Micromuse's Netcool Suite Deployed By British Telecom Computing Partners

Business Wire, August 1, 2001

Business Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 1, 2001

Netcool(R)/Visionary(TM) Application Provides Critical Problem

Diagnosis Capabilities for BT's Internal Network

Micromuse Inc. (Nasdaq: MUSE), the leading provider of realtime fault management and service assurance software, today announced that BT Computing Partners has implemented Micromuse's Netcool(R) solution to provide end-to-end monitoring of its internal data network.

BT Computing Partners is implementing Micromuse's flagship Netcool/OMNIbus(TM) application along with the Netcool/Visionary(TM) application, the Netcool/Impact(TM) application and the Netcool/Internet Service Monitors(TM) (Netcool/ISMs(TM)) suite to help maintain the availability and reliability of its network-based business services and solutions.

BT Computing Partners plans, designs, builds and runs BT's computing capability and provides solutions for BT's customers. Its focus is on ensuring that customers get the best use and value from their IT assets and investment. BT Computing Partners' IT operation is one of the largest in Europe and its geographical coverage mirrors that of BT.

"After careful analysis of the available technologies, we decided to deploy the Netcool family of applications for its best-in-class value and platform-independent architecture," said Con Blackett, Systems Network Management Manager, BT Computing Partners. "We were specifically impressed with the ability of the Netcool/Visionary application to help our network operations staff implement a more proactive approach to service management by automatically diagnosing problems within the infrastructure. This allows our operators to respond to critical events before they can cause disruption in service delivery to our internal users."

As the core monitoring component in BT Computing Partners' infrastructure, the Netcool/OMNIbus(TM) solution collects and consolidates realtime status data from various devices to provide an integrated view of services and network availability. BT Computing Partners deployed the following components of the Netcool suite in its Sheffield-based Network Operations Center to help solve the following:

- The Netcool/OMNIbus application and Netcool Probe & Monitor(TM) suites - such
as Netcool/Internet Service Monitors, a software suite that determines the
availability and response time of Internet services - help determine what the
problem is.

- The award-winning Netcool/Impact(TM) application determines who is impacted
by the problem.

- The award-winning Netcool/Visionary(TM) application determines why the
problem occurred.

"BT Computing Partners' internal data network supports all its core business support services across the UK," said Katrinka McCallum, Micromuse's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. "With its open architecture and off-the-shelf compatibility, the Netcool suite was able to be rapidly deployed and integrated with existing systems. In addition it will easily accommodate new network elements, systems and management tools as BT Computing Partners expands its network environment."

About the Netcool(R) Suite

Micromuse's Netcool(R) software suite collects management data from more than 300 management environments and network devices, including voice, data and Internet. Fault data is rapidly processed and filtered by the Netcool ObjectServer(TM), an in-memory database. The Netcool suite helps operators to build views of service availability in realtime, helping them manage networks more efficiently. Because it is scalable and deploys rapidly, the Netcool suite helps service providers expand their networks as their markets grow.

About BT

British Telecommunications plc is one of the world's leading providers of telecommunications services and one of the largest private sector companies in Europe. Its key activities include local, long distance and international telecommunications services, mobile communications, internet services and IT solutions. BT serves 28 million exchange lines and more than seven million mobile customers in the UK, as well as providing network services to other licensed operators.

About Micromuse

Micromuse Inc. (Nasdaq: MUSE) is the leading provider of realtime fault management and service assurance software. Micromuse's recent list of awards include the TeleStrategies OSS Excellence Award for Best New Product for the Netcool(R)/Visionary(TM) application, and Web Hosting Magazine Editor's Choice Award. In addition, Micromuse has been recognized in the Forbes 500, Bloomberg's Top 100 Stocks, the Barron's 500, Deloitte & Touche's Technology Fast 500, San Francisco Chronicle 500, Individual Investor's Index of America's Fastest Growing Companies and Network World's NW200. Micromuse customers include AT&T, BT, Cable & Wireless, Cellular One, Charles Schwab, Deutsche Telekom, Digex, EarthLink, ITC DeltaCom, MCI Worldcom, One 2 One, Verizon, XO Communications, and a number of financial investment concerns. Headquarters are located at 139 Townsend Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94107; (415) 538-9090. The Web site is at www.micromuse.com.