Open Source Network Monitoring At Interop

INTEROP, Las Vegas, NV—April 24, 2006— GroundWork, the leader in open source -based IT operations management, today announced that it has been selected as the official "Open Source Network Monitoring" provider for this year's InteropNet, the event network for Interop Las Vegas 2006, taking place April 30 - May 5 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

The InteropNet is built from scratch by more than 24 leading vendors. At Interop Las Vegas 2006, GroundWork becomes the first InteropNet provider to emphasize the power of open source network monitoring tools -- and show attendees at North America's largest IT infrastructure event of the year how open source tools can meet the monitoring demands of a full-scale, enterprise-class production environment.

"The InteropNet demonstrates how open source can be included as a component of a collaborative network management and monitoring strategy," said Glenn Evans, InteropNet Lead Network Engineer. "Customers who choose open source solutions need to understand how they integrate with other monitoring and management solutions, so that's what we've really emphasized."

The InteropNet (formerly known as the "eNet") has played a historic role in the evolution of networking technologies over the last 20 years — dating all the way back to serving as a proving ground for interoperability for TCP/IP protocols in the early days of the commercial Internet. The Interop event has a strong heritage in interoperability and open source, but this marks the first InteropNet ever with an official "Open Source Network Monitoring" provider.

This year's InteropNet represents an extremely heterogeneous network. 24 vendors are contributing equipment, software and professional services, including: APC, Apposite, Aruba, Avaya, CA, ConSentry, Coyote Point, Fluke Networks, Gigamon, IBM, Internap, Juniper Networks, MarquisNet, NetDevices, Network General, Network Physics, Qwest, Spirent, Splunk, Systimax and Tandberg.

"It's a thrill to participate in the InteropNet," said Harper Mann, Senior Technical Engineer at GroundWork. "There's no question that this is the ultimate battle ground — if your solution can stand up to the extreme interoperability requirements of the InteropNet, it can handle anything. We're honored to participate, and we're looking forward to interacting with the networking professionals in attendance and demonstrating why enterprises can't afford not to pay attention to open source network and infrastructure monitoring technologies."

GroundWork will run its own solution, GroundWork Monitor Professional, and a host of other open source monitoring software in this year's InteropNet. The company will provide SNMP console logging and alarms, performance data on router / switch / firewall interfaces -- and a 2D map, built with AJAX, on the entire InteropNet network. The result will be a comprehensive view of the InteropNet, with complete monitoring coverage, powered by open source. GroundWork will also be demonstrating GroundWork Monitor Professional in Booth #581.

About GroundWork

San Francisco-based GroundWork Open Source, Inc. (www.groundworkopensource.com) is the leader in the fast-growth market for open sourcde IT operations management software. The company integrates, enhances and develops leading open source software to deliver comprehensive IT monitoring solutions at a fraction of the cost of traditional software. With GroundWork solutions, enterprises leverage the flexibility and low cost of open source tools to achieve enterprise-level availability, performance and operational efficiency. GroundWork customers represent a variety of industries, including manufacturing, government, financial services, education, and high technology. The company is privately held, with investments from Mayfield and Canaan Partners.

About Interop

Interop, now part of the CMP Media family of global brands, has led the revolution and evolution in IP networking for the past twenty years, and is dedicated to promoting and demonstrating the interoperability of the converged network, applications and devices to seamlessly exchange and use information to address the full range of business challenges facing IT organizations today and tomorrow. As the leading destination for technology buyers and sellers, Interop has fostered the growth and evolution of the IT industry for the past two decades, and remains the most anticipated and only comprehensive IT event. Through in-depth educational programs, workshops, real-world demonstrations and live technology implementations in its unique InteropNet and InteropLabs programs, Interop provides the forum for the most powerful innovations and solutions the industry has to offer. Interop Las Vegas will take place at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, April 30-May 5, 2006, and Interop New York 2006 will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, September 18-22, 2006. For more information about these events, visit www.interop.com.