Cisco and HP Team to Deliver Networked-Computing Solutions

Previous News on the HP/Cisco Partnership:

SAN JOSE and PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 15, 1997 -- Hewlett-Packard Company and Cisco Systems Inc. today announced an alliance to jointly develop Internet-ready networked-computing solutions to maximize the benefits of combining networking and computing.

HP and Cisco will expand or begin collaboration in four areas: technology development, product integration, professional services and customer service and support.

"An integrated information infrastructure is mandatory for today's enterprises to deploy rapidly emerging Internet and intranet technologies -- electronic-commerce applications being the most pervasive," said Lewis E. Platt, chairman, president and chief executive officer of HP. "By forging a relationship that combines our respective core competencies, HP and Cisco are providing an innovative open framework that benefits our application developers, channel partners and customers."

"Companies must rapidly start moving toward the model of a global networked business if they are to prosper in the years ahead," said John T. Chambers, president and chief executive officer of Cisco. "HP and Cisco together will give customers the networked-computing solutions they need to address critical business objectives."

Cisco and HP will offer comprehensive end-to-end solutions for Microsoft( Windows NT and UNIX( system environments, with an emphasis on one-stop service and support. Efforts will focus on critical business applications, such as intranets, electronic commerce, databases and messaging.

HP intends to standardize its enterprise solutions on Cisco internetworking products and the Cisco IOS software platform, which provides network services and enables networked applications. HP intends to recommend Cisco as the preferred source for networking technology and intends to integrate Cisco IOS technology with its UNIX system and NT server families, where appropriate. Cisco will endorse HP as its preferred partner for computing and technology co-development. Both HP and Cisco will continue to enhance their relationships with system integrators, software developers and other partners to offer end-to-end solutions to mutual customers.

Areas of Collaboration

Technology development

Research and development teams have begun collaborative efforts to deliver key technologies that support enterprisewide databases, intranets and electronic commerce. Cisco and HP intend to do the following: collaborate on standard protocols, such as RSVP, to ensure predictable application behavior and quality of service throughout global computing networks;cooperate on Internet security protocols, including IP Sec, and the design of integrated authentication, authorization and accounting services for networked applications; integrate Cisco's Gigabit Ethernet technology into the next generation of high-speed system interfaces for the HP 9000 Enterprise Server family; and develop Web-based network- and system-management user interfaces that will be integrated with HP's OpenView and Cisco's CiscoWorksnetwork-management offerings.

Product Integration

The alliance brings together HP's strength in workgroup networking and computing and Cisco's strength in enterprise and wide area networking to provide enterprise customers with a more complete end-to-end solution.

HP is working closely with Cisco to integrate Cisco IOS software features into the HP AdvanceStack product line to connect workgroups to central sites that have a Cisco backbone. Cisco intends to incorporate an HP-branded workgroup hub with its NetBeyond family of solutions for small to medium-sized businesses. HP and Cisco also are working together to provide standards-based management solutions to manage this end-to-end networked-computing environment.

"We are finding that more and more enterprise networks are being built up from workgroups that are interconnected to provide a complete network solution," said Gary McAnally, general manager of HP's Workgroup Networks Division. "This alliance with Cisco will offer a more complete solution for our enterprise customers."

HP is offering several pre-defined solutions leveraging Cisco products, the newest of which combines the Cisco LocalDirector traffic manager with HP Domain Internet Servers to create highly available, high-speed Internet platforms. Cisco LocalDirector, which load-balances TCP/IP traffic across multiple HP servers, is intended for mission-critical Internet applications.

Another solution provides HP 9000 server access to IBM channel communications using the Cisco Channel Interface Processor (CIP). HP and Cisco intend to define and jointly market additional solutions for specific business requirements.

Professional Services

HP's Professional Services Organization is working with Cisco networking consultants to jointly design and test configurations that offer optimized support for such applications as SAP implementations, databases and messaging. This "application-readiness" approach to complex infrastructures of processors and networking is expected to shorten implementation cycles and ensure smoothly integrated networked-computing platforms for business applications, to the benefit of both system integrators and direct customers.

This approach also is intended to reduce risk for customers, as HP and Cisco product designers intend to consider upgrade paths for both companies' products.

HP's Professional Services Organization intends to add expertise to its global enterprise-networking consulting practice to address HP/Cisco environments.

Customer Service and Support

For the past two years, HP has been the only system supplier authorized to deliver global support services for Cisco equipment. Today, Cisco acknowledges HP as its strategic partner in supplying these services on a worldwide basis. HP and Cisco intend to jointly define and deploy end-to-end support for customers on a worldwide basis, offering the extensive project-management and integration expertise required as companies deploy complex configurations.

"As we move forward with business projects over the next few months and years, we see tremendous value in an efficient networked-computing framework," said Stephen Brown, chief information officer at Imation, a $2.2 billion imaging and information-technology company. "The streamlining and optimization that HP and Cisco are building into their enterprise solutions will help Imation deploy the IT initiatives that give our company a competitive edge through customer focus, flexibility and efficiency."

HP and Cisco have worked together for many years, and today's announcement broadens the scope of collaboration between the two industry leaders. HP's Electronic Business Framework helps customers address the emerging electronic marketplace by applying HP's expertise in open-systems computing, consulting, integration, enabling technologies and partnerships. Cisco not only provides more than 80-percent of the backbone routers for the Internet, but is the only supplier that can offer an end-to-end solution for Internet connectivity.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco news and product/service information are available at World Wide Web site http://www.cisco.com. Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, CA.

HP (NYSE: HWP) is a leading provider of Internet and intranet solutions and 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 is a leading global manufacturer of computing, communications and measurement products and services recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 112,000 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. Information about the HP and Cisco alliance can be found at http://www.hp.com/go/hpcisco.

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Microsoft is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.
Windows is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.
Cisco IOS is a trademark of Cisco Systems.
UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited.