BetaSphere Names Former IBM Executive Robert J. Puskar President and CEO.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 7, 2001

Company Strengthens Management Team with New VP of Sales & Services,

VP of Finance, VP of Engineering

and VP of Strategic Direction & Marketing

BetaSphere, the leading provider of software and services that enable customer-centric product development, today named Robert J. Puskar president and chief executive officer. Other executive changes include the addition of John Hancock as vice president of sales and services, and Naresh Dhar as vice president of finance. Phil Davis, formerly BetaSphere's vice president of sales and marketing moves into a new role as vice president of strategic direction and marketing, and Dennis Yee, formerly director of engineering, has also been promoted to vice president of engineering.

"Bob brings high-caliber industry experience and leadership that will drive BetaSphere's vision and strategic direction in providing the next generation of solutions that enable customer-centric product development," said Jim Roberts, principal at JPMorgan Partners, a BetaSphere investor. "With these newest members to round out the senior management team, BetaSphere is well-positioned to execute its growth strategies and further expand its investments in product development, engineering, marketing and sales."

A 32-year veteran of the high-tech industry, Puskar has extensive experience in management, finance, sales, and operations over the course of his 30-year tenure at IBM Corporation. At IBM's Technology Group, he expanded the company's strategic alliances in the consumer and Internet appliance arenas as a vice president of new markets. Prior to this position, he was a general manager for North America sales and marketing for IBM's printing systems division, a position he took after establishing a new IBM U.S. trading area in Arizona as general manager. Most recently, Puskar was president and CEO of software startup Rulebase, Inc., where he successfully positioned the sale of the company to a major client.

"With its impressive marquee customer base, solid financing and market opportunity, BetaSphere has realized a tremendous amount of success in a very short time. I'm very excited to join such a talented team and look forward to taking the company to the next level," said Puskar.

Also joining BetaSphere's senior management team is John Hancock, vice president of sales and services. Previously, Hancock was VP of global support services for Visual Networks, a network management technology company. Prior to that, he was VP of operations and professional services for Inverse Network Technology, a network management software company based in Sunnyvale, CA. From 1984 to 1998, Hancock held a number of different sales and operations management positions at Electronic Data Systems (EDS), including director of its High Tech Business Unit from 1991 to 1998.

Before joining BetaSphere as vice president of finance, Naresh Dhar served as VP of finance at Takira.com, Inc., a digital marketing solutions company. Additionally, Dhar held several financial management positions at Sybase, including controller of worldwide sales before joining Provato, Inc. as director of finance.

Phil Davis, who has served as BetaSphere's VP of sales and marketing since 1999, will transition to VP of strategic direction and marketing. Prior to BetaSphere, Davis was vice president of sales and general manager at Update.com, a leading European CRM vendor.

Dennis Yee, who has been promoted from director to vice president of engineering, has over 20 years of experience in development and engineering. He previously worked as VP of engineering at Support.com, Liquid Inc., and held various product development roles at Hewlett-Packard and Amdahl Corp.

About JPMorgan Partners

JPMorgan Partners (JPMP), formerly Chase Capital Partners, is a global partnership with over $25 billion under management. It is a leading provider of private equity and has closed over 1,800 individual transactions since its inception in 1984. JPMP has more than 160 investment professionals in eight offices throughout the world. JPMorgan Partners' primary limited partner is JPMorgan Chase & Co., (NYSE:JPM), one of the largest financial institutions in the United States. For additional information, please visit their website at www.jpmorganpartners.com.

About GE Equity

GE Equity, a subsidiary of GE Capital, is the private equity arm of GE. GE Capital, with assets of more than US$370 billion, is a global, diversified financial services company grouped into six key operating segments comprised of 24 businesses. A wholly-owned subsidiary of General Electric Company, GE Capital, based in Stamford, Connecticut, provides a variety of consumer services, such as credit cards and life and auto insurance; mid-market financing; specialized financing; specialty insurance; equipment management, and specialized services, to businesses and individuals in 47 countries around the world. GE is a diversified services, technology and manufacturing company with operations worldwide. Additional information can be found at www.geequity.com.

About BetaSphere

BetaSphere is the leading provider of software and services that enable customer-centric product development. BetaSphere's Feedback Management Server(TM) (FMS) platform integrates customer feedback into the development process, enabling companies to increase market acceptance and lower technical risk when introducing new or enhanced products. Over 100 market leading companies including HP, Motorola, Cisco Systems, Federal Express, Excite@Home, iPlanet, Lucent, Xircom, Adaptec, Xerox, Sun, and Palm use BetaSphere solutions to develop the right products - faster, better, and with fewer resources. With headquarters in Palo Alto, California, BetaSphere is a privately held company backed by JP Morgan Partners and GE Equity. For more information, call 650-930-0200 x850 or visit the company's Web site at www.betasphere.com.

Note to Editors: BetaSphere is a registered trademark and the Feedback Management Server is a trademark of BetaSphere, Inc. Other products or company names may be trademarks of their respective owners.