press release

U.S. Department of Energy Agency Selects HP to Co-develop Linux Software for Clustered Computing

File System Software Targeted for Use on Clusters of up to 10,000 Systems

PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 8, 2002

HP (NYSE: HPQ) today announced it has been chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to develop and deploy file system software for Linux clusters.

The joint research and development effort between HP and NNSA to develop the software, code-named Lustre, is a three-year project. HP is supplying program management, development and test engineering, hardware, services and support to the initiative in a cost-sharing arrangement with NNSA and the DOE labs, including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. HP is working in conjunction with Cluster File Systems, Inc., which is serving as a subcontractor on the Lustre project.

"I'm pleased that NNSA and HP are working together in this collaboration to further advance the high-performance computing field,” said Linton Brooks, Acting Administrator, NNSA. “This new technology will allow us to better fulfill our mission to the American people in providing the tools needed to solve critical national security problems."

Lustre is a high-performance, highly scalable, Linux-based file system designed to work on large compute clusters that provide more than 100 teraflops with high demand for storage and input/output performance. Lustre will be made available initially to each of the DOE labs, including the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, on HP's Linux-based high-performance computing cluster solutions.

As a storage area network-based cluster file system, Lustre eventually is expected to provide high-speed, scalable access to scientific simulation data from other computational resources across the DOE labs.

"HP has been working for years to make Linux viable for many environments, including compute-intensive areas such as advanced research, where speed and scalability are key," Martin Fink, general manager, HP Linux Systems Division. "We're excited that NNSA chose HP to develop its next-generation storage and file system architecture which will be used to power some of the world's largest computers conducting research to address national security issues."

Lustre originated at Carnegie Mellon University and has been designed over a three-year period by Cluster File Systems Inc., HP, Seagate, various Linux companies and NNSA's Office of Advanced Simulation and Computing PathForward program. An early version of the Lustre file system on large clustered Linux systems, code-named Lustre Lite, will be deployed in all four of DOE's labs.

More information about HP's Linux initiatives is available at http://www.hp.com/linux or +1 888 HP-Linux.

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 Corp. on May 3, 2002. The company would have had combined revenue on a pro forma basis with the Compaq transaction of approximately $81.1 billion in fiscal 2001 and has operations in more than 160 countries. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

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