OPEN Acquires NerveCenter from VERITAS Software, Becomes Network Security Management Leader

The NerveCenter network management product complements SystemWatch(TM), OPEN's current security management offering. "This deal will make the natural fusion of security and network event correlation management possible," says Matthew Kovar, Director, Security Solutions & Services, at The Yankee Group.

Under the terms of the agreement, OPEN acquires the NerveCenter event correlation and root-cause analysis technology, gains a Fortune 500 customer base and an established reseller channel, and captures a valuable revenue stream. VERITAS Software will actively assist in the transition of the product to OPEN by providing support and development resources.

"OPEN is well positioned to continue developing the NerveCenter technology to grow and enhance the product, and to meet the support needs of our customers and channel partners," said Kris Hagerman, senior vice president of strategic operations, VERITAS Software.
"We are dedicated to supporting our customers and to extending both the NerveCenter and SystemWatch product families," said Brad Hebert, OPEN's president and CEO. "We are well equipped to immediately answer the challenging business needs of our customers by delivering a better way to proactively and securely manage their mission-critical security and network assets."

"NerveCenter's SNMP event correlation and root-cause analysis capability, along with SystemWatch's intelligent agent technology, is a powerful and unique offering that delivers an out-of-the-box implementation providing a superior platform for enterprise security event management," adds Matthew Kovar of The Yankee Group. "This advanced system functionality will now enable all enterprises to regain control of their network security exposure in real time."

Both NerveCenter and SystemWatch collect and consolidate events, filtering to illuminate and forward only the significant events to management consoles, allowing enterprises to leverage existing management software investments.

"EMA views integrated security and infrastructure management as a high growth area over the next two to five years," says Dennis Drogseth, a vice president with Enterprise Management Associates, a technology analyst firm. "This trend will enable a more systemic approach to security management, as well as integrate security events, such as DoS, more effectively into broader infrastructure availability and performance. OPEN's acquisition of NerveCenter will bring compelling and distinctive advantages to users seeking a more integrated and systemic approach to security and infrastructure control."

About NerveCenter

NerveCenter is the industry's leading root-cause analysis and event correlation solution, enabling network professionals to focus on truly important network problems. NerveCenter helps maximize network availability and performance by using sophisticated behavior models to filter through voluminous network, systems and applications information, pinpointing critical problems and automatically launching appropriate corrective actions based on customer-defined policies.

Through NerveCenter's integration with leading enterprise management platforms from CA, HP, Micromuse and Tivoli, events from many diverse sources can now be correlated to identify the root cause of problems that previously required operator analysis. Typical installations range from $30,000 for mid-size businesses to $100,000 for larger businesses.

About SystemWatch

SystemWatch is a complete solution that fully automates the management of security applications and appliances from security vendors such as Check Point, Nokia, ISS, Cisco, Symantec and Nortel. The SystemWatch products enable leading Managed Security Service Providers and enterprises to collect and consolidate heterogeneous security events. SystemWatch has achieved OPSEC (Open Platform for Secure Enterprise Connectivity) Certification from Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd. Typical installations range from $30,000 for mid-size businesses to $100,000 for larger businesses.

About OPEN

OPEN (OpenService, Inc.) is the premier provider of network security management solutions that anticipate potential security breaches and proactively ensure network availability and performance. This allows enterprises and service providers to continuously protect and manage mission-critical business information. As a privately held company, OPEN has received venture funding from Zesiger Capital Group, 1to1 Venture Partners, Hudson Venture Partners, LibertyView Equity Partners, Blue Rock Capital, First Albany Corporation and the New York State Science and Technology Foundation. Based in Westborough, Massachusetts, OPEN has offices in California, Georgia, Michigan and New York, and distributors in the United Kingdom and Germany.