Actional Introduces Initiative to Maximize the Value of Web Services Across the Enterprise; Company Announces New Vision, Products, Customers and Microsoft Agreement.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Web Services Edge East Conference and Expo 2003

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 2003

Actional Corporation, the Web services management market-share leader, today announced a detailed initiative to deliver solutions that allow organizations to minimize the impact of constant change inherent in dynamic enterprise Web services environments. As part of this new initiative, Actional is announcing a series of new products, strategic partnerships and customers, demonstrating its market momentum and ongoing commitment to helping organizations realize the full potential of their Web services deployments.

Managing the Impact of Change

Many organizations are turning to Web services-based service-oriented architectures (SOAs) to enhance their ability to quickly and cost-effectively respond to the business demands of changing market conditions. By doing so, they are able to improve system flexibility and responsiveness while reducing costs. However, as these organizations deploy Web services, they are quickly faced with the challenges of managing loosely coupled, highly dynamic, interdependent networks of services. To truly reap the desired benefits, organizations must avoid the cost and complexity of unmanaged Web services deployments, by managing the impact of change across their entire enterprise service network.

With this in mind, Actional is focused on helping organizations:

-- Understand and visualize -- the interdependencies of the entire enterprise service network

-- Know -- there is a service network problem, or when services deviate from their normal operating range

-- Predict -- the impact of change, by predicting the implications of planned and unplanned services changes across the network

-- Respond -- to planned or unplanned change, to a service or services and distribute policy, rules and behaviors that are automated throughout the network, that are non-invasive and that insulate the impact of ripple effects resulting from change

Actional's Web services management platform provides critical infrastructure that enables organizations to understand the complex interdependencies of their Web services network, identify the root cause of problem areas within the network and actively fix them before they disrupt business.

New Web Services Management Offerings

To deliver on this initiative, Actional is announcing a series of new product offerings that are focused on providing organizations with a unique, proactive approach to managing the impact of change across their entire Web services environment. These include:

-- Actional Looking Glass(TM) Web services management server and

console: A centralized policy server and management console,

Actional Looking Glass enables service administrators to

quickly visualize, understand, monitor and manage complex

service networks while dramatically improving service

availability and performance. With its ability to collect

network performance statistics and alerts as well as formulate

and distribute network-wide policy, Actional Looking Glass

allows organizations to understand the true make-up of a

service network environment (for more details see separate

announcement: Actional Unveils Web Services Management Server

and Console).

-- Actional SOAPstation(TM) 4.0: Actional SOAPstation 4.0 is the

latest version of the company's Web services broker, an active

in-network component that insulates and manages the

interactions between applications that provide Web services

and the systems that consume them. SOAPstation 4.0 provides

users with powerful new features, including improved

performance and integration with the Looking Glass server,

which enables a federated approach to policy distribution and

deployment. Further, SOAPstation 4.0 includes out-of-the-box

integration with single sign-on systems such as Netegrity and

others.

-- Actional Active Agents(TM): Additionally, Actional has

announced the availability of its Active Agent for Microsoft

.NET, as well as upcoming availability of Active Agents for

BEA WebLogic Server and IBM Websphere Application Server.

Actional Active Agents gather runtime statistics and actively

monitor and alert on service activity based on the policy

defined and distributed by the Looking Glass server. Actional

Active Agents are non-intrusive and introduce virtually zero

latency into the service networks.

Strategic Agreement with Microsoft

To help deliver on its commitment in helping customers maximize the value of their Web services deployments, Actional is announcing a strategic technology, consulting, marketing and sales agreement with Microsoft Corporation. As part of the agreement, Microsoft and Actional will jointly market and sell their solutions promoting their combined strengths. In addition, James Phillips, senior vice president of marketing and product management at Actional Corporation, has been selected to participate as a member of Microsoft's Infrastructure Advisory Council (IPAC).

New Customers

Actional has also announced that 10 organizations are participating in the Actional Lighthouse Program, all of which are launching projects that include Actional SOAPstation Service Broker. Actional, along with its Lighthouse customers, are developing a community of practice around the real-world deployment of Web services. Participating companies include: Cara Operations, Charles Schwab, Transclick, SAIC and Verizon.

"At Actional we are deeply committed to providing our customers with the solutions required to keep their Web services environments up and running at optimal levels," said Frank Bergandi, CEO of Actional Corporation. "Our long-standing heritage of delivering enterprise-class solutions, coupled with our patented active-management technologies, has enabled us to create solutions that deliver total visibility, flexibility and active control, allowing organizations to maximize the value of their enterprise Web services deployments."

Availability

The Actional Looking Glass Web services management server and console will be released under controlled availability on March 28, 2003. Both Actional SOAPstation 4.0 and Actional Active Agents will be generally available on March 28, 2003.

For Actional product demonstrations and more information on its new initiative, visit Actional at booth #315 at the Web Services Edge East Conference and Expo 2003. The exhibition will be held at the Hynes Convention Center, in Boston, Mass., from March 19 - 20, 2003. Furthermore, Actional Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Management, James Phillips, will be hosting a Web services management session at the conference on Tuesday, March 18, 2003, from 11:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m., where he will discuss the essential management criteria for growing and sustaining a "mission-critical" service-oriented architecture.

About Actional Corporation

Actional is the Web services management market-share leader, committed to delivering solutions that help organizations avoid the cost and complexity of unmanaged Web services deployments. The company's Web services management platform enables organizations to dramatically reduce the impact of constant change inherent in dynamic enterprise Web services environments. Actional's patented technology provides unmatched visibility, flexibility and active control across the entire Web service network -- ensuring uptime while dramatically reducing the costs of ongoing Web services management. Actional is a privately held company headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices across the US, Canada and Europe. More than 100 of the Global 2000 including AT&T, Cara, Citrix, Sabre, Charles Schwab and Verizon use Actional's products in their mission-critical enterprise environments. Strategic partners include Microsoft, SAP and Oracle.