OPSWARE INTRODUCES MARKET'S FIRST SYSTEM TO FULLY AUTOMATE MANAGEMENT OF NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE

New product, Opsware Network Automation System 4.0 provides comprehensive automation capabilities to ease management of network devices

Sunnyvale, CA - March 7, 2005 -- Opsware Inc. (NASDAQ: OPSW), the leading provider of IT automation and utility computing software, today announced Opsware Network Automation System 4.0 - the market's most comprehensive solution to fully automate management of network infrastructure. The Opsware Network Automation System (NAS) 4.0 goes far beyond previous network change and configuration management (NCCM) solutions to offer complete automation of IT's strategic network-related priorities including regulatory compliance, policy enforcement and change process automation. Opsware NAS 4.0, in combination with Opsware's market leading Server Automation System presents a breakthrough in IT automation by enabling complete automation of applications and the entire underlying infrastructure.

An integral part of Opsware's IT automation suite, the Network Automation System 4.0 provides IT organizations with an unmatched automation solution that dramatically improves service quality and lowers the cost of network management. The Opsware Network Automation System is based on Rendition Networks' award-winning TrueControl product, which Opsware acquired in February 2005.

Today's NCCM tools merely enable network administrators to make mass changes across numerous network devices but do not provide any capability to determine if the change is done right nor do they provide a way to set policies and enforce best practices. Further, NCCM tools also lack the ability to achieve IT's strategic initiatives such as process standardization and compliance management. Opsware NAS 4.0 moves beyond simple network change and configuration management to offer complete network automation including change automation, compliance management, process automation, security administration and reporting around all these operational activities.

Opsware NAS 4.0 includes key automation capabilities necessary for large IT environments such as the ability to automate processes that span different IT groups and systems and an advanced Compliance Center for compliance management. The product also builds upon it's award-winning reporting capabilities to offer new out-of-the-box and custom reports for visibility into all types of change activity. The Compliance Center includes automated auditing and reporting for Sarbanes-Oxley, ITIL, HIPAA and COBIT. Customers using Opsware NAS have reported that they can meet compliance requirements such as SOX five times faster with NAS than with manual efforts.

"With over 39 million network devices installed across IT organizations, traditional approaches to network management are no longer able to keep up. Organizations are demanding a greater degree of automation and visibility over their entire IT infrastructure, which can only be addressed by a next-generation solution such as the Opsware Network Automation System," said Eric Johnson, VP of development at Opsware Inc. "Opsware NAS 4.0 provides measurable value in the day-to-day management of network devices, and relief to organizations under pressure to comply with corporate standards and regulations. By adding the Network Automation System to our existing IT automation suite we have taken a tremendous leap forward into the future of IT automation."

Opsware NAS is the leading network automation solution with deployments across all major vertical markets including financial services, insurance, government, defense, telecommunications, service providers, healthcare, technology and retail companies.

When combined with Opsware's market-leading Server Automation System, Opsware Network Automation System provides a unified view of the application environment including the underlying servers, applications, software infrastructure, network devices and all their interdependencies. The Opsware Automation Suite automates the management of 350+ network devices from over 15 vendors, 30+ server platforms and all software infrastructure and applications. Opsware Network Automation System 4.0 will available as of March 21st.

The determination of when Opsware Network Automation System 4.0 will be made available, if ever, remains at the sole discretion of Opsware Inc.

About Opsware Inc. (NASDAQ: OPSW)

Opsware Inc. is the world’s leading IT automation and utility computing software company. The growth of the Internet is driving a shift from client/server computing to Web architecture. With this shift comes an overwhelming proliferation of servers, network devices and applications, creating massive complexity that makes an automated IT model a necessity. The Opsware System automates the complete IT lifecycle and delivers utility computing by enabling IT to automatically provision, patch, configure, secure, change, scale, audit, recover, consolidate, migrate, and reallocate servers, network devices and applications. Over 250 of the world’s largest companies, outsourcers and government agencies use Opsware to deliver this new, automated model of IT. For more information on Opsware Inc., please visit our Web site at www.opsware.com.

 

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Opsware is a service mark and trademark of Opsware Inc. All other product names, service marks, and trademarks mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.