AperServ Launches SLA Performance Management Services to Enable Enterprises to Proactively Manage Their Third Party Outsourcers.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

VIENNA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 2001

Level of Detail Provided and Unprecedented Automatic SLA Comparison

Feature Enable Lycos, Discovery Channel and Others to Find and

Resolve Problems Quickly and Efficiently

AperServ Technologies (www.aperserv.com) today announced its completely automated Technology Outsourcer Management System (TOM)(TM) to enable enterprises to proactively manage the performance of their third-party outsourcers and service level agreements (SLAs). TOM is the first system to automate the entire SLA management process from pinpointing problems, alerting the appropriate staff and tracking the resolution to automatically comparing performance to SLA thresholds and requesting credits when necessary. TOM's patent-pending technology and flexible architecture gives enterprises the real-time analysis and IT protection they need to enable them to proactively manage their service providers for increased productivity and revenue, and a better managed enterprise.

TOM measures the performance of all outsourced, Internet services including co-location, ad serving, caching, ASP, ISP, MSP, content and data feeds by continuously gathering network, applications and system data at frequent, customizable intervals. For customers who want a complete internal and external view of performance, AperServ also launched today its Technology Internal Management (TIM)(TM) system to measure the performance of internally hosted systems and intranets.

"Enterprises spend millions of dollars on outsourced services and risk losing the same amount when Web sites and networks go down. Yet, most enterprises do not have a detailed view into their performance problems in real-time, or whether the quality of service meets levels guaranteed by their SLA. We developed TOM to bring transparency to the outsourced relationship, and to do so in an automated fashion to make it easier for enterprises to manage their service providers," said Greg Keough, founder and CEO.

"We've used other performance measurement systems in the past, but none have the breadth of detail and features as Aperserv's TOM. With TOM we not only know if our services are available, but we know how they're performing. TOM can automatically open up trouble tickets with our outsourcer when it finds a problem, and give them the detail they need to solve the problem, so our services get back to where they need to be fast," said Jack Gruninger, CTO of BrainBench. "At the same time TOM compares performance problems with our SLA to let me know when performance problems have become SLA violations. That's the kind of information I need to better manage my outsourced services."

Performance Attributed by Outsourcer and Pinpointed to Accuracy

TOM is a Web-based remote service, requiring no hardware or software install or maintenance by the enterprise. TOM is the first system to automatically compare performance problems to SLAs in real-time, and calculates credits when creditworthy events occur. Other key features include:

          --  Pinpoints problems down to the network hop/router and Web
            page component level and attributes problems to outsourcer
            so problems can be resolved quickly and efficiently.

          --  Automatically alerts appropriate staff at the enterprise
            and outsourcer. Alerts can be set based on user
            preferences as well as SLA thresholds, and various degrees
            of escalation can be assigned.

          --  Opens and tracks "trouble tickets" through to resolution.

          --  Provides customizable technical and business reports that
            provide a full life-cycle view of network, application and
            system level performance from the end-user perspective.

In addition to BrainBench other customers announced today include: Lycos Inc. (Nasdaq:LCOS), Discovery Channel and National Geographic.

In a separate release, AperServ announced today a suite of services enabling xSPs (ISPs, MSPs, ASPs) to automatically manage the performance of their services, proactively share performance data with their customers and offer a competitive differentiating service that measures the performance of their customers' outsourcers.

Pricing and Availability

TOM and TIM are available immediately at a monthly service fee starting at $1,500. AperServ is offering a free 60-day trial. Interested parties can email [e-mail].

About AperServ Technologies Inc.

AperServ (www.aperserv.com) was founded in 2000 to help enterprises and service providers ensure higher revenues, optimal productivity, and quality user experiences by automatically managing the network, system, and application performance and proactively measuring Service Level Agreements. AperServ's founders Greg and Tim Keough previously founded ZonaFinanciera.com, the leading financial services and ASP technology platform for financial institutions in Latin America and raised over $42 million from leading institutional investors. Prior to that, they co-founded Virtual Loan Corporation (VLC), an online loan platform for Fortune 500 financial institutions. AperServ is privately held and headquartered in Vienna, Va. Investors include Walker Ventures, Lycos Ventures and private investor Ed Horowitz.