PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 3, 2004 -- HP today announced that 7-Eleven, Inc., the world's largest convenience retailer, has deployed HP technology in 5,300 U.S. locations.

The five-year, $55 million rollout schedule comprises more than 5,000 custom, factory-bundled technology packages and on-site installation to help 7-Eleven become an Adaptive Enterprise. By synchronizing business and information technology (IT) in order to capitalize on change, 7-Eleven can improve service for its 6 million daily customers across the country.

HP Services' customer support organization, the largest IT support organization in the world, deployed the technology and will provide support services across HP products, including servers, storage, networks and printing devices. By reducing operating and acquisition costs and increasing efficiency and productivity from products and services, HP will help 7-Eleven maximize its return on IT investment.

"HP technology helps us to differentiate ourselves from other retailers in the way we run our stores, select and distribute products, work with suppliers, serve customers and communicate to our key stakeholders," said Keith Morrow, chief information officer, 7-Eleven. "With this new, reliable technology we can stay ahead of constantly changing business conditions, analyze customer trends and jump on new business opportunities."

The new technology supports 7-Eleven's Retail Information System (RIS), streamlining its product traffic management process and allowing store operators to use in-store computers to re-order best-selling inventory and remove slow-moving items from store shelves. A typical 7-Eleven store, carrying about 2,500 different items, can now better tailor its inventory to meet customer demand.

"Hot dogs, taquitos, bottled water and soft drinks are popular items sold in our store, while energy drinks, and health and beauty products are not," said Walter Rust, a 7-Eleven franchisee, whose store outside of St. Louis caters to construction workers and nearby residents. "Having this technology assures that we stock the inventory my customers frequently ask for. With my new system, I'm not spending as much time pulling sales data, and I can be more innovative in the way I merchandize on an item-by-item basis."

The HP technology driving the RIS project includes industry-standard HP ProLiant servers, printers, monitors, ProCurve Networking by HP switches and a five-year maintenance contract from HP Services.

Each 7-Eleven store in the United States will have a dual-processor HP ProLiant ML330 server running Microsoft Windows(R) Advanced Server 2003, which reduces risk by increasing speed and reliability, and empowers operators to make store-level decisions and customize inventory. The ML330 server is ideal for running sophisticated, small applications and as a platform for single-function solutions.

7-Eleven rolled out a ProCurve Networking Switch 2524 in each of the 5,300 stores, creating a standardized network. Having a consistent nationwide networking platform provides increased ease of maintenance and lower help desk costs, in addition to easing the implementation of future security models such as wireless technology. The company chose ProCurve over other networking providers because of its price-to- performance leadership and lifetime warranty offerings.

7-Eleven also is deriving significant value from HP OpenView Management Suite using Radia solutions to automatically deploy changes and enforce configuration compliance. The solution enables 7-Eleven and other customers building an Adaptive Enterprise to deliver the right software to specific store servers, ATMs and point- of-sale devices, enhancing 24x7 retail operations at a reduced cost.

In order to speed deployment, HP collaborated with 7-Eleven to plan, design and deploy a complete solution by leveraging HP Factory Express, which uses HP's efficient factory systems, processes, services and experienced personnel to create customized technology packages that meet specific business needs. With HP Factory Express, customers such as 7-Eleven are able to choose how their solution is built, tested, shipped and deployed.

"Retailers like 7-Eleven that offer 24-hour convenience, seven days a week, must have a consistent, predictable IT infrastructure, yet one that can be easily adjusted to capitalize on change in their business environment," said Leigh Morrison, vice president, Retail Sales and Solutions, HP. "HP's comprehensive portfolio of configured, customized and integrated solutions and managed services is an ideal fit as 7-Eleven looks to build an Adaptive Enterprise designed to help enhance agility and improve productivity and service."

More information about HP products and services for the retail industry, which address everything from point of sale to back-office operations, is available at www.hp.com/go/retail.

About 7-Eleven

7 Eleven, Inc. is the premier name and largest chain in the convenience retailing industry. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, 7-Eleven, Inc. operates or franchises approximately 5,800 7-Eleven stores in the United States and Canada and licenses approximately 20,500 7-Eleven stores in 17 other countries and U.S. territories throughout the world. During 2003, 7-Eleven stores worldwide generated total sales of more than $36 billion. Find out more online at www.7-Eleven.com.

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended July 31, 2004, HP revenue totaled $78.4 billion. More information about HP is available at www.hp.com.

Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they ever materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including the expected development, performance or rankings of products or services; statements of expectation or belief; and any statement of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the development, performance and market acceptance of products and services and other risks that are described from time to time in HP's Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including but not limited to the risks described in HP's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended April 30, 2004 and reports filed after HP's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 2003. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

(C) 2004 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

HP
Dayna Fried, 949-240-2119
dayna.fried@hp.com
Ryan J. Donovan, 650-857-8410
ryan.j.donovan@hp.com
HP Media Hotline, 866-266-7272
pr@hp.com
www.hp.com/go/newsroom