Tivoli Expands Support Services to its Growing Business Partner Community; Tivoli Business Partner Benefits from IBM PartnerWorld Integration

Business Wire, July 31, 2000

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 31, 2000

Tivoli Systems Inc. today announced the immediate availability of expanded technical and marketing support services, enabling Business Partners to maximize e-business revenue. This is the first in a series of Tivoli Business Partner support enhancements leveraging integration with IBM PartnerWorld.

Tivoli(R) is incorporating voice and Web-based problem resolution and requests for information into its Business Partner benefit offerings to meet increased e-business opportunities created by its new product offerings and a rapidly growing channel community. With this streamlined, single point-of-entry system, Tivoli Business Partners gain easy access to the information they need to run their businesses: faster turn-around to requests, a formal, documented process that allows for metrics of response times, request traffic and Business Partner satisfaction, in addition to the ability to realize quicker profitability and the highest customer satisfaction when selling and implementing Tivoli solutions.

"The number of Tivoli Business Partners has increased 20 percent since the beginning of the year, and we expect to grow partner revenue by 52 percent year to year," said Donna Troy, vice president, channels and alliances, Tivoli Systems. "With the addition of Tivoli SecureWay and Tivoli Storage Management solutions this year, our Business Partners now have even more options to serve e-business customers -- and naturally they need additional support. Tivoli will continue to leverage the IBM PartnerWorld infrastructure to serve our partners' specific needs and address the growing demands of the marketplace."

"Rather than having to depend on my vendor for technical support to solve specific customer issues, I now have the flexibility to go on line to search out extensive product information or get rapid response from a Tivoli expert," said Carlee Montgomery, open systems sales manager, Sirius Computer Solutions. "This in turn enables me to serve my customer more effectively and focus on growing my business and profitability."

Tivoli Business Partners can access Tivoli Business Partner Support at tivoli.com, where a Web tool, "Ask Tivoli" and Q&A forum exist to answer a wide variety of questions, from application development, installation and operation of Tivoli products to questions regarding pricing, training and complaint resolution. Business Partners can also utilize the toll-free IBM PartnerLine service that includes live Tivoli support personnel who will record, verify and track all calls for timeliness and accuracy. Business Partners have the flexibility to enter the support infrastructure in the following ways:

-- Web: www.tivoli.com/teamtivoli

-- e-mail in the U.S.: uspartners@tivoli.com

-- e-mail in Canada: canadianpartners@tivoli.com

-- IBM PartnerLine: 800/426-9990

Tivoli Business Partners worldwide will benefit from the same level of support. Business Partners in North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) have immediate access to the service. Business Partner services in Asia/Pacific and Latin America will become active in late summer.

PartnerWorld for Software

In June, IBM, Lotus and Tivoli unveiled PartnerWorld for Software, the world's most comprehensive e-business software marketing, enablement, and support program giving single Web access to Business Partners to take advantage of growing e-business revenue opportunities. In the first phase of a planned rollout this year, IBM announced the PartnerWorld for Software Web portal (www.ibm.com/partnerworld/software) a simplified, unified Business Partner resource for working and being profitable with IBM, Lotus, and Tivoli. Tivoli will continue its efforts to integrate into PartnerWorld for Software with expanded Tivoli content on this portal and participation in upcoming benefit announcements based on availability to its partners.

About Tivoli Systems Inc.

Tivoli software manages the foundations of e-business, extending the boundaries of traditional network and systems management from the data center across the Internet, from the desktop to pervasive devices. Leading companies around the world use Tivoli software, Tivoli Ready third-party products and Team Tivoli partner services to reduce the cost and complexity of managing heterogeneous IT environments. Tivoli solutions, encompassing management of security, storage, and mobile devices, are helping these organizations to create a technology infrastructure to support the next generation of business. For more information, visit www.tivoli.com.

Tivoli, Tivoli Ready and Tivoli SecureWay are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation or Tivoli Systems Inc.

Other company, product, and service names may be the trademarks or service marks of others.