Aelita Software Introduces the Most Comprehensive Solution Specifically for Active Directory Restructuring.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 4, 2003

Aelita Enterprise Migration Manager Responds to Need For

ZeroIMPACT(TM) Active Directory Redesign, "Pruning and Grafting" And

Migration

Aelita Software, the experts in secure Active Directory migration and administration, today unveiled a new product that gives IT professionals the power to restructure Active Directory in response to changing business, organizational, or security considerations. The new product, Aelita Enterprise Migration Manager(TM) (EMM), is generally available worldwide today.

"During 2002, there were more than 6,000 mergers and acquisitions in the United States alone, and we believe that the majority of those organizations have Windows-centric IT infrastructures," said Aelita President and CEO Ratmir Timashev. "As movement to Active Directory continues, there will be an ever-increasing need for companies to restructure Active Directory to mirror their constant organizational changes. With Enterprise Migration Manager, Aelita is ready to help."

Aelita customers have expressed interest in a comprehensive product that addresses all aspects of Active Directory restructuring, from planning and analysis through upgrading permissions and SIDHistory cleanup. In addition to corporate changes such as mergers and acquisitions, organizations may need to restructure Active Directory in response to security concerns, regulatory requirements about separation of lines of business, or as part of a planned "second surgery" after an in-place upgrade from Windows NT.

John Enck, Gartner Research vice president and research director, estimates that as many as half of all current Active Directory users did not restructure at the time of their migration from NT, and some of those users are now reconsidering their domain design. He also believes that non-technical issues, such as departmental infighting, can cause a need to restructure AD. "One of the pitfalls we've seen is a failure to account for the political aspects of Active Directory design and deployment," Enck said. "We continue to see heated debates on the topics of organizational unit (OU) vs. domain boundaries, domain vs. forest boundaries, and integration with non-Windows Domain Naming System (DNS) solutions."

Aelita's EMM also helps with ongoing administrative "pruning and grafting" of Active Directory. For example, as employees move within an organization, there is a need to prune and graft their Active Directory information to the appropriate Organizational Unit (OU). Without an automated solution like EMM, using native tools to complete this process-intensive task can be time consuming and error prone.

Organizations moving from Windows Server 2000 to Windows Server 2003 may also take that opportunity restructure Active Directory, and Aelita's EMM is fully compatible with this type of restructuring as well.

EMM can also be used to split AD forests. One beta-test user of EMM, Community General Hospital of Syracuse, New York, combined its network infrastructure with another hospital as part of a healthcare alliance. When that alliance dissolved, the two hospitals faced the challenge of splitting the shared Active Directory, without interrupting service to network users.

"We weren't sure how we were going to accomplish the split until we discovered Aelita Enterprise Migration Manager," said Scott Elia, director of IS for Community General. "With EMM, we were able to create separate Active Directory forests for each hospital and move users and computers from the shared Active Directory into the two new directories. The Aelita solution saved us an incredible amount of time."

About Aelita Software Corporation

Aelita Software specializes in the secure management and migration of Windows-centric IT environments. Aelita's products offer efficient control of Windows, Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange and .NET infrastructures through the secure management of migration and deployment, administration and provisioning, operations and security, and backup and recovery. These technically advanced products are engineered to reduce administrative workload, increase operational security and minimize system downtime. Aelita is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, as well as an HP OpenView Alliance Partner. Aelita Software is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, USA, with offices worldwide. Contact Aelita at 800.263.0036 or visit www.aelita.com.

Editors' note: Pricing information, evaluation copies and screen shots are available upon request by contacting Carrie Reber ([e-mail] or 614.336.9223 ext. 760).