HOUSTON, TX -- A new report of enterprise storage area network (SAN) management solutions determines that Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) exceeds many of its major competitors, ranking number one in study criteria including program completeness, services and return on investment. The report conducted by D.H. Brown Associates provides a comprehensive review of the SAN management offerings of Compaq, IBM and SUN Microsystems in the context of how SAN fits into wider enterprise issues. It is written from the point-of-view of IT managers who scour available products to identify what is best for their organizations. "The D.H. Brown report provides detailed insight as to why Compaq is the fastest growing major storage software vendor in the market today," said Mark Sorenson, vice president of Compaq Enterprise Storage Group's Storage Software and Solutions division. "Our SANworks products are clearly providing customers more of what they need from their storage management software vendor -- superior technology, an integrated architecture and an intense focus on investment protection and ROI." D.H. Brown concluded that Compaq's ENSA architecture is the most well defined and comprehensive as both a technical and business-oriented architecture. It describes Compaq's SANworks product suite as the most complete and its solutions as well integrated. Compaq has most clearly defined its intent with its SAN management program and its customer objectives, say the report authors. The study notes that Compaq has clearly identified ROI as an objective. Compaq's SAN Business Value Tool provides methodology for combining cost, technology, and business modeling to predict value of infrastructure change to business results. "The D.H. Brown report findings are further validation that Compaq delivers value through simplified storage management solutions and customer investment protection, said Mark Lewis, vice president and general manager, Compaq Enterprise Storage Group. "As the world's leading SAN supplier, Compaq is redefining enterprise storage, making management simpler and more cost effective as we also demonstrate the SAN's burgeoning preeminence over legacy mainframe-architected storage. As management software emerges as the increasingly vital component of SANs, Compaq will continue to lead the industry in vision and execution." The D.H. Brown analysis found that IT managers are focused on supporting business growth within the broader context of fitting IT into the corporate structure. This encompasses such demands as speeding time-to-market, consistently delivering high quality, lowering the cost of production, enhancing productivity, reducing complexity, supporting high-speed web services and competing in a global market. "While SAN management is still in its formative stage, Compaq already has integrated its elements to an impressive extent," said John Young, chief analyst for D.H. Brown Associates. "The criteria that define excellence in this important storage arena are coming into sharp focus. Improving SAN manageability is one of the most critical of these emerging criteria." For more information visit www.compaq.com