FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GATEWAY 2000 announces the E-1000 Platform, targets large volume PC applications

Sub-$1000 networked-centric system is expected to ship in July

NORTH SIOUX CITY, SD, May 21, 1997 - Gateway 2000, Inc. (NYSE, GTW), one of the world's largest direct marketers of personal computers, today announced plans to supply a totally new type of PC targeted at organizational users. The Gateway E-1000, part of the company's newly announced product series for enterprise computing, is specifically designed to provide customers with a low-cost, network-centric PC that lowers their total costs of ownership.

"Our customers want a stable, flexible, low-cost, networked PC to bring automation to areas of their businesses they previously couldn't afford to address. Gateway is pleased to be the first major computer supplier to respond to this challenge. We are very confident the E-1000 represents the pioneer product in a whole new chapter of intelligent enterprise computing," said Ted Waitt, Gateway's chairman and CEO. "The E-1000 has the kind of feature set and value pricing that should appeal to IS managers everywhere. And it's our corporate calling card... a clear statement that Gateway really does mean business."

The E-1000, part of the company's high stability E-Series line, is an entirely new design for Gateway, specifically intended for use in high volume network environments. The standard system configuration includes a 166MHz Pentium processor, 16MB RAM, a 1.2GB hard disk drive, a 3.5" Floppy, 2MB Video RAM, 16 Bit Business Audio and an integrated 10/100 Ethernet. The system also includes two full length expansion slots, one of which is a shared ISA/PCI slot. It also comes standard with a high quality 15 inch monitor, supporting display resolutions up to 1024 x 768. Pricing is based on quantity and starts at $1,249 (with 15 inch monitor) for quantity-1 purchases. System pricing without a display and in large quantities is less than $900. Gateway expects to ship the E-1000 in July.

"We are extremely excited by the flexibility of this product to meet a wide range of corporate needs, especially when coupled with our in-house customization capabilities," said Bill Shea, vice president of Gateway's major accounts organization. "With the E-1000 and other E-series models we can provide virtually the same level of configuration services as a company with indirect distribution, only more cost effectively."

In addition to setting new expectations for PC price and performance, the E-1000 uses state-of-the-art network management features designed to reduce a corporation's cost of ownership. The system is DMI compliant and comes standard with Intel^®'s LANDesk^® Client Manager v3.01 software. Dedicated systemboard hardware supports remote tracking of information like temperature, voltage, and case intrusion. Additionally, the system supports remote "wake up" capabilities over the network. Tools like DMI, Magic Packet Support, and Intel's LanDesk Client Manager 3.01 help network managers reduce the cost of managing large populations of PC's.

"Gateway has always marketed well equipped systems that offer real value, and the E-1000 is another great example." said Dave Berger, director of product marketing. "For comparison, a standard E-1000 without display is well under a $1000, a price we believe offers an industry-leading value proposition. Couple this with our direct supply model and Custom Integration capabilities, and we're confident we can meet almost any company's needs for stable, enterprise level solutions."

Additional information on the Gateway E-1000 and the balance of the E-series can be obtained by calling Gateway Major Accounts at 800-779-2000.

About Gateway 2000
Gateway 2000, Inc. a Fortune 500 company founded in 1985, is a global leader in the direct marketing of PCs. The company, headquartered in North Sioux City, South Dakota, has manufacturing facilities in the United States, Ireland, and Malaysia, and employs over 10,000 people worldwide. Gateway 2000 products and services consistently win top awards from leading industry publications. In 1996, the company shipped 1.9 million systems and reported revenues of $5 billion and net income of $250 million.

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