The Active Reasoning 3.3 Release Unites Enterprise Policy and Control Automation

Business Wire, Sept 25, 2006

Software Release Adds Enterprise Risk Dashboard and Deepens Direct Access and Change Management Controls

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Active Reasoning, the leading provider of IT Controls Automation software for IT Policy Enforcement and IT Governance Automation, today announced the general availability of its 3.3 software. This release includes a new enterprise risk dashboard and expanded IT controls for comprehensive control automation across the entire IT infrastructure.

According to W.R. "Butch" Winters, Active Reasoning President and CEO, "Defining and adhering to standards-driven IT best practices and policies is a fundamental requirement for operating a reliable, high-performing and compliant IT infrastructure. However, most IT organizations find that point solutions and inefficient manual processes make it difficult to enforce their best practices and policies and can expose them to increased risk from IT control violations. Active Reasoning version 3.3 brings to market the first solution to fill this gap by unifying enterprise policy and IT control automation."

Active Reasoning version 3.3 introduces Active Reasoning IT Policy Reporter, a dashboard that provides an integrated, enterprise-wide perspective of how well an organization's operational activity is following its defined policies and controls. From the dashboard's at-a-glance summary, a user can easily drill down into control activity details - who, what, when and where - to facilitate remediation. Alerts, delivered through IT Policy Reporter or any other preferred mechanism such as e-mail, a corporate portal or a third-party management console, let users know as soon as a policy violation occurs so they can take immediate action.

Unlike point solutions, Active Reasoning addresses a broad and deep set of enterprise policies and controls such as direct access, change management, emergency change, segregation of duties, and software and hardware configuration rules. Version 3.3 further strengthens Active Reasoning direct access and change management control capabilities.

Improved direct access control in Active Reasoning version 3.3:

* Extends SQL Trace already available on DB2 to Oracle and SQL Server for monitoring the actions of privileged users.

* Improves database traceability and accountability with the ability to identify who made the change in addition to reporting what was changed and when and where.

* Detects restricted data access. This adds to Active Reasoning's already existing file change monitoring ability.

* Adds tracking of all database login and logout activity to provide complete audit trails.

Previous releases of Active Reasoning change management controls have readily identified unauthorized changes by comparing actual activity to approved change requests. Version 3.3 enhancements provide the ability to also answer questions such as:

* Emergency Change - Did an approval follow the change within a timely manner?

* Expected Change - Was there an approved change with no activity? Did the approved change occur during the approved time window?

* Segregation of Duties - Did the appropriate individual make the change? Was there appropriate segregation of duties for the approval and execution of the change?

Active Reasoning version 3.3 represents the next step in the Active Reasoning strategy to fully automate enterprise-wide IT controls for IT Policy Enforcement and IT Governance Automation so that IT organizations can improve service delivery, mitigate operational risk and reduce IT control costs.

About Active Reasoning

With its products installed in 59 countries on six continents, Active Reasoning is the leading provider of IT Controls Automation Software for IT Policy Enforcement and IT Governance Automation. The Active Reasoning platform "operationalizes" standards such as ITIL & COBIT, detecting, validating, and reporting unauthorized changes and out-of-policy actions on the IT infrastructure to help Fortune 500 clients meet SLAs, mitigate operational risk and reduce expenses. This is made possible by the combination of Active Reasoning's Policy Management Database[TM], event-based collection of the who, what, when, and where of user actions, and a correlation engine providing real-time policy review and validation. Active Reasoning is backed by top-tier venture partners including ComVentures, ArrowPath Venture Partners, ONSET Ventures, and InterWest Partners. For more information, visit the company's website at www.activereasoning.com.

See a brief product demo at http://www.activereasoning.com/solutions/demo.html

Active Reasoning and Active Reasoning Policy Management Database are trademarks of Active Reasoning, Inc. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.