GroundWork Monitor 5.3

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—February 10, 2009—GroundWork Open Source, Inc. (www.groundworkopensource.com), the leader in commercial open source systems and network management software, today announced the general availability of GroundWork Monitor 5.3. The latest version of GroundWork Monitor includes updated open source components and improvements to scalability, maintainability and operational intelligence, while also reducing subscription costs per monitored device.

“Since the release of GroundWork Monitor 5.2 last year, nearly 50% of our customer base are now enterprise deployments,” said Simon Bennett, senior director of product management for GroundWork Open Source. “We’ve responded to these customers by focusing GroundWork Monitor 5.3 to meet the needs of demanding IT environments.”

Release 5.3 updates all versions of the GroundWork Monitor product family, from the free GroundWork Monitor Community Edition to the subscription-based GroundWork Monitor Professional and Enterprise products, with enhancements specifically targeted at larger, more complex IT environments.

Key benefits include:

• Nagios 3.0.6 and upgrades to other key open source components, including MySQL, RRDtool, PHP and BIRT
• Increased scalability by 50% - 100%, depending upon configuration
• Enhanced maintainability via the BitRock Network Service, which notifies of available patches, updates, and technical bulletins
• New operational intelligence reporting for enhanced capacity planning and bottleneck identification
• More sophisticated scheduling and notification for multi-time zone data center operations
• Because GroundWork Monitor 5.3 increases the number of devices managed by a single subscription, and avoids per-node licensing, users can now monitor more devices for no additional cost

According to Gartner, "With budgets shrinking, there is an increasing probability that many IT management consumers will opt for products that can be implemented quickly, lower initial costs and lower total cost of ownership (TCO). Organizations will choose competitively priced products that include open-source management (OSM) products, among others, to meet the needs of several tiers of service-level requirements…, Gartner urges IT organizations to begin this analysis now — before senior management dictates less-favorable options for those tasked with managing the data center and associated environments.” ¹

To Learn More

To learn more about what’s new in GroundWork Monitor 5.3, attend a webcast, and download GroundWork Monitor 5.3 Community Edition, please visit: http://www.groundworkopensource.com/products/whats-new-5.3.html

1) Gartner, Inc. "How to Determine Whether You Can Afford More Infrastructure Risk" by Cameron Haight and Raymond Paquet, January 27, 2009

About GroundWork

San Francisco-based GroundWork Open Source, Inc. (http://www.groundworkopensource.com) is the market leader in commercial open source network and systems management software, delivering enterprise-class network, system and application management solutions at a fraction of the cost of proprietary solutions.

GroundWork's best of breed approach gives customers the flexibility to use diverse open source and proprietary technologies together under a unified interface, allowing users to leverage the advantages of open source while simultaneously preserving existing investments in legacy management tools. GroundWork’s solutions are in use at organizations like Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, SAIC, Seton Hall University, Siemens, and World Bank. GroundWork’s solutions are available from GroundWork, its partners including Red Hat, Unisys, Fujitsu, and a worldwide network of channel partners. The company is privately held, with investments from Canaan Partners, Mayfield Fund, JAFCO Ventures and SAP Ventures.

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Media Contact:

David Dennis
GroundWork Open Source
415-992-4501