The Kernel Group Introduces AutoTrace Product.

Business/High-Tech Editors

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 28, 2001

Industry's only software `flight recorder' adds full debugging 

functions to products; Minimizes e-business downtime 

The Kernel Group, a leader in enterprise software solutions, today introduced AutoTrace, the industry's only software "flight recorder" that adds comprehensive debugging capabilities to companies' software products. With AutoTrace, companies are able to quickly identify and resolve software problems within a day rather than weeks or months, substantially reducing e-business downtime.

"AutoTrace is one of the most unique, cutting-edge products on the market today," said Sol Suberi, TKG's chief executive officer. "With the incredible speed in which business is won and lost through the simple click of a mouse, it is paramount that traditional and e-businesses alike are up and running at all times. By using AutoTrace, companies help protect against costly downtimes caused by software bugs and crashes and the even more costly loss of customers and sales."

A cross-platform software analysis tool, AutoTrace is designed to work in very complex, multi-threaded and distributed applications that cannot be traced with traditional debugging tools.

Through its patent-pending technology, TKG's AutoTrace product automatically embeds "trace points" in a company's software. These "trace points" continually record activity information, acting as a "flight recorder" and analysis tool within the program. In the event of a software failure, collecting the trace data allows companies to see exactly what transpired in the seconds leading to a software failure and quickly resolve the problem.

With AutoTrace's comprehensive reporting tools, companies are able to pinpoint the cause of a problem quickly and efficiently.

Highly tailorable, AutoTrace allows the level of tracing to be adjusted at any time while a company's program is running. As an example, if additional debugging data is needed, additional data points can be "turned on" to provide a broader perspective. For a narrower focus, selected data points can be disabled. All these changes can be made with no impact on the running software.

"What we developed in AutoTrace is a critical tool providing an invisible safety net for companies dealing with the harsh realities of e-business," Suberi said. "To have the confidence that your business will be up and running again within a day and not weeks or months no matter the severity of the software crash or bug, helps e-business executives sleep soundly at night. The sort of `flight recorder' insight AutoTrace brings to a company's operation is unmatched."

Tivoli Systems Inc., a leading e-business infrastructure management software vendor, will use AutoTrace in select products.

AutoTrace also provides a tremendous amount of flexibility during the software development phase. Parameters can be set to automatically save collected trace data to disk under specified conditions. Additional "super profiling" functionality allows greater performance tuning by giving companies the power to identify performance bottlenecks and profiling software.

The software currently supports AIX 4.1.0 and higher, Solaris 2.3 and higher, HP-UX 10.2 and higher, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000.

About The Kernel Group

The Kernel Group is the premier provider of software solutions that enhance enterprise systems management, encompassing infrastructure through applications. TKG's innovative solutions give core confidence to customers engaged in the unpredictable world of e-business by guarding against costly losses in productivity, customer satisfaction and reputation.

Editor's Note:

TKG's corporate headquarters are located at 1250 S. Capital of Texas Hwy, Suite 3-601, Austin, Texas 78746. For more information, please contact TKG via telephone [phone] or 800/854-7381; fax [phone]; email [e-mail]; Web site: www.TKG.com.