Concord Communications Redefines Enterprise Performance Reporting With Network Health 4.0.

MARLBORO, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 1997--

Combines Turnkey Automation and Toolkit Flexibility

in a Single Network Analysis and Reporting Solution

Concord Communications(R), Inc. (NASDAQ:CCRD), the leader in Web-based network performance reporting and analysis solutions, today introduced Network Health(R) 4.0. Network Health 4.0 is the first reporting and analysis solution to combine the turnkey enterprise-wide reporting capabilities time-pressed IT executives require with the flexibility many organizations now demand to create their own custom reports. This major upgrade features a graphic interface that leverages Network Health's widely-acclaimed automation and ease-of-use to enable users to generate fully customized reports in minutes.

"It would take hours--even days--to design and generate a single customized report with other network performance products. Network Health 4.0 delivers immediate value by enabling users to zero in on any segment of the network and run a customized report in just minutes," said Kevin Conklin, vice president of marketing for Concord Communications. "Network Health defined the reporting and analysis market with turnkey, automated reports. Now we are raising the bar even higher by combining the best of both worlds, automation and flexibility, in one product. Network Health 4.0 reports on more elements, in more ways, and with more ease and speed than any other performance analysis and reporting solution."

IT managers can use Network Health's new point-and-click report capabilities to quickly select what elements to monitor, the frequency of the report, and even choose the output format--including html, eps, PostScript, ASCII and pdf. Customized trend reports may be distributed via a corporate intranet or scheduled for routine, automated delivery via e-mail to IT and business executives. IT managers can use these new features to pinpoint capacity planning and other performance issues in any segment of their enterprise and distribute the exact information needed to highlight the problem with both the frequency and format that best suits their needs.

"IT managers and service providers have long been forced to choose between automation and flexibility when selecting network performance analysis and reporting tools," said Mark Bouchard, an analyst with META Group. "However, market-leading solutions must deliver at both ends of the spectrum--providing a completely automated alternative for the time-pressed IT professional, as well as extensive customization capabilities for `differentiation-minded' service providers."

Network Health - Developer Program

For advanced enterprise users and service providers who wish to develop fully customized reports for management, customers and non-IT users, Concord also offers the Network Health - Developer Program. This new program allows users to access the vast library of Network Health reports and graphic panels to generate reports specifically designed for their unique business and reporting needs.

The Network Health - Developer Program includes a selection of report formats, a report generation toolkit and training from Concord. A common "Report Definition File" lets users edit any aspect of Network Health's reports with an easy-to-understand, html-like language. Users can define new input sources of configuration and performance data, new report content and formats as well as new analyses, while still leveraging Network Health's patented automation for report scheduling, generation and distribution.

"Service providers can even define customized service level reports that drill down directly to non-Network Health information such as call reports from help desk applications or billing," said Concord's Conklin. "Hardware vendors can offer a competitive differentiator by designing Network Health reports specifically tuned to their devices that plug right into a customer's existing Network Health reporting infrastructure."

"NovaQuest Network Management Group (NNMG) has an interconnected network made up of several customers' enterprise networks. Our customers require different reports for their network or business segments, so it's essential that we are able to easily tailor reports to meet individual customers' needs," said Dale Cabell, manager of Network Management Services at NNMG, a division of NovaQuest Infosystems. "With Network Health 4.0, I can quickly use the GUI interface to design trend reports in minutes that focus on a specific group of servers or frame relay connections. I can then schedule the reports to be automatically distributed to the customers with the exact information they need to make resource allocation and additional IT investment decisions. Concord's comprehensive selection of Network Health modules makes the integration into our ManagePoint services a winner for us and our customers."

Additional Network Health 4.0 Features

Version 4.0 also expands Network Health's industry-leading scalability and performance by:

-- Doubling Scalability to 20,000 elements per console using a

remote polling distribution system to easily support even the

largest enterprises.

-- Tripling Report Generation Speed by simplifying the data storage

process. Network Health 4.0 can generate a complex report on

thousands of enterprise elements in just minutes.

-- Self-Monitoring Performance covering the Network Health servers,

polling agents and databases that hundreds of organizations, ISPs

and service providers now rely on as a critical part of enterprise

management and planning activities.

About Network Health

The Network Health family of analysis and reporting solutions includes LAN/WAN, Frame Relay, Router/Switch, Server, Traffic Accountant and Service Level Reports modules. This award-winning family of solutions shares the same underlying database and acclaimed presentation formats to provide a consistent and fully correlated "total view" of the entire IT infrastructure. The combined suite of Network Health products offers a complete solution, or an incremental migration path for performance analysis and streamlined reporting of an organization's entire client/server infrastructure--from servers to the backbone and wide-area connections.

Pricing and Availaband analysis solutions that provide customers with the information they need to measure the effectiveness of their IT investment. The premier service providers, ISPs contained herein are based on current expectauctuations in customer demand; the Company's abiSecurities and Exchange Comm ission filings, including but not limited to those appearing under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Prospectus dated October 15, 1997.

Concord, the Concord logo and Network Health are registered trademarks of Concord Communications, Inc.

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Christine Washburn

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