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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 15, 2004 Canadian Association of Compaq Users Adopts 'Encompass Canada - An HP User Group' As its New Name The Board of Directors of the Canadian Association of Compaq Users has unanimously approved the decision to adopt 'Encompass Canada - An HP User Group' as the new name for the association. The adoption of the new name is motivated by the association's need to more accurately represent its membership after the merger between HP and Compaq and also the board's decision to align the association with the worldwide "Encompass" name that now represents the growing global family of HP users. This global family started over four decades ago and continues to grow as a worldwide community in excellent health. Ron Catcheside, a Director of the Canadian HP User Group Board, facilitated this important process with his fellow board members and, through his leadership, steered discussions between the Canadian and American chapter presidents, Dave Wilson and Kristi Browder. The discussions between the two chapters began at the Confederation of HP User Groups Spring 2003 meeting in Amsterdam where Catcheside was the facilitator at the meeting. Catcheside had been working with the international user group community for several years in his former role with the HP Customer Liaison Office, where he was responsible for User Group Collaboration and Communication Programs. Dave Wilson, President of the new Encompass Canada said, "Our current user group is strong. The association has transformed itself over the past several years and adapted to the many changes in our industry that has spanned more than 40 years. The name change to reflect the association's alignment with a global community is a testament to our members that the Canadian HP user group continues to move forward. Aligning ourselves with the global Encompass associations, we've joined a worldwide family of enterprise users who, like us, have long-term investments in DIGITAL, Compaq and now Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) technologies. Encompass Canada represents HP's most loyal customers and Encompass Canada is well poised to continue to work together with HP for our mutual benefits." Kristi Browder, President U.S. Encompass said, "We are thrilled to welcome the Canadian user group to our growing Encompass family of global associations that include Encompass US, Encompass New Zealand and Encompass Australia." Some of the benefits to changing the name of the Canadian user group to Encompass include: - One united voice into HP. - Closer collaboration and cooperation between our Encompass community of HP users to create greater value for the benefit of our memberships and valuable feedback into HP. - Better access to regional resources by raising our visibility with HP Americas as a more united front of users. - With our close proximity to Encompass U.S., joint and/or shared activities for the benefit of our membership. - Encompass Canada remains as an independent chapter that represents HP's Canadian users. Any future amalgamation with our U.S. colleagues has not been seen as being beneficial to either user organization. What is important is to work together for the benefit of our respective membership utilizing regional resources as one user community. Encompass U.S. Encompass is a community of IT professionals who 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 U.S. is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, USA. To learn more about Encompass, visit www.encompassUS.org. Encompass Canada Encompass Canada is a national association of IT professionals who have a vested interest in HP technology that include High Performance Systems, Enterprise Storage, Enterprise Services, Windows (and legacy Digital technology OpenVMS and Alpha systems). Encompass Canada promotes technical education and communication exchange between members, HP and its Partners. For further information regarding, please visit http://www.encompasscanada.com For more information please contact: Encompass Canada Anne Murakami annem@communitywerke.com 416.371.0051 Encompass U.S. Tom Manning Tom.Manning@encompassUS.org 312.673.4819 |