http://www.softricity.com

Raytheon, AIG, ABM Industries and Fidelity National Financial Realize Significant Cost and Time Savings through Accelerated, Simplified Application Management

(BOSTON, MA) —November 17, 2003 — Softricity announced today the general availability of the SoftGrid 3.0 application management platform, the first application virtualization solution that extends on-demand computing to disconnected users. SoftGrid 3.0 enables IT organizations to transform even the most complex applications into centrally managed utilities that can be deployed in real-time to laptops, desktops and servers.

Enterprise customers, including Raytheon, AIG, ABM Industries and Fidelity National Financial, are realizing significant time and cost savings and increased responsiveness by using Softricity SoftGrid 3.0 to evolve their IT environments into real-time, on-demand computing utilities.

"We needed a way to deploy an enterprise application to users around the world,” said Gwen Mallett, vice president of Information Technology, AIG-AG, the world's leading international insurance and financial services organization. “SoftGrid was the only solution we found that could make this possible. SoftGrid's unique combination of application virtualization and on-demand technologies means we've been able to run our critical enterprise application as a centrally managed service that can run anywhere it needs to the moment it is needed. We have been able to reduce on-going operational costs associated with desktop administration for users outside our primary operational facilities.”

“There's a lot of talk about the promise of on-demand computing,” said Anthony Lackey, CTO, ABM Industries, the largest facilities services contractor with more than 65,000 employees and $1.8 billion revenue. “Most of it involves the costly and time consuming re-writing of applications. SoftGrid 3.0 delivers it immediately - with today's applications - and without having to re-write a single line of code.”

“Softricity's SoftGrid is transforming the way we deploy and update our ACBS application in our internal environment,” said Paul Little, configuration manager, Fidelity National Financial, a Fortune 500 company and the nation's largest title insurance organization. “Before, we had to set up and maintain separate severs to provide access to the various versions of our application. With SoftGrid, we can run any version of our application on any server, at the same time. Not only does this save us time and money, it has enabled us to consolidate on fewer servers—and respond much more quickly to end user needs."

"Organizations are increasingly looking for ways to virtualize their software environment and allow their IT infrastructure to be seen as highly manageable, robust and reliable,” said Dan Kusnetzky, IDC's vice president of system software research. "Software which virtualizes application deployment and allows those applications to be seen as services that workers can utilize as needed, such as Softricity's SoftGrid, clearly supports that trend. This is likely to reduce critical staff-related costs for software installation, applying software updates, and asset management, and produce a reduction in the organization's total cost of ownership."

“IT organizations that need to do more with less should take a look at SoftGrid 3.0,” said Steve Lewis, general manager, .NET, Microsoft. “By making it easy to turn existing Windows applications into on-demand services, and also run them within .NET environments, SoftGrid helps enterprises increase the value of existing investments while significantly improving the agility of their IT infrastructure with new .NET applications.”

SoftGrid 3.0

Without any re-programming, SoftGrid transforms Windows applications from products that must be installed locally into virtual services that are centrally configured, managed, and deployed on-demand. Since first launching in 2002, SoftGrid has been successfully deployed in more than 70 implementations worldwide, helping enterprises accelerate their entire application management process, from delivery and upgrades through patches and terminations.

SoftGrid 3.0 takes this to the next level by extending on-demand computing to mobile and offline users, enabling them to access software-as-a-service anytime, from anywhere.

Enhancements

Major new features in SoftGrid 3.0 include:

• Mobile User Support

Allows IT to centrally deploy and manage applications to laptop users—even if they’re not connected to the network. Provides full application functionality by delivering and caching 100% of the code to the laptop. IT maintains license compliance even when users are disconnected with a configurable timeout threshold, after which time applications stop functioning.

• Microsoft Active Directory and NT Domain Support

Leverages Microsoft directories to fully centralize application management.

• SoftGrid Management .NET Web Service

Management of applications, users, license compliance, and reporting is accomplished via a .NET web service which can integrate into a range of third party systems management tools, including the Microsoft Management Console and Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) management console.

• Patch Package Updates

Ability to easily add new patches to existing SoftGrid-enabled applications without having to repackage the application for on-demand delivery.

Benefits

By turning applications into on-demand computing utilities, SoftGrid 3.0 provides the following benefits:

• Accelerates Application Deployment

Deploys applications on-demand in real-time with no installation and minimal regression testing. SoftGrid customers routinely deploy applications in one-quarter of the typical time.

• Centralizes Management of all types of Applications

Enables all applications—even graphic and processor-intensive applications—to run as services in heterogeneous environments that include Windows desktops, laptops and server-based computing.

• Reduces Administrative and Capital Costs

Lowers costs by compressing each step of the application management process, reducing the time IT spends on application and end-user support, consolidating the number of servers needed, and increasing license compliance. One SoftGrid customer anticipates a 400% reduction in IT desktop support costs.

• Enhances Application Security

Virtualized applications reduce exposure to viruses and external attacks.

• Solves Application Complexity Problems

Eliminates all application conflicts, enabling any application to run on any client and multiple versions of the same application to run on the same computer at the same time.

• Improves Software Asset Management and License Compliance

Gives IT greater control over software assets by deploying applications only to users with rights-to-access and tracking usage to ensure compliance.

• Increases Responsiveness

Enables IT to respond in real-time to changes with users and applications.

How SoftGrid Works

SoftGrid deploys applications via Softricity’s patented application virtualization technology — a protective run-time “sandbox” environment. This allows applications to execute without being installed and without altering the host computer, enabling any application to run side-by-side with any other application on the same computer.

SoftGridÂ’s innovative on-demand delivery technology delivers small portions of application code in real-time on an as-needed basis. A local, protected cache ensures that code only needs to be delivered once, regardless of how many times itÂ’s used.

“Bringing utility computing to the application level results in very tangible cost savings and efficiencies,” said Harry Ruda, CEO, Softricity. “By extending support to mobile users with SoftGrid 3.0, we’re helping IT easily manage their entire application and user universe, regardless of network connections or application bandwidth requirements. Customers are telling us this is exactly what they need to reap the benefits of centrally managed, globally accessible, dynamic computing.”

Pricing and Availability

SoftGrid 3.0 is priced per concurrent user. Basic solutions start at approximately $15,000. SoftGrid is available through Softricity and its Partners. For a complete list of SoftGrid reseller partners visit http://www.softricity.com/partners/index.asp

Learn More

Softricity will be holding two webinars on November 17th, 2003 to introduce SoftGrid 3.0. Participants can learn about the new features of this product, hear from Softricity executives and see a live demo of the product.

To access the webinars, click on the following links:
10 am EST
3 pm EST

Audio for both events: USA: 888-604-5272; IntÂ’l: 908-228-5040; Reference Softricity 3.0 Launch

About Softricity:

Softricity® helps enterprises simplify and accelerate their entire software management and deployment with SoftGrid® — the industry's first application virtualization solution — reliably and cost-effectively for past, present and future applications. SoftGrid transforms Windows applications from products that must be installed locally into network services that are centrally configured, managed, and deployed on-demand to desktops, laptops and Citrix/Terminal Services servers — preventing application conflicts, eliminating regression testing and increasing change management responsiveness. By streamlining deployment, upgrades, patches and terminations, SoftGrid saves companies tremendous time and money, increases quality of service and provides the flexibility needed for today's dynamic business environment. Softricity has a multiyear Strategic Alliance with Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq "MSFT"), is a Microsoft Terminal Services Industry Partner and is a Citrix (Nasdaq "CTXS") Business Alliance Premier Member. More information can be found by visiting the Softricity Web site at http://www.softricity.com