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LAS VEGAS - VERITAS VISION(TM) 2003 -- VERITAS Software Corporation (NASDAQ:VRTS) Chairman, President and CEO Gary Bloom outlined plans today at the company's annual user conference to enable utility computing through its market-leading heterogeneous software. Utility computing enables CIOs to deliver IT as a measurable, accountable service that is aligned with business needs and capable of adapting to changing demands. Combining its extensive storage software with recent strategic acquisitions and more than 100 supporting partners (see related news release, issued today), VERITAS Software uniquely offers a broad range of products to deliver on the promise of utility computing today. "IT departments today must align with business goals and be responsive to changing demands," said Gary Bloom, chairman, president and CEO of VERITAS Software, "VERITAS Software helps enable complex, heterogeneous IT environments to make the move to utility computing today. That means faster, more reliable applications and lower costs." CIOs are currently serving two masters. The business wants better performance and availability from their existing applications. On the other hand, the CEO and CFO want lower IT costs and accountability to the business. To make matters worse, the typical IT environment is complex and heterogeneous. Utility computing is the answer, and VERITAS provides the key enabling technologies. VERITAS availability software and the application performance management technology from VERITAS' recently announced plan to acquire Precise Software share the ability to support heterogeneous environments, and, with the planned acquisition, enable VERITAS solutions to span the entire IT stack from application all the way down to storage. This helps IT departments maintain application service levels no matter how complex the environment. Heterogeneous hardware resources are pooled so that utilization can be improved and capital expenditures reduced. These pooled resources are then automatically provisioned on demand, helping to dramatically reduce labor costs. Finally, VERITAS provides software that allows IT to align the services and resources they provide with business needs. Execution is measured so that accurate departmental charge-backs can take place based on services delivered. "IT departments have grown increasingly complex in order to support business demands for higher service levels and to proactively manage steep data growth patterns," said Richard Guetzloff, senior director, enterprise systems, RR Donnelley, which prepares, produces and delivers integrated communications across multiple channels for content owners worldwide. "It takes a market leader like VERITAS to understand that storage can be the cornerstone and a natural foundation to provide always-on utility-like services. With VERITAS' plans to integrate its new technologies, VERITAS will have greater resources to enable utility computing." VERITAS Software For Utility Computing Service Level -- Availability VERITAS' industry leading data protection(2), clustering(3) and high-performance replication software(4) helps ensure the ongoing availability of data, applications and servers across complex, heterogeneous IT environments. VERITAS provides a continuum of capabilities from basic backup on a laptop to disaster recovery, replicating entire data centers instantaneously across the globe for the world's largest companies. All the software is heterogeneous, supporting all major devices, operating systems and applications. Service Level -- Performance Performance plays an equally important role in utility computing. An "available" application running at slow speed negatively impacts employee productivity if it is an internal application and can affect revenue if it is a customer- or supplier-facing application. For many years VERITAS has focused its efforts on speeding access to data. For example, VERITAS File System(TM) provides almost an order of magnitude improvement in performance for operating system platforms such as Solaris 9(5) and Linux(6). With the acquisition of Precise Software, expected to close in Q2 2003, VERITAS takes performance management to the next level. Precise's software is proactive -- it is designed to detect performance problems before the end user notices and to then go on to identify the root cause of the problem. It does this by analyzing the total system performance from application to storage array and correlating the results. Once the root cause is identified, the software recommends a solution so that action can be taken. Lower Hardware Costs -- Storage And Server Virtualization Utilization of storage and server hardware barely rises above 50 percent in most organizations. Storage and server resources operate in silos beneath business applications. If a disk fills up or server becomes CPU-bound then a new disk or server is purchased. As a result, empty disks or idle servers running other applications are not utilized. Through VERITAS Volume Manager(TM) and VERITAS OpForce(TM), recently acquired from Jareva Technologies, together with VERITAS Cluster Server(TM), VERITAS allows storage and server resources to be shared, driving up utilization rates and helping lower hardware costs. Lower Labor Costs -- Storage And Server Automation The largest cost in any IT department is labor. For example, a study from analyst firm Gartner reveals that for every dollar spent on storage hardware, three dollars are spent managing that hardware(7). VERITAS can help lower the cost of managing storage hardware through VERITAS SANPoint Control(TM), automatically performing common operations such as zoning, masking and provisioning. In the same way, VERITAS can help lower the cost of managing server hardware through VERITAS OpForce -- automatically provisioning servers to applications when required. Fully Automated Systems -- VERITAS, Precise & Jareva Integrated No matter how good IT is at predicting demand for its systems, there will always be surprises. Typically these surprises are dealt with after the fact -- for example, the system grinds to a halt and then a new server is added. With the planned acquisition of Precise and the acquisition of Jareva, VERITAS plans to create automated systems that can detect performance degradation long before the end user notices. The automated systems can then diagnose, for example, that the problem is a Web server running out of CPU cycles. The course of action determined by the system is to notify the Jareva technology that a new Web server machine is required. Jareva automatically provisions the machine and hands it to VERITAS Cluster Server to manage. Now the problem is solved and no administrator intervention is required. Aligning IT with the Business -- Introducing VERITAS Service Manager(TM) If IT is to be run as a utility, then, like any utility, it needs to define and commit to service levels with its customers. Also, after the fact, IT needs to report on what actually happened and what the cost was -- just like a monthly utility bill. VERITAS Service Manager, currently in beta, is designed to allow IT infrastructure staff to define services (such as storage, servers, backup, high availability, etc.) that they will provide to business applications. VERITAS Service Manager then tracks actual service delivered and calculates how much IT expense was incurred. This is then provided through a portal back to the business. All business unit service levels and charge backs are calculated from a single source to minimize disputes over charge-back levels. VERITAS Service Manager is expected to be generally available in Q4 2003. Enabling Utility Computing Means Heterogeneity To truly enable utility computing, software must be heterogeneous. There are many applications, databases, application servers, operating systems, servers and storage hardware from many different vendors. Heterogeneity is at the core of everything VERITAS does. More than 100 partners are now participating in the VERITAS Enabled(TM) program (see related news release, issued today) ensuring that VERITAS Software can manage all popular servers, storage arrays or devices and interoperate with the vast majority of business applications. Making IT Happen Finally, to educate users on best practices for enabling utility computing in heterogeneous networks, VERITAS today unveiled an online community called VERITAS Architect Network(TM). VERITAS Architect Network is an online resource where IT professionals can learn best practices and exchange information about VERITAS products and technologies, providing tools to help companies meet service levels and help lower labor costs.