Independent Patch Management Product Analysis Gives PATCHLINK UPDATE 6 an 'Excellent' Ranking.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 2004

PatchLink(TM) Corp.'s PATCHLINK UPDATE(TM) 6 has received an "excellent" ranking as reported in a product comparison conducted by ArcSec Technologies, a provider of independent, third-party analyses of security technologies and products. PatchLink commissioned the study of patch and vulnerability management software products in an effort to provide a fair and independent analysis of the leading, pure-play patch management products available today. PatchLink will make the completed study available to its customers by mid-June.

According to Mandy Andress, CISSP, CPA, president of ArcSec Technologies, "Overall, PATHCHLINK UPDATE 6 is the best patch management product on the market based on our evaluation and testing."

"Over the past eight months, several dynamics -- including product availability -- have contributed to the rankings and scores cited by various industry publications," said PatchLink CEO Sean Moshir. "As the pioneer and leader of the patch management space, it is imperative that we give our customers a true and unbiased understanding of the key product differentiators and benefits, delivered by an organization that comprehends customer needs and nuances of patch and vulnerability management. This isn't a study, award or product ranking influenced by vendor, advertising or Internet click-throughs."

PatchLink Corp. was concerned by the below-average grade that Network Computing recently gave all of the key vendors in the category of patch management. "PatchLink and its competitors are providing full solutions that are saving large and small businesses worldwide millions of dollars a year," explained Moshir. "Our concern for the below average 'C' grade Network Computing gave to BigFix Patch Manager 4.0, Ecora Patch Manager 3.0, PATCHLINK UPDATE 5.0 and St. Bernard UpdateEXPERT 6.0 is that it might dissuade IT security professionals from deriving the benefits of patch management."

Moshir continued, "Moreover, several areas of consideration that are important for those serious about tackling problematic patch-related issues have not been given proper emphasis in these reviews, such as: pre-tested patches (roll-back avoidance); patch availability, integrity and security; enterprise management (remote monitoring, role-based management, redundancy, scalability); and policy-based scheduling and baselines."

Underscoring the third-party nature of the ArcSec analysis, PatchLink notes that the firm's findings also indicate a need for improved reporting in PATCHLINK UPDATE.

"Reporting and effectively communicating findings are critical components of any systems management software tool including patch management," said Moshir. "Several patch management vendors need more focus on this area including PatchLink. It is our intent to put more emphasis on improved CXO-level reporting in the next version of PATCHLINK UPDATE."

About PatchLink Corp.

Consistently ranked by industry experts as the proven leader in patch management, PatchLink Corp. (www.patchlink.com) celebrates enterprise security success since 1991. With a strong reputation for providing the IT community with unparalleled network and security management software products, today PatchLink's software is installed on millions of nodes worldwide. PATCHLINK UPDATE(TM) is the company's security-centric, cross-platform patch and vulnerability management software product. Through automatic and accurate detection of patch-related vulnerabilities, PATCHLINK UPDATE provides efficient and flexible remediation according to company policies and baselines across all enterprise platforms and boundaries.

(C)2004 PatchLink Corp. All rights reserved. PatchLink, the PatchLink logo, and the PatchLink product names and logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of PatchLink Corp. In addition, other companies' names and products mentioned in this document, if any, may be either registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.