CNE Telekommunikation Selects Micromuse's Netcool Suite.

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

CeBIT 2001

Hall 11, Booth F50

HANNOVER, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2001

The Netcool(R)/OMNIbus(TM) Application Provides German Carrier With

Service Assurance For Voice, Internet And Data Offerings

CeBit 2001, Hall 11, Booth F50 -- Micromuse Inc. (Nasdaq:MUSE), the leading provider of realtime fault management and service assurance software, today announced that CNE Telekommunikation has selected the Netcool(R) suite as the core component to help manage service availability for its telephony, Internet and data services.

CNE Telekommunikation is a regionally based service provider located in the heart of Germany's emerging industrial region, the Ruhrgebiet (NRW). CNE Telekommunikation's portfolio includes telephony, high-speed connection, a selection of Internet service options and specialized consultancy services, targeting domestic and business customers, and carrier-to-carrier pipelines.

"To serve our customer needs, we required a software solution to help us consolidate the various network elements and systems we have in place, and provides service-based views of the entire network," said Dipl. Ing. Karsten Jagusch, manager of the operations center at CNE Telekommunikation. "Micromuse's Netcool suite will also facilitate reduced operational costs for our 24 by 7 monitoring. In addition, we achieved further cost savings as Micromuse enables us to consolidate on a single partner for installation, integration and support."

Following a successful proof of concept pilot project and competitive analysis of the available technologies, CNE Telekommunikation selected Micromuse's flagship Netcool/OMNIbus(TM) application, along with the Netcool/Internet Service Monitors(TM) (Netcool/ISMs(TM)) suite, to help maintain the availability and reliability of its offerings of telephony and IP-based applications.

As the central application in CNE Telekommunikation's management of voice and Internet service performance, the Netcool solution collects and consolidates faults from various devices to provide a realtime, consolidated view of its service offerings. CNE is implementing the Netcool/OMNIbus application to help provide realtime, end-to-end assurance of services. CNE Telekommunikation is also deploying Micromuse's Netcool/ISMs suite, which are monitoring the availability and response times of its Internet based services.

"We are delighted to have found a partner in a region of Germany where a great many business and residential customers are concentrated," said Lou Steinberg, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Market Development, Micromuse. "We are looking forward to helping CNE Telekommunikation differentiate their services as they battle for customers in this highly competitive market for high-speed, high-quality services."

About the Netcool(R) Suite

Micromuse's Netcool(R) software suite collects management data from more than 300 management environments and network devices, including voice, data and Internet. Fault data is rapidly processed and filtered by the Netcool ObjectServer(TM), an in-memory database. The Netcool suite helps operators to build views of service availability in realtime, helping them manage networks more efficiently. Because it is scalable and deploys rapidly, the Netcool suite helps service providers expand their networks as their markets grow.

About CNE Telekommunikation

CNE Telekommunikation is a regional carrier based in Essen, providing a range of services to domestic and business customers, plus carrier-to-carrier services. CNE Telekommunikation specialises in services that are of the Region, for the Region, and reaching the whole world. Services provided include low-tariff telephone calls, Internet and data services for all of Essen's residential population and businesses.

About Micromuse

Micromuse Inc. (Nasdaq: MUSE) is the leading provider of realtime fault management and service assurance software. Micromuse's recent list of awards include the TeleStrategies OSS Excellence Award for Best New Product for the Netcool(R)/Visionary(TM) application and Web Hosting Magazine Editor's Choice Award. In addition, Micromuse has been recognized in the Forbes 500, Bloomberg's Top 100 Stocks, the Barron's 500, Deloitte & Touche's Technology Fast 500 and the San Francisco Chronicle 500. Micromuse customers include AT&T, BT, Cable & Wireless, Cellular One, Charles Schwab, Deutsche Telekom, Digex, EarthLink, GTE, ITC^DeltaCom, MCI Worldcom, XO Communications, One2One, PSINet and a number of financial investment concerns. Headquarters are located at 139 Townsend Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94107; [phone]. The Web site is at www.micromuse.com

Micromuse and Netcool are registered trademarks of Micromuse Ltd. All other trademarks and registered trademarks in this document are the properties of their respective owners. Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on current expectations, but are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties.

The factors that could cause actual future results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements include the following: fluctuations in customer demand, the Company's ability to manage its growth (including the ability to hire sufficient sales and technical personnel), the risks associated with the expansion of the Company's distribution channels, the risk of new product introductions and customer acceptance of new products; the rapid technological change which characterizes the Company's markets, the risks associated with competition, the risks associated with international sales as the Company expands its markets, and the ability of the Company to compete successfully in the future, as well as other risks identified in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission Filings, including but not limited to those appearing under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and on Form 10-K on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on the Company's Web site.