MUSE Micromuse (MM)

Blue Lane(TM) Technologies Inc., provider of the industry's first inline patch proxy for enterprise servers, today announced that Micromuse Inc., the leading provider of ultra-scalable, real time business and service assurance software, has deployed the Blue Lane PatchPoint(TM) System to secure their business critical Microsoft(R) server operating environment and applications. Like most companies today, Micromuse contends with an ever growing number of vulnerabilities affecting their Microsoft production systems and, therefore, the need to frequently patch and update their systems. However, according to Bruce Fingles, CIO of Micromuse, that is not a viable solution for any production environment because security patches can break applications, making production environments unavailable. But testing patches is a time-consuming process which leaves business critical applications at risk. "We chose Blue Lane for two reasons. First and foremost, to protect mission-critical servers and applications. As a result, I now have peace of mind knowing that my systems are up and running and secured," said Fingles. "Secondly, the PatchPoint System takes the pressure off of having to install the vendor patch immediately. It provides us with the time to perform proper tests on our servers and applications without compromising the security of those systems. That means we've also recognized significant cost savings because we don't have to stop everything to test a patch or risk potential downtime. We save thousands of dollars every time there's a new patch released." Micromuse has deployed PatchPoint in front of their mission-critical servers at their headquarters in San Francisco and in their London office, where it has been deployed for six months. They anticipate installing PatchPoint in four more locations, in front of their servers in all of their satellite offices, by Q3 of this year. Fingles also said that the system was easy to install and likes the patch-centric nature of the PatchPoint Enterprise Manager, which is easy to use and graphically presents information about server vulnerabilities and the network traffic for which an ActiveFix has been applied. "The fact that Blue Lane is protecting Micromuse's business and saving the company time and money validates our technology and delivers on our goal to help our customers maintain high availability for their business operations while lowering the cost associated with patching," said Jeff Palmer, president and CEO of Blue Lane. "We look forward to working with them further as they expand their deployments." About Micromuse Micromuse Inc. (Nasdaq:MUSE) is the leading provider of ultra-scalable, realtime business and service assurance software solutions. The Netcool(R) software suite provides organizations with the assurance that their IT systems are supporting and driving profits 24 hours a day. Unlike traditional infrastructure management systems, Netcool solutions provide realtime end-to-end visibility and accurate troubleshooting from a business perspective. Such business intelligence allows organizations to respond to problems quickly, streamline workflow processes and improve business uptime. Micromuse customers include BT, Cable & Wireless, Deutsche Telekom, EarthLink, ITC^DeltaCom, JPMorgan Chase, MCI, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Headquarters are located at 139 Townsend Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94107; 415-538-9090. The Web site is at www.micromuse.com. About Blue Lane Technologies Inc. Blue Lane provides the industry's first inline patch proxy for enterprise servers that fixes application-specific vulnerabilities at the root cause by checking for the same conditions and applying the same corrective action as the software vendor security patch. Solving the dilemma of "patch now or patch later," PatchPoint instantly secures critical applications and preserves the uptime of the business while eliminating the cost and risks associated with unscheduled patching. Founded in 2002, Blue Lane is headquartered in Cupertino, California. For more information, contact the company at www.bluelane.com. NOTE TO EDITORS: There is a caret in the company name between ITC and DeltaCom. This symbol may not appear properly in some systems.