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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Calvin who wrote (44927)	1/25/1999 8:35:00 AM
From: Kenya AA	Respond to of 97611

Compaq Announces 'Best in Class' Program for Managing Desktop Lifecycles Business Wire - January 25, 1999 08:15 HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 1999-- Industry-First Initiative Includes New Utilities and a Change Notification Process to Help Customers Achieve Significant Savings Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ) today unveiled a first-of-its-kind comprehensive program to help its Deskpro enterprise customers meet one of their top IT challenges--managing technological change(1). With this announcement, Compaq unveils the first in a series of lifecycle management solutions and services, offered at no charge, to help enterprise customers during the four phases of the desktop PC lifecycle--planning, deployment, management and transitions. Compaq's lifecycle management solutions give Deskpro customers the flexibility to manage and implement the changes they want and need within their own environments. It reduces the number of times they need to change their hardware and custom software set-up, or software image, thus saving time and money and allowing them to concentrate on keeping their businesses competitive. The three lifecycle management solutions being announced today are Change Control, PC Deployment, and System Maintenance. These initiatives complement Compaq's Deskpro strategy of offering a line of enterprise-class desktops that are "stable and consistent" by minimizing and managing product changes and supporting longer product lifecycles. "Compaq continues to be the leader in developing industry standard, leading edge technologies which help customers create a competitive advantage," said Jerry Meerkatz, Vice President of the Desktop PC Division at Compaq. "But too frequent change creates added costs and headaches for certain enterprise customers. That's why we've developed programs and offerings to help these customers plan for and manage these changes, allowing them to lower their ownership costs and maintain better control of their distributed computing environments." Change Control: Minimizing Change and Change Notification It's in the nature of computer technology that change will occur sometime over the life of a PC. The first objective of change control is to minimize the impact of change on the PC owner who is primarily interested in a stable and consistent computing platform. The Deskpro family of personal computers is based on consistency throughout the product lifecycle: any proposed change to components, ROM, or software is closely evaluated to ensure that a particular change is necessary and, if it is, that it is implemented in a way that impacts customers as little as possible. The second objective of change control is to notify customers of hardware and software changes that impact Deskpro products through a worldwide Change Notification website. Changes in hardware and software can be communicated via email to registered customers as soon as changes are identified, with a goal of 60 days advance notice to ensure that customers are given adequate time to plan and execute the change. PC Deployment: Simplifies PC Installation Compaq helps simplify the configuration and installation of new Compaq Deskpro PCs in corporate environments by providing tools and processes for configuring a customer's system with consistent software images, including the operating system, device drivers, and firmware. The tools, utilities and information for helping customers create software images are located in the PC Deployment section of the Lifecycle Management website at www.compaq.com/im/change. These integrate with standard Microsoft deployment tools like MS-Batch and NT Distributed Share, as well as with other third party configuration tools like Platinum AutoConfigure (formerly Intel(R) LANDesk Configuration Manager). System Maintenance: Reduces Management Headaches Compaq has also created tools and information that help customers simplify and automate the deployment of software changes during Deskpro PC lifecycles. These are found on the System Maintenance section of the Lifecycle Management website noted above. A new utility, called the System Software Manager (SSM), helps customers simplify Deskpro PC maintenance when system software updates become necessary. It enables the unattended flashing of the ROM BIOS and the installation of Deskpro system software, including manageability agents and graphics, NIC, audio, and SCSI drivers. The System Software Manager integrates with log in scripts as well as standard software distribution tools and corporate deployment mechanisms. Compaq Lifecycle Management Strategy Compaq is working to implement lifecycle management programs across other product lines. For example, Compaq intends to implement a lifecycle management strategy with its popular Armada line of portable computers for its corporate customers. Company Background Compaq is the worldwide marketshare leader in commercial desktops. Over the past 15 years, Compaq's award-winning Deskpro systems have received numerous accolades from all industry-leading publications. Founded in 1982, Compaq Computer Corporation is a Fortune Global 100 company. Compaq is the second largest computer company in the world and the largest global supplier of personal computers. Compaq develops and markets hardware, software, solutions, and services, including industry-leading enterprise computing solutions, fault-tolerant business-critical solutions, networking and communication products, commercial desktop and portable products and consumer PCs. The company is an industry leader in environmentally friendly programs and business practices.