi, Reuters!), here is how Compaq is spinning the fact it has shunted its Alpha group off to Intel to its beloved customers, straight from a very dissatisfied customer's inbox:

You know it's going to be long, but as a matter of record should be compared with the other leaks we've exclusively published over the last six days or so.

The "thrilled customers" are being invited to their very own Webcast... µ

* MAJOR Compaq/Intel Announcement - A letter to our Partners from Compaq Senior Management

Dear Compaq Partner,

The intense business challenges we face today are compelling companies to take new and bold actions to meet customers' needs. At Compaq, our overriding goal is to enable customers to meet these challenges better than their competition. In collaboration with partners such as yourselves, we are committed to providing the most effective and efficient solutions available while protecting investments today and in the future.

Compaq has a deep and long-standing heritage of engineering excellence and a long history of 64-bit computing innovation. These strengths have enabled us to establish strong momentum in our enterprise computing business, in conjunction with our partners. To extend our leadership position, Compaq has announced that we will standardize our 64-bit enterprise server product lines, including the NonStop Himalaya, AlphaServer, and ProLiant families, on Intel's Itanium(tm) processor family, its next-generation microprocessor targeted at the high-end enterprise computing market.

As part of our joint technology collaboration agreement with Intel, Compaq will transfer our tremendous Alpha microprocessor technology - backed by more than 10 years of technical leadership in 64-bit computing solutions - to accelerate ongoing development of the Itanium processor. By incorporating these sophisticated technologies, tools, and resources, such as Alpha compiler technologies, into the Itanium processor support infrastructure, Compaq and Intel will jointly expand the market for high-performance, market-leading, 64-bit solutions while protecting your investment in Compaq technology for years to come.

The new family of Compaq enterprise servers will support Tru64 Unix, OpenVMS, and NonStop Kernel environments, complementing the company's market leadership in Windows 2000 and Linux. Compaq will immediately begin to port Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS and NonStop Kernel operating systems, middleware, and development tools to the Itanium processor family. As a result of source file compatibility, existing applications on NonStop Himalaya servers and AlphaServers will run seamlessly with Itanium-based Compaq servers.

Continued investment in our enterprise platforms
Our primary goal with this simplified strategy is to protect your investment in the Compaq systems, software, and technologies that you have come to depend on over the years. With that goal in mind, we will continue to invest in our enterprise technologies and platforms so that you can continue to depend on them tomorrow.

The Compaq enterprise server fundamentals of scalability, data integrity, availability and reliability will remain at the forefront of all of our products.

Our intention is to have our first Compaq Itanium-based systems for Tru64 UNIX and OpenVMS available in 2003, and for NonStop Kernel/Himalaya in 2004. In the interim, we will continue to execute and even accelerate our committed roadmap for AlphaServers and NonStop Himalaya servers. Our Alpha EV7-based AlphaServers will be delivered on schedule in early 2003 with the committed features and performance enhancements. The first Itanium-based ProLiant platforms will be delivered in Q3 2001 with 64-bit Windows 2000 and Linux. Compaq will also continue with its strong development roadmap for 32-bit ProLiant systems over the coming years, offering continuing support for Microsoft Windows NT/2000, Novell NetWare, Linux and other selected operating systems.

Our comprehensive strategy for transitioning Compaq technologies to the Itanium processor family will ensure that all of the high-performance features, functionality, and clustering capabilities of the Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS, and NonStop Kernel operating systems and middleware will be available on the Itanium architecture. In addition, to smooth the transition to these future platforms, we, jointly with Intel, will be establishing an extensive developer support program.

We are very excited about this collaboration because we believe it offers you the best of all possible futures - the combination of the world's leading volume microprocessor engine and Compaq's outstanding operating systems, clustering, middleware and systems technology for the business-critical infrastructure. The end result will be a complete range of Compaq server families based on the same processor architecture, providing the highest levels of availability, scalability, and performance in the industry.

Better performance, lower costs, and faster time to market
The advantages of working with the industry leader in chip technology cannot be overstated. We will see better processor performance consistently over time as a result of Intel's aggressive product schedules and frequent performance boosts.

We will ensure that Compaq server performance tracks with industry-wide performance gains. We will see lower costs, better price performance, and faster time to market. All of these advantages will enhance our joint opportunities with customers.

We hope you share our excitement about this strategy. It not only defines a clear and stable path to the future, but we believe this is the right moment to transition to a volume-based, 64-bit microprocessor architecture, which has benefited from extensive testing and had time to mature over the past few years. We look forward to leveraging its advantages for our complete range of enterprise servers for many years to come.

Please visit the Compaq website at http://www.compaq.com for more information about this major announcement.

And, please join us for a follow-on LIVE, INTERACTIVE WEBCAST on Wednesday, June 27 at 2:00 pm EST. See below for dial-in information.

Best regards,

Howard Elias Mary McDowell

Senior Vice President and General Manager Senior Vice President and General Manager Business Critical Solutions Group Industry Standard Server Group Compaq Computer Corporation Compaq Computer Corporation

* COMPAQ cordially invites you to participate in an important WEBCAST!!

Today, Compaq and Intel jointly announced a major technology agreement that will provide Significant advantages for our customers and our partners. Together, we have a tremendous opportunity to impact our industry and we want you to be an integral part of this new era of computing!

Please join Compaq Senior Executives in a live WebCast to hear about this announcement and the Compaq and Intel collaboration that will change the direction of 64-bit Enterprise computing.

Subject: Compaq and Intel Enterprise Agreement

When: June 27 @2:00 - 3:30pm/EST

[NOTE: On June 29 @5:00pm/ EST this Presentation, with the audio content, will be accessible worldwide ON-DEMAND at http://vp.mro.cpqcorp.net , see title under VP Library, choose chronological listing]

Audience Dial-in: (212) 896-6013

Up to 30 Minutes before the start of the session:

1. Direct your browser to: http://www.presentationselect.com/compaq.htm

2. 2. Click on "Events" (Major Compaq Computer Corporation Announcement)

3. Click on the join now button adjacent to the session you wish to attend

4. Enter your email address.

5. Click the CONTINUE button. This will enter you into the seminar.

TO LISTEN TO SESSION AUDIO VIA CONFERENCE CALL:

If you have any problems or questions regarding the process to join the webcast, please call the Avitage! Webcaster helpline at (781-304-0007

View Presentation:

http://www.presentationselect.com/compaq.htm

Why: Very Important news!