http://www.on.com/news/prrel/2003/prrel_0729.htm

PETCO Joins World-class Retailers - Including The Home Depot, Staples and OfficeMax - in Leveraging ON Solution to Provide Total Centralized Control for Retail and Corporate IT Infrastructure

WALTHAM, MA (July 29, 2003) - ON Technology Corporation (NASDAQ:ONTC), a leading provider of enterprise infrastructure management solutions, today announced that PETCO Animal Supplies, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETC) has purchased more than 5,500 licenses of ON iCommand™ during ON Technology’s second quarter, to provide centralized management for all its devices across the leading pet retailer’s more than 630 stores and corporate offices. PETCO selected ON’s remote systems management solution to manage all retail POS devices and servers in its stores, as well as PCs and servers in nine regional distribution centers and its San Diego-based National Support Center. Implementation is slated to begin this quarter.

ON Technology's customers have achieved significant savings with the new technology, based on its unique ability to streamline the roll-out of new devices, operating systems, and applications, thereby reducing the need to hire additional IT staff. In addition, by enabling POS systems to be remotely updated, repaired, and completely rebuilt when required, from centralized administration servers – without sending technicians to stores or waiting for devices to be shipped to and from a remote repair facility – the iCommand solution also significantly reduces POS downtime and ensures that all retail devices always have the latest software, thus leading to enhanced customer retention and employee satisfaction.

“PETCO is committed to the strategic application of innovative technology to efficiently fulfill its mission of providing leading products and services to pet pamperers and their pets,” said J Smith, PETCO Director of Network and Store Systems. “ON Technology is a key strategic partner for PETCO in that regard – providing a single solution for streamlining and managing our entire IT infrastructure. After an intensive technical evaluation of competitive solutions, we chose ON iCommand due to its flexibility, enterprise scalability and open architecture, as well as ON Technology’s proven track record in large and rapidly-growing retail environments,” Smith added.

PETCO will leverage ON iCommand to automatically provision and manage more than 3,500 retail POS systems and IBM store servers along with 2,000 desktops, laptops and HP/Compaq servers in the retailerÂ’s corporate environment. The ON solution will also be used to deploy and configure POS applications from retail software vendors such as SAP and JDA; instantly push real-time updates such as security fixes; deliver ongoing patch management; and provide one-click disaster recovery for business-critical systems.

In addition, ON iCommand will be used to automate the companyÂ’s migration to MicrosoftÂ’s latest generation of desktop and server operating systems, as well as to manage store handheld devices, in-store kiosks, and Linux devices in the future. Integration with the current Remedy help desk system is also planned.

“We look forward to supporting PETCO in accelerating its business to new heights – while contributing directly to significant savings and thus enhancing its bottom line,” said Robert Doretti, Chairman, President and CEO of ON Technology. “PETCO’s selection of ON iCommand validates once again our unique ability to meet the demanding requirements of large and geographically-distributed organizations, and especially retail organizations such as PETCO that are constantly adding new locations and managing heterogeneous environments incorporating a wide range of platforms and devices.”

In addition to PETCO, ON TechnologyÂ’s customer base includes many other world-class retailers such as: The Home Depot, Staples, and OfficeMax in the U.S., as well as Toyota, COOP, MAHAG Volkswagen and IKON in Europe. ON also has a strategic partnership with Fujitsu Transaction Solutions, a leading provider of point-of-sale (POS) hardware, software and infrastructure management services.

Deploying Critical Updates While Minimizing Bandwidth Usage PETCO will use ON iCommand to deploy critical operating systems, applications, and store data across PETCOÂ’s Wide Area Network (WAN), while dynamically adjusting network usage to preserve scarce bandwidth for crucial store traffic such as credit card authorizations and customer-facing applications. In particular, the ON solution will be used to:

Perform a fully automated rollout of next-generation POS devices from bare metal, including provisioning and configuring systems with MicrosoftÂ’s latest Windows operating systems.

Deploy and manage store applications such as JDA Win/DSS for POS and checkout, including configuring the POS software for PETCOÂ’s custom GUI interface. ON iCommand will also be used to deploy and configure other retail applications such as SAP CAMPBELL time and attendance software, credit card verification software, and applications for transferring store transaction data to corporate headquarters.

Instantly deploy critical updates such as OS service packs as well as BIOS updates and updated drivers for touch screens and card scanners. For example, a recent Windows service pack was more than 650 Megabytes in size, illustrating the need for efficient bandwidth throttling across the companyÂ’s retail network.

Build store and corporate servers from bare metal, including automated configuration of RAID controllers and lights-out diagnostic cards.

Deploy and manage corporate productivity applications such as Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer, including deployments to corporate laptops over low-bandwidth dial-up connections.

Discover and track store hardware assets, monitor software license compliance, track software usage, and immediately identify whenever a device has been moved or re-configured.

PETCO also found that ON TechnologyÂ’s unique dynamic native installation technology was a superior alternative to traditional static snapshot technologies, because it allows the retailerÂ’s IT personnel to develop a single deployment package that can then be used company-wide for a wide range of configurations and users, thus providing significant time and cost savings in terms of package development and management.

PETCO Selects Entire ON Management Suite

In addition to ON iCommand for software and device lifecycle management, PETCO selected the full ON iCommand Suite including ON Command® Discovery to automatically discover and track store IT assets; ON Command Remote to enable rapid resolution of end-user problems from the corporate Help Desk, and the ON

Java Application Developers Kit (ADK) to rapidly integrate ONÂ’s solution with PETCOÂ’s existing network environment.

About PETCO

PETCO is a leading specialty retailer of premium pet food, supplies and services, with a commitment to quality animal care and education. It operates more than 630 neighborhood stores in 43 states and the District of Columbia, as well as a leading destination for on-line pet food and supplies at www.petco.com.

About ON Technology Corporation

ON Technology empowers IT organizations and service providers to manage the full lifecycle of their computing systems over large-scale corporate networks. Our solutions are used to rapidly and reliably deploy critical applications, operating systems, and content to desktops, mobile PCs, handhelds, servers, retail point-of-sale (POS) terminals and banking workstations. Our customers leverage our solutions to significantly reduce IT costs, improve availability and reliability of business-critical applications, and enhance both IT and end-user productivity. ONÂ’s management solution has been chosen by more than 925 enterprises worldwide to manage in excess of 1.1 million networked computer systems. For more information visit ON TechnologyÂ’s web site at www.on.com or call 800-767-6638.