BMC Software Announces Enterprise Production Management from Microsoft Windows NT.

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 5, 1999--

NT-Based Enterprise Controlstation(R) Provides Enterprise

Management of Production Activities, Enhancing

Application Availability

BMC Software Inc. (Nasdaq:BMCS) today announced added platform support for the Enterprise Controlstation product, a production automation solution that utilizes an intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI) to manage and automate the setup, scheduling, and execution of processes running across multiple platforms. The product, which also runs on UNIX, is now available on Windows NT. Additionally, upcoming versions of the product will support Windows 2000. The Enterprise Controlstation for Windows NT is yet another addition to BMC Software's extensive NT product offerings that ensure the availability, performance and recovery of business-critical applications.

An integral part of the company's production management suite of products, the Enterprise Controlstation provides a consolidated point of control for managing and automating all production activities enterprise-wide. The NT-based GUI reflects the real world relationships of the jobs that are executing, regardless of platform or geographic location. Additionally, this view encompasses all jobs that are being managed by the CONTROL-M(R) production management product, and includes the various business applications that organizations need for daily business processes.

As businesses globalize, the computing environment becomes increasingly complex and distributed, prompting organizations to seek technology solutions that will ensure 24X7 availability of business-critical applications. With its management-by-exception capabilities, the Enterprise Controlstation product reduces system downtime by notifying operators of exception situations and automating the problem resolution process. A consolidated alert window allows users to drill-down to the specific job and its environment, research, and solve the problem. Problem resolution from the Windows NT environment is then applied to any platform through the central control station, resulting in continuous availability of business-critical applications.

"Windows NT continues to advance as a production platform, and many companies consider it a strategic choice. Meanwhile, IT organizations are beset with requests for an increasingly broad systems management charter without benefit of commensurate staff increases. In this situation, a premium is placed upon tools that enable centralized management for functions like job scheduling and backup/recovery, for setting policies, timings, etc., and monitoring progress," said Fred Joy, Senior Research Analyst for The META Group.

"Organizations today are deploying business applications on multiple platforms like Windows NT. We see Windows NT increasingly moving into the enterprise to support business-critical applications and the demand for comprehensive NT solutions rising," said Gary Leibowitz, director of IT Process Automation field marketing for the Americas for BMC Software. "As an industry leader, BMC Software is leveraging the strength of its strong partnerships with both Microsoft and Compaq to deliver comprehensive NT solutions to a very competitive marketplace."

Advanced Production Control and Scheduling Functionality

In an environment that is complicated by diverse platforms and operating systems, numerous applications, frameworks, and ERP applications, batch application management is becoming the main challenge that organizations face for accomplishing business objectives. The Enterprise Controlstation communicates with CONTROL-M executing on multiple operating systems and applications. It effectively manages job scheduling with the following capabilities:

-- Platform independent scheduling definitions. Together with the

CONTROL-M/Desktop product, the Enterprise Controlstation provides

pre-formatted, fill-in-the-blank screens that enable operations

personnel to quickly and easily design their production

environment using Windows NT drag-and-drop capabilities.

Additionally, advanced mechanisms, such as an interactive error

detection for job definitions and validity checking for job

flows, are provided to simplify and reduce the amount of time

spent creating and analyzing job flow relationships. This allows

for rapid batch application implementation.

-- Mass change facility. The business environment is dynamic and

requires that applications be fluid and responsive to changes. To

manage these changes, the Enterprise Controlstation provides

enhanced tools for massive creation and updates. These

capabilities reduce the efforts involved in the maintenance of

definitions.

-- Consolidated point of control. A real-time graphical view

provides enhanced problem resolution capabilities and immediate

error detection. Additionally, all the managed platforms have a

single and consistent interface, reducing the learning curve for

fast implementation.

-- Management-by-exception. Automatic problem detection and

resolution is essential to the continued availability of

applications. The Enterprise Controlstation's

management-by-exception capabilities redefine the standards for

ease-of-use and efficiency in production management. Through the

Global Alerts Server errors are detected and operations personnel

notified via the Enterprise Controlstation, allowing for complete

control over all existing CONTROL-M installations.

-- Cross application dependencies. Business applications are

inter-dependent. As such, defining the integrated relationships

across platforms, systems, and locations ensures optimal

application performance. The Enterprise Controlstation's Global

Conditions Server allows organizations to effectively establish

and automate business application relationships. A flow diagram

displays the business relationship of all the jobs within the

production environment and allows drag-and-drop, point-and-click

functionality for defining the relationships between the jobs

displayed.

-- Result processing. The Enterprise Controlstation provides direct

access to each platform for faster problem resolution. It allows

authorized personnel to view and edit the scripts in a consistent

manner regardless of the file's platform. Additionally, it allows

users to view and analyze the execution results of jobs located

on remote machines, eliminating the need for manual intervention

and improving productivity.

Pricing and Availability

BMC Software's Enterprise Controlstation is generally available with prices starting at $20,055. Prices can vary depending on configuration requirements.

For more information on BMC Software's IT Process Automation products and services, contact the sales department at 800/347-4694. Inquiries can also be directed to the Company's home page at http://www.bmc.com.

About BMC Software

BMC Software is the world's leading provider of management solutions that ensure the availability, performance, and recovery of companies' business-critical applications. We call this application service assurance(TM), and it means that the applications companies and their customers rely on most stay up and running, around the clock. For more than 18 years, the world's leading companies have relied on BMC Software.

BMC Software is among the world's largest independent software vendors, is a Forbes 500 company and is a member of the S&P 500, with trailing twelve month revenues exceeding $1.4 billion. The company is headquartered in Houston, with offices worldwide. For more information, visit BMC Software's Web site at http://www.bmc.com, or please call 800/841-2031 or 713/918-8800.

BMC Software, the BMC Software logos, application service assurance, New Dimension Software, CONTROL-M, CONTROL-M/Desktop, and Enterprise Controlstation are registered trademarks or trademarks of BMC Software, Inc. All other BMC Software product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of BMC Software, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks belong to their respective companies. (c) 1999 BMC Software, Inc. All rights reserved.