CrossKeys Brings Quality and Reliability to IP Networks in Newest Software Release.

Business Editors

KANATA, ONTARIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 23, 2000

CrossKeys Resolve software provides unique method to measure and

assure IP networks, vital for growth of eCommerce and other Internet

applications.

Worldwide Webcast at 1 pm ET today:

Go to www.crosskeys.com & follow webcast link

CrossKeys Systems Corporation (NASDAQ: CKEY)(TSE: CKY.) today announced its newest software release that bridges the trust barrier hindering business from widespread use of Internet Protocol (IP) networks for mission-critical applications. CrossKeys Resolve(r) 4.0 software demonstrates and manages quality of service for applications running over IP networks by correlating information across different vendors, technologies, platforms and providers.

Business customers see the value in IP networks. IP networks are cheap and everywhere. IP's downside is the inherent unpredictability of IP traffic. Unlike other technologies for sending information around the world, IP can take different routes between destinations and this unpredictability makes it hard to monitor and manage. Therefore, big business customers are reluctant to trust their inter-office financial systems and other mission-critical applications to a network that cannot deliver guaranteed service, even if it is cheaper. However, if you can monitor how IP is operating on your network, you can extend guarantees for services based on IP.

CrossKeys uniquely analyzes IP quality of service. Other methods poll individual devices in a network, essentially producing a ream of snapshots to infer the health of the network. CrossKeys takes data from one network element and correlates it with another element, and through this association, creates the effect of a moving picture of network activity, rather than the series of static snapshots.

Through advanced calculations and the existing strength of its data warehousing, CrossKeys can show how paths between two points inside the network are operating. This association can be replicated for numerous points in a network, and this "web of data points" captures the elusive answers to how the network is truly performing, and where are the problem areas.

"The Internet is a communications and commercial medium. If the underlying message of that medium is unpredictability, can a company trust business operations to it?" asks Ian McLaren, President and CEO, CrossKeys. "Our newest software release allows a service provider to measure and assure the quality of IP networks. Real acceptance and growth in VPNs, Internet Telephony, eCommerce and every other Internet killer application depend on quality guarantees and SLAs. Eventually, Internet services have to gain respectability. Here it is."

In addition to its unique ability to capture what is really happening in an IP network, CrossKeys software brings other significant attributes to the table. It links the customer's experience of Internet applications with the network that underpins this service. For example, a customer service to transmit end of quarter data from remote offices depends on commitments to ensure network paths are available at a specified time. This means that a service provider with CrossKeys software can respond to red lights in a customer's service by drilling down to find the clogged device in the network that caused the problem.

CrossKeys integration with service set-up and billing systems is another major attribute, and one that demonstrates how quality of service can make the service provider more money. Typically, Internet services are billed by the clock. So many hours equals so many dollars. But business will pay for guaranteed bandwidth and transmission. Before you can set up such services and bill for them, you have to show that you delivered them.

"We are moving from the Wild West days of the Internet economy into a more mature phase," says McLaren. "Every dotcom business out there will live and die on whether the Internet can deliver customers who enjoy their experience. Quality of service is what makes this experience reliable and consistent."

About CrossKeys

CrossKeys Systems Corporation (www.crosskeys.com) develops software that makes the Internet work for business. Over 200 of the world's largest and most demanding service providers manage the equipment and traffic end-to-end on their telecom networks with CrossKeys.

CrossKeys Systems Corporation is a public company whose common shares are listed for trading on Nasdaq (CKEY) in the United States and on the Toronto Stock Exchange (CKY) in Canada. CrossKeys and logo are registered trademarks of CrossKeys Systems Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders and are acknowledged by CrossKeys Systems Corporation.