MARKET DEMAND PUSHES COMPREHENSIVE NETWORK MANAGEMENT INTO THE FOREFRONT 

Pacific Bell Taps Integrated Solution for In-House Use; Launches New LAN
Management Service

SAN FRANCISCO, October 28, 1992 -- The market's push for integrated network
management tools has led to the emergence of Comprehensive Network
management as an essential technology for companies seeking to manage key
network resources, according to ISICAD, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company and
Remedy Corporation.

First demonstrated at Fall Interop in October 1991, Comprehensive Network
Management has matured from an innovative vision and collaborative
technological alliance to a deliverable solution. This is evidenced by
Pacific Bell's decision to use the Comprehensive Network Management system
as the basis of its LAN management service, in addition to utilizing the
technology to manage several of its own internal LANs. 

"With the increasing requirements of interoperability between LANs from
multiple vendors and LAN-WAN interconnections, the search for
Comprehensive Network Management tools has become a top network management
priority," said Mike Upp, vice president of marketing at ISICAD, the
pioneering company behind the Comprehensive Network Management concept.

According to a survey of 1,750 network managers conducted by Business
Research Group, over 80 percent of respondents are looking for products
that provide the ability to view and manage the total universe of network
devices from a single integrated management system.

"Network managers have been struggling with isolated tools for too long.
This integration of powerful products from ISICAD, Remedy, and HP is a
welcome development for managers," said John McConnell, vice president of
Infonetics Research,

Comprehensive Network Management is based on three key technologies from
ISICAD, Inc., HP and Remedy Corporation. This innovative solution is
comprised of ISICAD's COMMAND physical network management software
package, HP OpenView logical network management system and help-desk
capabilities based on Remedy's Action Request System technology, all
integrated on a single management station. Comprehensive Network
Management allows companies to solve network management problems quickly,
minimize downtime and improve network management, diagnostics and repair
activities.

Pacific Bell's Service Business Unit to Increase Accessibility

"Comprehensive Network Management has transitioned from a cutting-edge
product philosophy championed by ISICAD, HP and Remedy to a deliverable
solution as illustrated by Pacific Bell's use of the product," said Upp.

Pacific Bell has enhanced its presence in the LAN management services
market by adding to its capabilities with Comprehensive Network
Management. "We have long viewed network management as a service that we
could provide to new and existing customers. We did not believe, however,
that it was a viable option without the proper technology and tools. We
felt that the tools were not sufficiently integrated to allow us to
efficiently manage networks remotely until ISICAD, HP and Remedy
synthesized their technologies into Comprehensive Network Management,"
said Sam Mathan, executive director of network integration at Pacific
Bell's Data Communications Group.

There is a developing trend for companies to put network management into
the hands of third-party vendors instead of building that expertise
internally. Today's corporations are downsizing. Cost-cutting has become a
major corporate goal, leading companies to increasingly outsource their
computer needs to reduce operating costs. According to the Business
Research Group, this growing service market is pegged to become a $9.6
billion industry in 1995, with 20 percent of all companies outsourcing
their network administration needs.

Upp explained that Pacific Bell's decision to deploy Comprehensive Network
Management goes beyond that of offering the technology to its customer
base. "Pacific Bell will use Comprehensive Network Management to ensure
that the components of several of their key networks are properly
managed," said Upp. "A number of companies are already taking advantage of
Comprehensive Network Management to oversee their own in-house networks.
We foresee a continued trend in this direction highlighted by an explosive
growth of companies taking advantage of Comprehensive Network Management
as they tap into Pacific Bell's service offering."

Evolution Has Been User Driven

The evolution of Comprehensive Network Management has been user-driven as
companies realize a need for tools that can work together to manage
networks as they grow in size and complexity. A recent survey by
Infonetics Research asked network managers to forecast their environment
in 1995. Most felt that their already complex networks would grow even
more intricate. Respondents anticipate a 54 percent increase in the number
of computers attached to the network and a 150 percent increase in the
number of LANs and number of interconnect devices attached to those LANs.
These same network managers anticipate zero growth in staff to handle
these more complicated networks, indicating that companies will rely upon
increasingly sophisticated and efficient management tools to manage their
continually growing networks.

"Companies want and need to manage their networks through an integrated
system," said Upp. "Tying these three technologies together enables
companies to receive more value than any individual system could provide
and allows them to manage the entire network from a single workstation."

Company Background

Pacific Bell's Data Communications Group, working in conjunction with joint
marketing affiliates and customers' designated long-distance carriers,
offers products, applications and services for complete network
integration solutions.

Remedy Corporation is a developer and supplier of foundation applications
that improve the quality of support processes for systems and network
management, help-desk capabilities and defect tracking.

HP OpenView offers users integrated network- and system-management for
multivendor distributed-computing environments. HP OpenView solutions
consist of a broad portfolio of application-software products from HP and
other vendors and a complete set of services that help customers reduce
network-operation costs. HP OpenView is installed in more than 11,000
networks around the world.

ISICAD, Inc. is a leading developer of graphics-based, fully integrated
information management systems and is the dominant supplier in the
fast-growing market of physical network management systems.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
COMPREHENSIVE NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Comprehensive Network Management provides an integrated software system
that improves key aspects of network management, allowing network managers
to solve network problems quickly, minimize downtime and improve network
management, diagnostic and troubleshooting activities. It provides an
extended set of network management tools working together on a single
workstation.

The foundation of Comprehensive Network Management is the ability to
document and manage all of the devices, equipment and their connectivity
within the network. COMMAND Physical Network Management System from
ISICAD, Inc. (Anaheim, Calif.) documents the details of the network's
physical infrastructure, including the location of both active and passive
network devices, their technical characteristics, their physical
connectivity and asset management information. COMMAND provides this
information in dynamically-linked graphical and database formats. It is
used for network layout and design, change management, troubleshooting and
inventory/asset management activities.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Hewlett-Packard Company's OpenView network and
system management products provide the basis for the management of a
network's logical components. HP OpenView monitors performance and traffic
on the network and detects and identifies problems on a real-time basis.
HP OpenView oversees the "active" or intelligent devices on the network,
such as workstations, bridges, routers and hubs. HP OpenView detects and
isolates aberrant behavior through its fault management feature and
conducts performance management tests by analyzing error rates and
throughput.

The third key element of Comprehensive Network Management is the ability to
tie in a trouble-ticketing capability to enhance the activities of
help-desk personnel. Mountain View, Calif.-based Remedy Corporation's
Action Request System (ARS) is a trouble-ticketing product that provides a
workflow process to guide users through reporting problems, then assigns
these problems to support staff, tracks their resolution, builds a
database for solving problems and notifies users when problems are
resolved.

The three working together provide an integrated system that addresses and
improves all aspects of network management across a multi-vendor network
environment. Based on continuous monitoring of the intelligent devices on
the network, HP OpenView triggers an alarm when a device goes down. This
alarm automatically launches COMMAND HelpDesk (which is based on Remedy's
Action Request System) to open a trouble ticket. HP OpenView plugs certain
data about the device into the trouble ticket while COMMAND inserts
physical data as well as an end-to-end circuit trace for all the
components connected to the specified device. COMMAND can also print out a
detailed floorplan as a map to the device's location. COMMAND HelpDesk
automatically routes the trouble ticket to the proper station or
technician and tracks its resolution. The automation of these network
management processes dramatically decreases troubleshooting time and
allows the technical support staff to be much more responsive.

With Comprehensive Network Management, network administrators have a
proactive approach to managing the physical and logical elements of the
network as well as implementing and tracking service requests, all from a
single management station. Linking these systems together demonstrates the
power of open platforms in enabling vendors to deliver more value together
than any individual solution could provide on its own.

  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
  |   From the America Online - New Product Information Services  |
  +===============================================================+
  | This information was processed from data provided by the      |
  | above mentioned company. For additional details, contact the  |
  | company at the address or telephone number indicated above.   |
  |    All submissions for this service should be addressed to    |
  |   BAKER ENTERPRISES, 20 Ferro Drive, Sewell, NJ 08080 U.S.A.  |
  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
