State of Iowa Workforce Development Selects Boole & Babbage Command MQ to Manage New MQSeries Deployment.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 24, 1999--

Comprehensive MQSeries Management Solution Joins with MainView to

Provide Integrated Management of All Critical Applications

from S/390 to Client/Server

Boole & Babbage, Inc. (Nasdaq: BOOL) today announced that State of Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) has selected the Command MQ solution to manage its new implementation of IBM's MQSeries message-queuing middleware.

In the IWD environment, MQSeries is deployed as the messaging tool to transport data from a wide range of systems into Lotus Notes, which runs the agency's primary business-critical job placement application known as "Common Intake." Command MQ provides the essential capabilities for managing availability of this and other critical MQSeries applications, automating heretofore manual processes, and proactively detecting and correcting problem conditions before service to end users is affected.

Previously, IWD ran most of its line-of-business applications on the mainframe-based CICS application subsystem. According to Carl Martin, IT Specialist for IWD, "For many years, we have used the entire Boole & Babbage MainView suite for automating and managing the systems and applications in our S/390 environment. MainView has allowed us to maintain very high levels of service and availability with its ability to quickly resolve problems."

IWD implemented MQSeries as a means to leverage the vast amounts of information residing on its host-based systems while migrating applications to new client/server platforms. MQSeries manages the flow of messages from many different systems that all play a role in delivering critical data to the agency's service applications.

With the deployment of MQSeries and the shift of some key applications to distributed platforms, IWD was looking to meet the same systems management objectives for its client/server environment as it has achieved with the MainView tools for S/390. "We evaluated various MQSeries management products," said Martin, "and selected Command MQ based upon the strength of the Boole & Babbage technology and its integration with MainView. The integration will allow us to manage MQSeries the same way we manage our other critical applications, such as CICS and DB2."

The IWD IT environment consists of a S/390 mainframe, approximately 40 Windows NT servers, 5 UNIX machines, 1600 Windows desktops, and upwards of 200 Windows NT workstations. The MQSeries middleware is used as the transport mechanism to relay S/390, DB2, CICS, Oracle and VSAM data from the various systems and ensure its delivery to Lotus Notes to run the mission-critical Common Intake application. MQSeries also provides the cross-platform communication that transports critical data to and from other agency applications, including those that handle job placement, unemployment insurance claims, food stamp enrollment, and a new program called "Promise Jobs" which is designed to move people back into the workplace.

IWD is working aggressively to ensure that its distributed enterprise is proactively monitored so that problems are identified and corrected before end users are impacted. Command MQ gives IWD a preventive approach to problem-solving and correcting trouble conditions detected across the MQSeries environment.

"Our goal with Command MQ is to find and fix any problems before end users call or even have concerns, and most especially before their work is impacted," said Dave Gannon, IT specialist/system architect for IWD. "As we deploy more client/server applications, the management complexity of our environment will keep increasing and our Boole & Babbage tools give us the visibility we need into the performance and availability of all our critical systems."

As the MQSeries environment at IWD expands and the number of objects to be managed increases, Command MQ provides critical scalability for accommodating the projected growth. With its comprehensive capabilities across the full spectrum of MQSeries management, Command MQ will help simplify and manage the complexity of the expansive MQSeries environment. In the areas of configuration and administration, for example, Command MQ makes it possible to easily add queues to the MQSeries topology and replicate existing queue managers instead of adding new ones.

"Command MQ gives the IWD IT staff 'eyes and ears' into the MQSeries environment, helping them zero in on problems that can affect the availability of MQSeries applications," said John Haley, senior director of middleware product marketing, Boole & Babbage. "From the Command MQ management console, an IT specialist can determine if the root cause of a problem is within MQSeries itself or an enterprise element outside of MQSeries that affects the MQSeries applications."

About Command MQ

Boole & Babbage is the market leader in message-queuing middleware (MQM) management with Command MQ. The only solution available that delivers central management reaching all the enterprise elements that MQM applications rely on, Command MQ provides true end-to-end availability. Command MQ is also unmatched in its depth of capabilities, which include configuration, administration, performance monitoring, operations management and automation.

Command MQ is based upon the proven and robust Boole & Babbage technology. A modular architecture builds upon the ability of Command MQ to scale from very small pilot programs to full-scale implementations in the largest heterogeneous environments: agent technology provides local, "at-the-source" monitoring and platform-based automation; a mid-level console provides centralized management (distributed or host-based) and event-driven automation; the enterprise-level option enables users to manage their entire IT infrastructure, treating the MQM as a part of their overall management strategy.

Easy to use, Command MQ offers proven, packaged "out-of-the-box" solutions that can also be custom-tailored. It is the most flexible management solution available, easily integrating into a customer's existing IT environment and providing the fastest implementation and ROI in the industry. Command MQ covers the broadest range of platforms, including MVS, HP-UX, Sun Solaris, DEC VMS, AIX, OS/400, OS/2 and Windows NT.

To make the Command MQ solution readily accessible to users, Boole & Babbage and IBM introduced a new product offering, Command MQ BonusPac. Available as a free download from the Web, Command MQ BonusPac is a full-functioning, fully-supported management offering that provides immediate value for users seeking to deploy and manage MQSeries. See www.boole.com/products/MQ/bonuspac.html for more information.

About State of Iowa Workforce Development (IWD)

IWD is an organization that provides labor, job placement, consultation and training services, as well as worker's compensation and unemployment insurance. Various programs are offered to employers, employees and unemployed persons. For more information, visit the website at www.state.ia.us/iwd.

About Boole & Babbage

Boole & Babbage is a worldwide leader in application service level management for distributed systems. Its Enterprise Automation product lines provide a management solution for the entire IT enterprise that encompasses systems, applications, middleware, databases and Web technologies. The Boole & Babbage set of solutions is currently used by large manufacturing companies, domestic and international government agencies, the majority of the world's largest financial institutions, airlines, IT outsourcers and utilities to improve service levels and reduce IT management costs. Founded in 1967, Boole & Babbage is the oldest publicly traded software vendor in the systems management industry with revenues of $226 million in calendar 1998, 970 employees and 43 offices in 26 countries. Corporate headquarters are located in San Jose, California. For more information, visit us on the Web at www.boole.com, or call 800/544-2152.

Boole & Babbage, Inc. is a Tivoli (NYSE: IBM) premiere partner, a Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HWP) premier partner, an IBM (NYSE: IBM) BESTeam Member, and a Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Solutions Developer.

Boole & Babbage and MainView are registered trademarks of Boole & Babbage, Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.