NetIQ's Group Policy Solutions Win Network World's "Clear Choice" Award

NetIQ Corp. (NASDAQ: NTIQ), a leading provider of integrated systems and security management solutions, today announced that NetIQ® Group Policy Guardian(TM) and NetIQ® Group Policy Administrator(TM) have been named the best group policy administration solutions by Network World. These products received the prestigious Clear Choice award from the publication's test and evaluation laboratory for their superior access control, reporting, change management and security auditing functionalities.

In her article published on November 7, Network World Lab Alliance member Mandy Andress stated that NetIQ's group policy solution combination was selected as the "Clear Choice winner based on its breadth of features, with specific prowess in auditing and change management." The review also continues to state that Group Policy Guardian provided the best audit trail and Group Policy Administrator had excellent version control capabilities for policy changes.

The NetIQ Group Policy Administrator enables customers to better plan, manage, troubleshoot and report on Group Policy Objects (GPOs), a key component of Active Directory. With enhanced change- and release-management capabilities, Group Policy Administrator reduces error risk when configuring GPOs. Group Policy Administrator also helps customers improve the security of their Windows environment and assists in meeting regulatory compliance requirements through extensive auditing and reporting capabilities.

The NetIQ Group Policy Guardian minimizes the risks associated with GPO change management and helps identify and document all authorized and unauthorized Group Policy changes to the live environment. Customers can receive real-time GPO change alerts that are classified as authorized or unauthorized when used in conjunction with Group Policy Administrator. Group Policy Guardian also records change activity in an auditing database comprised of detailed GPO change reports.

"Group policy and change management solutions are increasingly critical for enterprises to assure IT policy compliance and operational integrity," said Bob Tesh, senior manager of Product Marketing for Security and Administration solutions at NetIQ. "NetIQ's Group Policy solutions provide organizations the ability to meet these needs as well as improve IT service levels, availability and Windows security."

NetIQ's Group Policy Guardian and Group Policy Administrator won out over three other vendor submissions from Desktop Standard, Quest Software and ScriptLogic Corp. The full Clear Choice test is highlighted in the November 7 Network World print issue and online at http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/2005/110705-gpo-test.html.

About NetIQ

NetIQ is a leading provider of integrated systems and security management solutions that empower IT organizations with the knowledge and ability necessary to assure IT service. NetIQ's Knowledge-Based Service Assurance products and solutions include embedded knowledge and tools to implement industry best practices and to better ensure operational integrity, manage service levels and risk, and ensure policy compliance. NetIQ's modular, best-of-breed solutions for Performance & Availability Management, Security Management, Configuration & Vulnerability Management, and Operational Change Control integrate through an open, service-oriented architecture allowing for common reporting, analytics and dashboards. For more information about NetIQ, visit www.netiq.com or call (888) 323-6768.

NetIQ, NetIQ Group Policy Guardian, NetIQ Group Policy Administrator and other applicable product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetIQ Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other jurisdictions.. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification purposes and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Contacts: Patricia Morley NetIQ Corporate Communications (713) 418-5094 Email Contact Jenny Chai NetIQ Press Relations (917) 522-3515 Email Contact Greg Klaben Investor Relations (408) 856-1894 Email Contact