Visionael Delivers Netcool Ready Solution; Integrated Solution Helps Increase Service Provisioning Efficiency Through Realtime Network Resource Management.

Business & Technology Editors

SAN FRANCISCO & PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 12, 2002

Micromuse (Nasdaq: MUSE) the leading provider of service and business assurance software, and Visionael Corporation(R), the leading provider of service creation and network inventory management software, today announced that Visionael's ServiceBase software is now a Netcool(R) Ready(TM) solution.

The integration of ServiceBase and the Netcool suite combines service provisioning and service assurance to help service providers improve operations support efficiencies and management of premium IP services. The combined solution provides two integration points with Visionael ServiceBase: one with the Netcool/Precision(TM) application and one with the Netcool/Impact(TM) application.

"The coupling of Visionael ServiceBase and Micromuse's Netcool software products is critical to any service provider that is serious about turning up and managing premium IP services in the most cost effective way possible," said Richard Zambuni, Visionael's Vice President of Marketing & Business Development. "We are pleased that Micromuse has teamed up with Visionael to enable next-generation providers to speed time-to-revenue and to increase customer satisfaction and retention by delivering a combined service provisioning and assurance solution."

The integration of the Netcool/Precision application with Visionael ServiceBase allows Netcool/Precision to populate Visionael's ServiceBase repository with realtime information it has collected pertaining to network inventory, discovery and topology. Network data seamlessly integrates with Visionael's physical network inventory data to create one view of all provisioned services, including the network devices and connectivity over which they are provisioned. The Netcool(R)/Precision(TM) application is then able to provide ServiceBase with the status of all network elements and faults, which helps facilitate an accurate service provisioning system. The combined solution will help minimize provisioning errors by ensuring that providers can provision services over a healthy network.

The other integration point, which is with the Netcool/Impact(TM) application, enables service providers to access customer and service information stored in Visionael's ServiceBase database. This functionality helps operations teams detect network problems that could potentially cause service degradation. Operations support teams are also able to use the combined solution, which includes Micromuse's flagship Netcool/OMNIbus(TM) application, to prioritize fault recovery efforts and more effectively manage compliance with customer service level agreements (SLAs).

"Along with Visionael and the other Netcool Ready software vendors in Micromuse's Alliance Program(TM) we are providing best-in-class solutions that meet service providers' high standards of performance and availability," said Jim Frey, Micromuse's Vice President, Strategic Marketing. "Netcool's integration with the Visionael ServiceBase solution provides added service assurance to the OSS infrastructure and helps speed the flow-through provisioning process by eliminating inaccuracies in provisioning inventories."

Availability

The integration of Visionael ServiceBase and with the Netcool(R) suite is currently available from Visionael. The Netcool suite is available from Micromuse.

About the Micromuse Alliance Program

The Micromuse Alliance Program(TM) provides Micromuse and its alliance members with the resources to cooperatively pursue business, technical and marketing opportunities. A significant number of hardware and software companies have joined the Micromuse Alliance Program to develop and provide off-the-shelf integrated solutions for mutual customers. Toward that end, Micromuse actively enlists best-in-class solutions providers offering applications complementary to the Netcool suite. Micromuse provides its approved Netcool Ready(TM) program members with the Netcool/Software Developers Kit(TM) (Netcool/SDK(TM)) application. Provided in CD-ROM format, the Netcool/SDK provides the tools necessary to develop integration modules for Netcool software.

About ServiceBase

Visionael ServiceBase, a service creation engine, is the first open, intelligent and scaleable service creation platform that allows service providers to rapidly create and deliver premium Internet Protocol (IP) services. Based on an open, non-proprietary three tier architecture, Visionael ServiceBase enables service providers to inexpensively deploy premium IP services at attractive prices, resulting in positive revenues and satisfied customers. With its innovative Blade Development Kit, ServiceBase will enable service providers to reengineer their product line to meet the changing demands of a constantly shifting marketplace. Once the provisioning process has been documented, a network operator can build a service creation blade to configure and create a new service in as little as two weeks. ServiceBase is automated and based on standardized interfaces and protocols for easy integration. The solution is built on an open, scalable architecture, which employs a common information repository to reconcile network data and eliminate provisioning errors.

Key to the effectiveness of ServiceBase is its reliance on Visionael's network inventory management capabilities. Real time knowledge of all network elements and their availability helps to rapidly and accurately provision new services, increasing return on existing network infrastructure.

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 300 popular environments spanning voice and IP, cable/broadband, switches and routers, and enterprise management systems.

About Visionael

Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Visionael is a leading provider of service creation and inventory-based network resource management (NRM) software solutions. As a key component of any operations support system (OSS), Visionael transforms the economics of creating, managing, and delivering network services. Visionael solutions enable service providers to rapidly and cost-effectively deliver high-demand IP services to their customers and provide enterprises a platform to design and deploy complex, geographically-distributed networks. Visionael customers include AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Fidelity, IBM Global Services, Kaptech, Ionex, Telseon, Verizon, and 360 Networks. For more about Visionael, please visit www.visionael.com or call 650.470.8920. In Europe, Visionael SARL is located in Paris and can be contacted at +33.140.71.28.28 or [e-mail].

About Micromuse

Micromuse Inc. (Nasdaq: MUSE) is the leading provider of service and business assurance software. Micromuse's recent list of awards include 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, Cellular One, Charles Schwab, Deutsche Telekom, Digex, EarthLink, GE Appliances, ITC DeltaCom, J.P. Morgan Chase, One 2 One 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.

Note to Editors:

Visionael(R), the Visionael logo, WEBcentral, APIcentral and ServiceBase are trademarks of Visionael Corporation. All other companies and products referenced herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.