Network General makes equity investment in UNIX systems management expert; stake in systems management company to support strategic vision

Business Wire, Dec 12, 1994

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 1994--Network General Corp. (NASDAQ:NETG), the industry and technology leader in network analysis, announced Monday an equity investment into AIM Technology, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based UNIX systems management provider.

The relationship is another strategic step toward the Network General goal to provide end-to-end enterprise-wide problem and performance management.

"Network General is extremely excited to be involved with a systems management leader like AIM Technology," said Les Denend, president and chief executive officer of Network General. "Over the past year we have been executing on a strategy to broaden our product line to include products to manage all the key components of networks including databases, systems and, ultimately, applications.

"The AIM Technology relationship is an important step toward providing customers with solutions that combine network and system information to help manage distributed UNIX systems and NFS applications."

Under the terms of the agreement, Network General will own just under 10% of AIM Technology by purchasing over 3.5 million shares of preferred stock. In addition, Network General's Chief Financial Officer, Jim Richardson, will hold a position on the AIM Technology board of directors.

The Network General equity investment will allow AIM to accelerate the development of a variety of applications-oriented enhancements to the SharpShooter product.

SharpShooter is a centrally managed fault and performance management application for UNIX systems that finds and provides solutions to system problems. SharpShooter detects down or hung servers, overloaded CPU, memory bottlenecks, disk I/O bottlenecks, full file systems, poor NFS server response, and very active NFS clients.

"In many installations, it is hard to determine where network management ends and system management begins," said Paul Farr, vice president and general manager, AIM Technology. "The synergy between AIM's system performance analysis strengths, and Network General's network monitoring and troubleshooting expertise, will make it easier for enterprise managers to centrally find and resolve problems on their systems and networks to ensure quality service to their end users and to make efficient system purchasing decisions."

AIM Technology

Since 1982, AIM Technology has set industry standards in performance measurement and system management. AIM Technology provides software and services for end users and industry standard operating systems such as UNIX. AIM's measurement products are used worldwide by most major computer manufacturers, and influential end users, to compare and optimize system performance. AIM's benchmarks and system management packages are standard at government agencies and Fortune 500 companies worldwide.

About Network General

Founded in 1986, Network General Corp. is a leader in developing, manufacturing and marketing software-based tools and systems for problem and performance management of enterprise networks. Drawing upon its extensive knowledge of enterprise network environments, the company has created a wide range of products and services designed to maximize productivity and minimize system downtime. Worldwide headquarters are located at 4200 Bohannon Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025. Telephone: 415/473-2000 or 1-800-SNIFFER (764-3337). -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: Network General is a registered trademark of Network General. SharpShooter is a trademark of AIM Technology. All other registered and unregistered trademarks above are the sole property of their respective owners. All specifications may be changed without notice.

CONTACT: Network General, Menlo Park

              Bob Berger, 415/473-2914
              berger@ngc.com
              AIM Technology
              Barbara Kline, 415/694-7991
              bkline@netcom.com