BullSoft Unites `Brick' and `Click' Environments with New Software that Improves Business Processes Management and IT Service Quality.

Business/Technology Editors

BILLERICA, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 2000

New features in BullSoft's OpenMaster 5.2 software help

organizations boost IT service quality while simplifying system and

network management of both "brick" and "click" business processes

Leading the way in helping customers improve the quality of e-infrastructure services delivered by their IT organizations, BullSoft, the worldwide software division of Bull, announced today Release 5.2 of its widely installed OpenMaster(R) secure e-infrastructure management software.

The new OpenMaster features deliver enhanced business process and service level management capabilities, which provide a single management view of enterprise and e-business applications and their underlying network resources. In addition, powerful new reporting tools improve service level management by providing enterprise-wide metrics and IT business intelligence.

"With today's announcement, Bull is addressing the key issues faced by organizations wrestling to gain competitive advantage in the Internet economy," said Henry Ancona, president of BullSoft. "The OpenMaster 5 2 enhancements help large organizations to better define, deliver and manage a desired level of service to internal and external end users, and will enable them to respond more effectively to the challenges of e-business."

The principal OpenMaster 5.2 enhancements are OpenMaster Report and Network Governor. OpenMaster Report helps organizations to deliver simple summary information as well as the detailed performance metrics, correlations and trends needed for proactive service level management. Network Governor simplifies the management of complex networks and integrates network services into BullSoft's existing Application Governor software for business process management. Organizations now have a consolidated view of the end-to-end IT infrastructure underlying critical operations, which helps both user and technical staff to recognize problems before they disrupt vital business processes.

OpenMaster is helping more than 1,000 organizations around the world to obtain the best value and highest quality service from their IT infrastructures.

"We handle the lifeblood of a telecommunication company -- their billing data. Management, high availability and reliability are critical, said Richard Smith, managing director for Dataphone (UK) Limited "Only OpenMaster can provide us with the necessary tools to fully manage and maintain our customers applications to provide the level of service that they demand."

Announcement Highlights

With OpenMaster 5.2, BullSoft makes the industry's most secure enterprise management solution even more effective and efficient. The new and enhanced features improve the capacity of large organizations to manage service levels and their IT infrastructures as they realign their business process for e-business.

-- The new OpenMaster Report application make it possible to manage service levels with high quality reporting, enabling accurate and timely decisions to be made on the basis of fact. OpenMaster Report provides full enterprise-class reporting of IT metrics, incorporating technology from new partner Business Objects within BullSoft's own powerful collection and integration technologies. OpenMaster Report is extremely easy to use, and provides a series of generic report templates that can be customized for specific, user-defined service reporting situations. The reports can be off-line, scheduled and periodic or even real-time for dynamic service monitoring.

-- The new OpenMaster Network Governor helps users to more effectively manage the networks supporting their critical business processes. Network Governor provides a set of management functions based on a secure, logical, business process view of all network elements affecting the desired deployment, availability and performance of specified applications. Network Governor uses a Web-based, JavaBeans(TM) technology interface for maximum scalability, and provides templates to allow full management control plus easy customization of network components from leading vendor partners, such as Cisco, 3Com and Nortel.

"BullSoft has been a long-standing contributing partner to Sun's Java platform," said Rick Schultz, group product manager, Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition at Sun Microsystems. "We are pleased that, with OpenMaster 5.2, BullSoft has leveraged the benefits of client-side Java by building a JavaBeans user interface for its e-business and enterprise management software."

Additional Features in OpenMaster 5.2

In addition to OpenMaster Report and Network Governor, other improvements available with OpenMaster 5.2 are:

-- Improved scalability through the use of BullSoft's new COACH intelligent agent concentration software, which acts as mid-level manager allowing local consolidation and filtering of information, thus reducing management bandwidth requirements for large networks.

-- New agents using BullSoft's intelligent "open agent" technology make it easier to for system integrators and customers to obtain relevant management information about applications and other IT resources.

-- Application Governor support for Microsoft SQL Server and Informix databases in addition to Oracle, SAP and Sybase.

-- Improved management of Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 environments through the addition of WBEM/WMI (Web-Based Enterprise Management/Windows Management Information) support.

"We are delighted that BullSoft is continuing to enhance OpenMaster's support for Microsoft's data center solutions," said John Knie, industry manager with Microsoft Corp. "Our ongoing relationship with BullSoft benefits our common Windows Server customers by providing a highly secure, scalable and available management solution that meets the demands of organizations in today's e-business environment."

"Technology and marketing contributions from our valued partners are important to our success, because they let our customers manage best-of-breed third-party applications and IT resources using a single management tool, OpenMaster," said Ancona. "Interoperability with products from leading suppliers allows BullSoft and OpenMaster to provide truly comprehensive solutions that help organizations to customize, secure and deploy their e-business processes rapidly with a quick time-to-value that maximizes their competitive advantage."

OpenMaster provides complete deployment, operation, asset and service level management capabilities that also leverage the security policy management strengths of BullSoft's award-winning AccessMaster(R) software. This product line itself was enhanced last month with the addition of a Web SSO (single sign-on) capability and improvements to BullSoft's NetWall distributed software firewall.

Availability and Pricing

OpenMaster Release 5.2 will be available during the second quarter on BullSoft's reference platforms: Microsoft Windows NT, Sun Solaris(TM) and IBM AIX. Prices for Report and Network Governor options start at $12,190 and $8,960, respectively, for management and reporting on up to 100 network components. OpenMaster core services, priced at $22,310, are a prerequisite, and include core services such as network monitoring, alarm management, network discovery and other management functions.

About BullSoft

BullSoft, the worldwide software division of Bull, is a leading vendor of secure enterprise and telecommunications management software (OpenMaster), and enterprise and Internet security management software (AccessMaster).

Based in Billerica, Mass., BullSoft has research and development, sales, marketing and service operations in the U.S., Europe and Asia. For more information on BullSoft and its products, please visit http://www.bullsoft.com or call toll-free at 800/285-5727.

About Bull

Bull is an international IT group that operates in more than 100 countries. In 1999, the company earned revenues of $4.3 billion with over 65% outside of France, its country of origin. Bull's strategy is focused on the Internet and electronic business in three key domains: solutions with consulting and systems integration; infrastructure including Internet-ready enterprise systems, smart cards and software for secure infrastructure management; and managed services for Intranets and e-commerce sites and marketplaces. For more information, visit Bull's Web site: www.bull.com and for the United States, www.us.bull.com.

OpenMaster and AccessMaster are registered trademarks or trademarks of Bull S.A in the US and other countries.

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Solaris, Java, JavaBeans, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

AIX is a registered trademark of IBM and is being used under license.

All trademarks, service marks and company names are the property of their respective owners.

Industry Reaction to BullSoft's OpenMaster 5.2 Announcement

"We handle the lifeblood of a telecommunication company -- their billing data. Management, high availability and reliability are critical. Only OpenMaster can provide us with the necessary tools to fully manage and maintain our customers applications to provide the level of service that they demand."

-- Richard Smith, Managing Director, Dataphone (UK) Limited

"We are delighted that BullSoft is continuing to enhance OpenMaster's support for Microsoft's data center solutions. Our ongoing relationship with BullSoft benefits our common Windows Server customers by providing a highly secure, scalable and available management solution that meets the demands of organizations in today's e-business environment."

-- John Knie, Industry Manager, Microsoft Corp.

"BullSoft has been a long-standing contributing partner to Sun's Java platform. We are pleased that, with OpenMaster 5.2, BullSoft has leveraged the benefits of client-side Java by building a JavaBeans user interface for its e-business and enterprise management software."

-- Rick Schultz, Group Product Manager, Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition, Sun Microsystems

"In order to deliver the very high levels of service that are needed for e-business, companies must have a deep understanding of the business and infrastructure at hand. Our products are renowned for their ability to allow IT organizations to turn raw operational numbers into meaningful information, and to share this information internally or externally with customers and suppliers. We are delighted that BullSoft has chosen our technology to enhance their powerful reporting and management tools."

-- Bernard Liautaud, President and CEO of Business Objects.

"To operate an effective e-business infrastructure, organizations need a comprehensive yet centrally controlled management view of both front-end and back-end resources and applications. This requires collecting data from potentially millions of diverse objects, and then processing them in a consistent manner to support critical business processes. Vendors, such as BullSoft, with proven expertise in deploying highly interoperable intelligent agent technology stand the best change of helping customers implement cost-effective e-business solutions."

-- Richard L. Ptak, VP, Systems & Application Management, Hurwitz Group, Inc.

"E-business is all about managing service delivery and service quality in a fast growing, heterogeneous environment. BullSoft's OpenMaster, with its heritage rooted in the service provider and telco markets, has proven its expertise in these areas for large global implementations. The Network Governor, Application Governor and Report enhancements of OpenMaster 5.2 address critical service level and business process issues faced by ASPs, ISPs and MSPs as well as by large enterprises racing to build and manage highly scalable bricks-to-clicks e-business infrastructures."

-- Elisabeth Rainge, Program Manager, IDC