Micromuse Joins IBM's Project eLiza Initiative; Netcool Management Solutions Move the IT Industry Toward Self-Managed Enterprises.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 24, 2002

Micromuse Inc. (Nasdaq: MUSE), the leading provider of service and business assurance software, announced today that it has joined IBM's Project eLiza(TM) initiative through the self-managing category of IBM eServer Tools Network.

IBM introduced Project eLiza as part of a broad-reaching initiative to incorporate self-managing capabilities throughout its suite of servers and to deliver self-managing solutions to its customers as part of its company-wide autonomic computing drive. IBM previously issued a grand challenge to industry, government and university research organizations to make IT infrastructures more self-managing, and is inviting IT providers that meet the qualifications of Tools Network, including Micromuse, to help advance Project eLiza.

"The Netcool(R) realtime end-to-end IT management solution makes Micromuse an ideal Project eLiza partner," said IBM's Sandy Haydon, Program Manager for Tools Network. "The Netcool suite's ability to identify and resolve problems in the IT infrastructure before business downtime occurs is a crucial capability of self-managing systems. We are pleased to welcome Micromuse to the program."

"With its innovative Project eLiza initiative, IBM's strategy is to foster the development of self-managing systems that will reduce the cost and complexity of managing the IT infrastructure," said Darin Layman, Director, Micromuse Alliance Program. "This leverages one of the fundamental principles of our Netcool software solution - an off-the-shelf realtime system that consolidates the management of the IT infrastructure onto one console. Within Project eLiza, this capability will help IBM toward its goal of a single, unified enterprise computing system."

Micromuse is well positioned to meet the Project eLiza challenge with its Netcool service and business assurance software solutions. The Netcool solution is implemented according to business policies and is founded on self-managing principles, including the ability to support self-configuring, self-healing, self-optimizing and self-protecting IT infrastructures.

Micromuse's Netcool solutions run on AIX, Linux and Windows operating systems and are commonly used to manage IBM Web hosts, workstations, servers, iSeries and zSeries systems.

About IBM eServer Tools Network

Through a new Self-Managing Systems category of Tools Network, IBM is now engaging solution developers in the delivery of middleware tools and products in support of the heterogeneous self-management initiative as defined by Project eLiza. This is the first level of a multilevel partner program that will be made available for solution developers and application providers.

For more information about Project eLiza, please visit http://www.ibm.com/servers/enable/tools.

About the Netcool(R) Suite

Micromuse's Netcool(R) software suite provides businesses with the assurance that their networks, services and applications are working. By allowing our customers to see what's happening throughout the infrastructure in realtime, Netcool applications enable them to respond to problems before they cause network-based business services to go down.

Netcool suite applications install out-of-the-box, deploy rapidly and scale as networks grow. Micromuse's flagship, Netcool/OMNIbus(TM) application, includes a library of off-the-shelf software modules that allow our customers to collect and consolidate fault information from more than 1,000 environments spanning voice and IP, cable/broadband, switches and routers, and enterprise management systems.

About Micromuse

Micromuse Inc. (Nasdaq: MUSE) is the leading provider of service and business assurance software. Micromuse's recent list of awards includes the Crossroads A-List Award for Best IP Network Diagnosis Product for the Netcool(R)/Visionary(TM) application. In addition, Micromuse was recently recognized in the Forbes 500, Bloomberg's Tech 100, the Barron's 500, the Business Week Info Tech 100, Deloitte & Touche's Technology Fast 500, the San Francisco Chronicle 500 and Network World's NW200. Micromuse customers include AT&T, BT, Cable & Wireless, Charles Schwab, Deutsche Telekom, Digex, EarthLink, GE Appliances, ITC DeltaCom, J.P. Morgan Chase, T-Mobile and Verizon. 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.