Opsware Announces Major New Release With Breakthrough Technology That Dramatically Eases Compliance and Automation of Large IT Environments

Business Wire, May 16, 2005

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Next Generation of Top-Ranked Opsware Server Automation System Fully Automates Compliance Management and Introduces New ExpressAutomation(TM) Feature Set

Opsware Inc. (Nasdaq:OPSW), the leading provider of IT automation and utility computing software, today announced the next major release of the Opsware Server Automation System (SAS). The major new release, code-named Darwin for its revolutionary effect on IT automation, is the brainchild of distinguished Opsware CTO and LDAP co-inventor, Dr. Tim Howes. Recently ranked the leading Data Center Automation product by Forrester Research, Opsware SAS furthers the company's market leadership by becoming the first system to offer a breakthrough in compliance management with Opsware's new Compliance Automation capabilities and dramatically eases automation of large, heterogeneous IT environments with an advanced new feature set called Opsware ExpressAutomation(TM).

As companies invest further in IT automation solutions to lower costs and gain control over an estimated $16 billion compliance management problem, the immediate need for a deep compliance management solution is clear. Opsware's new Compliance Automation capabilities automate all aspects of server and application compliance, from granular policy-based auditing with automated remediation to a Compliance Center that includes out-of-the-box reports for Sarbanes-Oxley, ITIL, COBIT and others. Opsware's solution uniquely combines policy compliance capabilities at all layers of the software stack, from operating systems to applications and configurations, with the power of Opsware's Contextual Data Model and unmatched management reach and scalability, allowing customers to achieve truly global automated compliance -- an impossible task until now.

Furthermore, Opsware is making it dramatically easier for companies to rapidly achieve the benefits of utility computing and an automated IT environment with the introduction of the Opsware ExpressAutomation(TM) feature set. ExpressAutomation(TM) revolutionizes ease-of-use, speed of deployment and time-to-productivity, delivering unmatched simplicity and time-savings that far surpass other data center automation products and legacy enterprise management systems. ExpressAutomation fully automates the most time-intensive tasks inherent in transitioning to an automated environment. With Opsware SAS, IT organizations can now automate a heterogeneous environment consisting of thousands of servers and start realizing automation efficiencies in less than 5 hours. One customer brought its entire environment of 7,500 servers under management and began realizing automation efficiencies in a few days. Another provisioned 600 software packages across hundreds of servers in 6 minutes.

"Cadence is using Opsware automation to power critical software development infrastructure, where the productivity gains and cost savings delivered through Opsware's ExpressAutomation and deeper compliance capabilities will be multiplied during our global deployment," said Sheryl Sweazy-Root, IT Director at Cadence Design Systems, a billion-dollar electronic design technologies company. "Opsware automation provides consistency across complex, distributed environments, helping us ensure the highest quality IT operations."

Highlights of the Opsware Server Automation System (SAS)

Breakthrough Compliance Automation

Audit and Compliance Engine -- Opsware's server auditing and compliance engine enables granular auditing of servers and applications to ensure adherence to corporate and regulatory compliance policies. The compliance engine has unique ways of identifying deviations from policies and automating remediation at any level of granularity.

Dynamic Server Groups -- Allows policies and best practices to be applied to groups of servers based on their profile and group criteria so no manual maintenance of policy mappings is needed. Dynamic Groups dramatically increase compliance and policy enforcement for large, dynamic environments where the operational overhead of applying policies is error-prone and expensive.

Application Configuration Management -- Enables highly granular configuration of applications down to individual configuration parameters across multiple servers simultaneously. Features breakthrough flexibility, which eliminates the need for administrators to be experts on specific application syntax and works across packaged and custom applications.

Compliance Reporting -- Opsware provides out-of-the-box compliance reports for all major regulatory initiatives including SOX, HIPAA, ITIL and others. Automated reporting is also provided for all other company-specific compliance policies that an IT organization must adhere to.

ExpressAutomation(TM) Features

The combination of ExpressAutomation(TM) features speed deployment and ensure administrators are productive and realizing automation efficiencies within a few hours.

Automated Discovery -- Other products depend on time-consuming, manual processes to discover servers before bringing them under management. Opsware now rapidly and automatically discovers servers, network devices and other IP devices at the rate of several hundred per hour.