Encompass, HP Interex EMEA and ITUG Announce Plan to Form New User Community

Encompass (www.encompassUS.org), HP Interex EMEA
(www.hp-interex.com), and ITUG (www.ITUG.org) jointly announced today
their intent to consolidate to form the pre-eminent worldwide
community of users of enterprise HP products and services.

Together, Encompass, HP Interex EMEA and ITUG will become the
leading independent association for peer-networking and professional
development, as well as for the exchange of information about HP´s
technologies and related solutions that are deployed in the
enterprise.

"Our intent in pursuing this new unified organization is to bring
value to the entire HP community by creating expanded user group
member benefits and relevant content," said Nina Buik, president of
Encompass. "We believe that with this stronger worldwide
representation, we will be able to greatly improve our member and
partner programs, and deliver greater value to all our
constituencies."

Scott Healy, chairman of ITUG, said, "The leaders of ITUG, HP
Interex EMEA, and Encompass are committed to preserving the culture
and community spirit that exists within each of our platform-focused
groups around the world today. We see this as a positive impact on our
current user group members and partners, and we are confident that
they will embrace a new, unified organization because of the
tremendous value it will deliver."

Henk Pomper, president of HP Interex EMEA, said that his
organization looks forward to better serving European IT professionals
as a result of the consolidated organization. "Leveraging the combined
insight and experience of HP users and partners from around the globe
will be a key differentiator for this new organization," said Pomper.
"It will enable us to facilitate connections and solution sharing
among members regardless of where they live and work."

Encompass, HP Interex EMEA and ITUG are IT industry leaders known
for advocacy, information sharing, and education among enterprise
users. In their own way, each organization has worked closely with HP
to provide user feedback, enhance product capabilities, and improve
the overall customer experience for users of HP´s industry-leading
commercial technologies.

The combined Encompass/HP Interex EMEA/ITUG organization will
feature new membership offerings and will operate under a new name
that has not been determined yet. The merger is contingent upon voting
of the memberships of the current organizations, which will take place
this spring. The new organization plans to automatically honor any
existing memberships for the new organization, according to the
current groups´ leaders.

About Encompass

Encompass is an independent, customer-run user group with a
strategic business partnership with HP. This community of IT
professionals deliver information technology solutions for complex and
multi-system computing environments, focusing on the HP (and legacy
Compaq and Digital) technologies, including HP-UX, Enterprise Storage,
Enterprise Unix, OpenVMS, Linux and Windows. The organization promotes
the unimpeded exchange of information by providing members with
professional development programs, technical training, information
exchanges, advocacy programs and networking opportunities. Encompass
is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, USA. To learn more about
Encompass, visit www.encompassUS.org.

About ITUG

ITUG is an international independent, non-for-profit, user-run
organization of more than 3,500 members representing more than 800
companies that serves as a key vehicle for the exchange of information
about HP´s NonStop(TM)-related solutions and services. ITUG provides
the information and resources its members need to conduct business in
HP´s open system environment and maximize the best software and
architectures available from alliance partners and developers. Today,
ITUG focuses as much on future applications as on current operational
efficiencies, including interoperability and interconnection. This
focus enables ITUG members to wield more direct influence than ever.
To learn more about ITUG, visit www.itug.org.

About HP Interex EMEA

Representing the largest network of HP customers in Europe, the
Middle East and Africa (EMEA), HP-Interex EMEA empowers HP
professional users through advocacy, information and networking.
HP-Interex EMEA is a not-for-profit volunteer-based association
uniting about 35,000 HP professional users in over 45 countries. For
more information, please visit www.hp-interex.com.