GroundWork Open Source Selected by Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software to Improve Mosaic of Management and Monitoring Tools

Business Wire, Oct 9, 2007

GroundWork's ability to augment existing infrastructure and expand monitoring functionality lets customers win new challenges without losing the worth of old network

SAN FRANCISCO -- GroundWork Open Source, Inc. (www.groundworkopensource.com), the leader in open source systems and network management software, today announced the signing of another global customer, Group 1 Software, Inc., a Pitney Bowes company. Group 1, the world's leading provider of mailstream software, serves more than 3,000 customers worldwide in financial services, insurance, healthcare, telecommunications, utilities, government, retail and mail services. Group 1's software solutions include some of the most respected applications in the industry, solving problems in data integration, customer communication management, and all aspects of electronic document management.

As with many enterprise-level companies, Group 1 Software has faced the challenge of managing and monitoring a diverse range of heterogeneous systems, spanning many countries, comprising many legacy components. The nature of their constantly evolving network has made it difficult and impractical to either extend existing systems or to "rip and replace" them in order to establish a single umbrella monitoring system. Consequently, Group 1 has searched for a monitoring solution that would fill in the gaps in their present monitoring infrastructure while also providing a foundation for future growth.

"We were working with a hodgepodge of systems management and monitoring tools including IT Monitor, IBM Direct, Cisco Works, and Nagios for events," said Steven Acreman, IT Facilities Manager for Group 1. "Customization became a key factor for us. We couldn't modify our current solution to meet our needs so we started looking for another." According to Acreman, Group 1 downloaded and tried GroundWork Monitor Open Source, liked what they saw, and upgraded to the Professional system.

DSP Global, a UK-based Oracle and GroundWork reseller, was instrumental in Group 1's decision to adopt GroundWork. "Group 1's set of requirements, while not unique, were exacting," said Simon Brooks, Operations Director for DSP Global. "Once we discussed their challenges, we came to the conclusion that GroundWork was by far the best solution for them, bringing them a first-class IT management and monitoring system that has the added flexibility of open source. We're delighted to have helped deliver this solution."

"GroundWork Monitor Professional is unique in its ability to extend the capabilities of existing IT management and monitoring systems, including well known proprietary systems," agreed Ranga Rangachari, CEO of GroundWork. "Our solution is easy to install, flexible, and can fill in the gaps left by larger more unwieldy tools. Many large companies like Group 1 are finding that GroundWork can make the difference between a failed shelfware project and truly getting value from these large and costly projects that we all know monitoring can be."

Hundreds of customers use GroundWork Monitor Professional to monitor their systems and networks, taking advantage of the latest open source innovations architected specifically for mid-market and enterprise line-of-business organizations. Additionally, thousands of organizations have downloaded GroundWork Monitor Open Source (http://www.groundworkopensource.com/products/os-overview.html) since its public release in February 2006.

About Group 1 Software

Group 1 Software (www.g1.com) turns data into results, providing innovative software solutions that enables clients to better understand and connect with their millions of customers, prospects, and partners. Group 1 Software helps over 3,000 organizations maximize the value of customer data to improve profitability, increase effectiveness, and strengthen customer relationships, through consolidating, cleansing and enriching corporate data, and generating personalized business documents for multi-channel delivery, customer care and efficient business processing. As part of Pitney Bowes, a $5.6 billion company, Group 1 Software's solutions are utilized by leaders in the insurance, financial services/banking, GIS/mapping, government, mail services, retail, telecommunications, utility, and other industries, including Entergy, ING, L.L. Bean, MapQuest, Microsoft, Safeco Insurance, Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo.

About DSP Global

DSP Global offers support and consultancy for bespoke Oracle systems and the E-Business Suite. At the heart of the company's unique support model is DSPtime, providing access to skilled resources in flexible and cost effective 15 minute increments. DSPtime works in conjunction with niche support services which include APPSdirect, DBAdirect, and OSdirect. Together with a hosting partner these services can form DSPabsolute a total solution that delivers controlled total cost of ownership for your technology stack and application. DSP Global's consultancy offerings include project work, 9i , 9iAS and fast-track 11i migrations.