AppIQ Continues to Lead the Charge in Open Standards for Storage Management; Company Chairs DMTF Architecture Working Group.

Business Editors

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 3, 2003

In another move to further the advancement and adoption of the Common Information Model (CIM) and simplify the management of heterogeneous storage networks, AppIQ(TM), the leading provider of enterprise software solutions that enable storage infrastructure to be managed as a utility, today announced that AppIQ Senior Software Architect Jeff Piazza has been named chairman of the Distributed Management Task Force, Inc. (DMTF(R)) Architecture Working Group.

The DMTF Architecture Working Group is responsible for future releases of the CIM Specification, the technology standard upon which the Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S) is based. The Group is responsible for coordinating the overall Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM)/CIM architectures, investigating other technologies such as the XML Metadata Interchange (OMG-XMI) and Meta Object Facility (OMG-MOF) for automating model translation, and defining and clarifying the WBEM management architecture. The Group is also charged with developing and documenting best design and use practices for the CIM Schema.

"We're delighted to have Jeff Piazza of AppIQ chair the DMTF Architecture Working Group," said Jim Turner of Cisco, chairman, DMTF. "Jeff will bring his valuable experience from AppIQ -- architecting infrastructure management solutions around CIM standards and helping further these standards and compliance in the storage industry -- to the team, leading the working group toward new progress in this critical area."

Since its inception, AppIQ's leadership in developing and advancing open standards has been a critical success factor for the company. AppIQ's technology is architected from the ground up using the CIM data model and SMI-S standard, which is one reason why customers such as The Boston Stock Exchange, Nielsen Media Research, and The Weather Channel have selected AppIQ's SAN and storage resource management solutions. AppIQ's standards-based approach results in quicker deployment times, faster support for new CIM-compliant devices, easier-to-use interfaces, greater flexibility, and lower ongoing cost of ownership.

Similarly, independent hardware and software vendors are turning to AppIQ to help shorten development cycles and reduce the costs associated with developing standards-compliant products. AppIQ's CIMIQ software development platform helps storage vendors accelerate the deployment of CIM/WBEM/Bluefin-compliant solutions. CIMIQ customers of AppIQ include Brocade, Hitachi Data Systems, LSI Logic Storage Systems, McDATA, Network Appliance, SGI and Sun Microsystems.

"Complex and heterogeneous storage environments are now commonplace, and establishment of industry standards is the only way that customers will be able to solve their DAS, SAN and NAS interoperability, manageability, and cost challenges," said Ash Ashutosh, Chief Technical Officer, AppIQ. "AppIQ has always been the leader in standardization efforts starting with the Bluefin management interface and, more recently, with our work with the Storage Networking Industry Association's SMI-S standard. We're pleased to continue leading the standards-based management charge with Jeff's chairing of the DMTF Architecture Working Group."

About the DMTF

Distributed Management Task Force, Inc. (DMTF), developer of CIM, is the industry organization leading the development, adoption, and interoperability of management standards and initiatives for enterprise and Internet environments. CIM is the breakthrough standard for the exchange of management information in a platform-independent and technology-neutral way, streamlining integration and reducing costs by enabling end-to-end multi-vendor interoperability in management systems. Key technology vendors and affiliated standards groups that implement CIM enable a more integrated, cost-effective and less crisis-driven approach to management.

Companies interested in joining the DMTF or obtaining more information about DMTF standards and the activities of the DMTF Working Committees should call [phone] or visit the DMTF Web site at www.dmtf.org.

About AppIQ

AppIQ, Inc. provides comprehensive software solutions that enable enterprise IT organizations to simplify the management of storage infrastructure and transform storage complexity into an application-focused storage utility. AppIQ's standards-based SAN and storage resource management solutions are the first to seamlessly integrate physical and logical storage resource discovery, provisioning, reporting, automation, chargeback, asset management and performance analysis with the management of business-critical applications such as Oracle and Microsoft Exchange. Customers that rely on AppIQ's solutions to reduce storage costs, improve IT efficiency and increase business and application availability include industry leaders such as Boston Stock Exchange, Nielsen Media Research and The Weather Channel. AppIQ, based in Burlington, MA, is a privately held firm funded by Matrix Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners, and other investors. For more information, visit www.appiq.com, e-mail [e-mail], or call [phone].

(C) 2003 AppIQ, Inc. AppIQ is a trademark of AppIQ, Inc. in the United States and in other countries. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such.