Covalent Technologies Releases Enterprise Ready Server 2.1; New Version of Covalent ERS Allows Windows Users to Install a Highly Manageable Web Server in Minutes.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NetWorld+Interop 2002 Las Vegas

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- May 7, 2002

Today at the Networld + Interop conference, Covalent Technologies announced Enterprise Ready Server (ERS) 2.1, the first Apache Web server product optimized for the Windows operating system, resulting in a highly manageable, high performing and secure alternative to Microsoft's IIS Web server. Using Covalent ERS, customers will be able to install all major components of a Web server in minutes. Traditionally it has taken multiple days for a system administrator to deploy Apache. Covalent's Enterprise Ready Server 2.1 is available today.

Support for Windows is significant for enterprise customers who wish to use Apache as their Web server of choice. With Covalent ERS, customers are now able to deploy Apache from one central management console across all major platforms, resulting in lower costs of ownership and reduced management complexity. According to industry studies, Apache is the world's most widely used Web server.

Higher Performance, Easier Management on Windows

Previous versions of Apache on Windows were not performant and difficult to manage. Covalent ERS is an enterprise solution that solves both the performance and manageability issues.

Performance

Covalent ERS 2.1 is based on Apache 2.0, and thus takes advantage of its Apache Portable Runtime (APR) for dramatically improved performance on Windows. Apache APR uses native calls whenever possible. On Windows this advantage has provided Apache with a major performance boost. Covalent has further refined its own proprietary elements of Covalent ERS to promote security, performance and reliability on the Windows operating system.

Management

Covalent ERS includes the Covalent Management Portal. CMP provides enterprises with a robust set of management functionality, previously unavailable for Apache in Windows environments. Highlights of CMP include: consolidated view of server resources, access controls, deployment, configure, control, monitoring, historical activity reports, and server activity alerts. Covalent ERS has brought Apache's manageability on par with Microsoft's IIS, offering users a secure alternative that can handle all of their Web serving needs.

In this release, Covalent ERS also offers users a Single Server Edition designed to streamline set-up for those customers who wish to deploy on only one machine.

New Features in 2.1

Covalent Enterprise Ready Server includes the first one-to-many graphical management tool for deploying and managing Apache Web servers, a J2SE application server and enhanced security and reliability features. The combination of these features results in the first "enterprise ready" solution for the Apace Web server.

New features of Covalent Enterprise Ready Server 2.1 include:

-- Manageability - Covalent's Enterprise Ready Server lowers the cost of
managing and maintaining complex Internet infrastructures through the advanced
Covalent Management Portal (CMP), a centralized management tool for deploying,
configuring, controlling and monitoring Apache Web servers and virtual hosts. A
single administrator can now manage, configure, and install hundreds of Web
servers and virtual hosts located in dozens of data centers from a central
location.

-- Security - Covalent ERS utilizes the most secure SSL encryption technology
available -- the RSA B-safe libraries. Covalent ERS enhances Apache's standard
authentication and authorization capabilities. It combines the most requested
functionality of several authentication modules and provides a rich set of
authentication options, including ANON, DB, Oracle, LDAP, NIS and several
others.

-- Reliability - Covalent's Logging Services provide the first real-time,
shared infrastructure environment for monitoring and analyzing Web usage.
Covalent Logging Services makes it easy to get a complete and consolidated view
of multi-server environments, no matter where the servers reside. The Logging
Service also ensures data integrity across restarts and downtimes.

Benefits of Covalent Enterprise Ready Server 2.1

Covalent has focused its efforts on enhancing the already powerful Apache 2.0 platform in three key areas: manageability, security and reliability. The benefits of these enhancements include:

-- Manageability - Covalent's Enterprise Ready Server lowers the cost of
managing and maintaining complex Internet infrastructures through the advanced
Covalent Management Portal (CMP), a centralized management tool for deploying,
configuring, controlling and monitoring Apache Web servers and virtual hosts. A
single administrator can now manage, configure, and install hundreds of Web
servers and virtual hosts located in dozens of data centers from a central
location.

-- Security - Covalent ERS utilizes the most secure SSL encryption technology
available -- the RSA B-safe libraries. Covalent ERS enhances Apache's standard
authentication and authorization capabilities. It combines the most requested
functionality of several authentication modules and provides a rich set of
authentication options, including ANON, DB, Oracle, LDAP, NIS and several
others.

-- Reliability - Covalent's Logging Services provide the first real-time,
shared infrastructure environment for monitoring and analyzing Web usage.
Covalent Logging Services makes it easy to get a complete and consolidated view
of multi-server environments, no matter where the servers reside. The Logging
Service also ensures data integrity across restarts and downtimes.

Apache 2.0

Covalent Enterprise Ready Server is based on the secure and flexible Apache 2.0 platform. Apache 2.0 is HTTP 1.1 compliant and includes support for distributed authoring and versioning; proxying and caching; IP and named-based virtual hosting; and Java, Perl, and PHP applications. Apache 2.0 also contains a completely new and innovative internal processing architecture. Apache's Multi Processing Module (MPM) lets administrators choose between a stable parent-child process model and a hybrid prefork/threaded model.

What's Included

Covalent Enterprise Ready Server 2.1 includes the complete binary for Apache 2.0, Tomcat 4.0 Java server, Covalent Management Portal, Covalent UserTrack, Covalent Logging Services, Covalent Authorization and Authentication Services, Covalent SSL, SNMP support, PHP and mod_Perl. FTP support is available as an add-on to the product.

Platforms, Pricing and Availability

Covalent ERS ships on Solaris, Linux, HPUX and Windows for $1,495 per CPU. Covalent Enterprise Ready Server is available today from Covalent's direct sales force at 800/444-1935 or at Covalent's web site at www.covalent.net.

About Covalent Technologies, Inc.

Covalent is the leading provider of enterprise management solutions for the Web server. Founded in 1998, Covalent has developed a comprehensive Web server solution offering enhanced security, reliability and manageability. Funded by leading venture capital investors including Sequoia Capital, Menlo Ventures and Granite Ventures, Covalent is the only company offering a comprehensive suite of products, services and support for Apache. Companies such as Lucent Technologies, Dow Jones and others depend on Covalent for their Web Server infrastructure. More information about the company can be found at www.covalent.net.

Note to Editors: All Covalent product names are trademarks of Covalent Technologies, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.