nCircle Streamlines Risk Remediation Workflow with Support for Remedy(R) and Other 3rd Party Enterprise Ticketing Systems

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — September 28, 2005 — nCircle, the leading provider of enterprise-class vulnerability and risk management solutions, announced today its Remedy Help Desk Connector and Custom Ticketing System Connector, with the launch of nCircle IP360 version 6.5. The solutions provide bi-directional integration of the nCircle IP360 vulnerability and risk management system with popular trouble ticketing systems generally used by large enterprises to manage risk remediation tasks. These solutions enable enterprises to make the most of their investments in help desk systems and reduce the need for additional training of staff.

The Remedy Help Desk Connector provides a packaged, off-the-shelf integration with the popular Remedy Help Desk system that is easy to install with only minor configuration changes. The Custom Ticketing System Connector enables customers to integrate other ticketing systems utilizing nCircle’s Professional Services. nCircle also continues to support IP360’s built-in remediation workflow system for companies that do not have a corporate standard ticketing system.

“Workflow system support by vulnerability management system providers is becoming more important as the need for proactive risk management and remediation grows,” said Paul Proctor, Vice President at Gartner, Inc. “Integrating prioritized vulnerability and risk data with trouble ticketing systems enables enterprises to more effectively address the vulnerability management lifecycle from detection through remediation.”

The integration of IP360 with Remedy and other ticketing systems employs a first of its kind bi-directional integration. When prioritized risk remediation tasks from nCircle IP360 are closed by the ticketing system, IP360 automatically re-scans the target system to ensure the risk is no longer present. This is particularly important in security risk management, where, for example, a software patch may be improperly installed but security staff is unaware that the risk remains un-remediated. nCircle’s bi-directional integration ensures that such errors are immediately identified and addressed, further minimizing security risk on a network.

“The Remedy Help Desk Connector and Custom Ticketing System Connector are another step in our drive to help customers proactively reduce risk on their networks with optimal operational effectiveness,” said Elizabeth Ireland, vice president of marketing at nCircle. “Many of our enterprise customers have made significant investments in trouble ticketing solutions and we’re pleased to help them leverage these investments with IP360 to meet their goals of securing their networks from attack.”

The Remedy Help Desk Connector and Custom Ticketing System Connector are available immediately with version 6.5 of nCircle IP360 vulnerability and risk management system.

About nCircle IP360

nCircle IP360 is an enterprise-class vulnerability and risk management system that proactively drives cost-effective network risk reduction. IP360 is appliance-based for ease of deployment and administration, and is Common Criteria (ISO 15408) certified. nCircle IP360 version 6.5 is available immediately and offered with both purchase and subscription pricing.

About nCircle

nCircle is the leading provider of enterprise-class vulnerability and risk management solutions. Global enterprises in the financial services, insurance, government, manufacturing and services industries rely on nCircle to protect their business critical networks. nCircle’s complete lifecycle vulnerability management solutions enable enterprises to find and eliminate vulnerabilities before they can be exploited, ensure security policy compliance and meaningfully measure and manage business risk. The company, located in San Francisco, CA, is privately held and VC funded. Additional information about nCircle is available at www.ncircle.com.

nCircle is a registered trademark and FactoredReasoning™ is a trademark of nCircle Network Security, Inc. All other registered or unregistered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.

For more information, please contact:

Lauren Dineen-Duarte
High Road Communications
416-368-8348, ext. 254
ldineenduarte@highroad.com

In response to demands upon independent adjusters from Hurricane Katrina, Marshall & Swift/Boeckh (MS/B), a supplier of local building cost information, residential and commercial property valuation technology and services for the property and casualty insurance sector, has extended its help desk hours. Its fully staffed technical support is now available weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. CST and on weekends from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The help desk can be reached toll free at 888-337-9665.

Business Objects Selects Knova to Automate Service Resolution across Customer Service Channels

Global Leader in Business Intelligence Deploys Knova to Streamline Customer Service

Cupertino, CA, September 20, 2005 - Knova Software (OTC Bulletin Board: KNVS), a leading provider of service resolution management applications, today announced that Business Objects, the world’s leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, will deploy Knova’s award-winning application suite for customer service. Business Objects will implement Knova to create a highly effective customer service infrastructure for its 30,000 customers worldwide.

Knova will help Business Objects transform its knowledge repositories into an enterprise-wide knowledge backbone for its large support organization. Using Knova’s powerful search and KM technologies combined with rich customer service applications and true business process support, Business Objects will enable its customers to help themselves while also empowering peer support via integrated customer communities.

“We evaluated several solutions in the market and found that Knova offered the most complete solution to help us deliver exceptional service to our customers worldwide,” said David Galloway, vice president of worldwide customer support for Business Objects. “Knova delivers powerful packaged solutions for personalized self-service and collaborative support communities. The combination of integrated collaboration functionality, business process support, and flexible authoring made it the optimal choice for us.”

In phase one of its deployment, Business Objects has integrated Knova Forums and Knova Self-Service to create a highly effective self-service experience. Knova enables customers to do far more than just search on forum threads. In addition to integrating forum content into the self-service experience, Knova can support a seamless escalation process from self-service to forums to the support center. In addition, Knova Forums is self-learning and adaptive to the expertise and reputation of different forum contributors.

In addition to a diagnostic, natural language search engine and an intuitive interface, Knova Self-Service provides business process support called “Resolution Wizards” that guide customers to the right tools, knowledge, and next steps based on the context of their query. Using these business process workflows, Knova Self-Service guides customers through the resolution process.

“Business Objects is known for the excellence of both its business intelligence applications and its exceptional customer support organization. With an industry leading product platform and a growing customer base, the need to continue to deliver exceptional customer service is paramount,” said Bruce Armstrong, CEO of Knova. “We are delighted that Business Objects has selected Knova’s service resolution management applications for customer service and look forward to a strong partnership.”

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world’s leading business intelligence (BI) software company. With more than 30,000 customers worldwide, including over 80 percent of the Fortune 500, Business Objects helps organizations gain better insight into their business, improve decision-making, and optimize enterprise performance. The company’s business intelligence platform, BusinessObjects™ XI, offers the BI industry’s most advanced and complete platform for performance management, planning, reporting, query and analysis, and data integration. BusinessObjects XI includes Crystal Reports®, the industry standard for enterprise reporting. Business Objects has built the industry’s strongest and most diverse partner community, and also offers consulting and education services to help customers effectively deploy their business intelligence projects. Business Objects has dual headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and Paris, France. The company’s stock is traded on both the Nasdaq (BOBJ) and Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR0004026250 - BOB) stock exchanges. More information about Business Objects can be found at www.businessobjects.com.

About Knova 6.5

Knova 6.5, Knova’s award-winning application suite is built on a next-generation search and knowledge management platform. Knova 6.5 applications include:

• Knova Contact Center: An assisted-service application that automates the resolution process for customer service agents and support analysts
• Knova Self-Service: A next-generation self-service application that enables customers to help themselves with a personalized, proactive self-service experience
• Knova Forums: An integrated forums application for peer-service that enables customers to help each other while providing valuable feedback
• Knova Field Service: A knowledge-empowered mobile support application that enables service professionals to quickly resolve customer issues on-site
• Knova Knowledge Desk: A robust knowledge management solution that empowers service desks to quickly resolve problems and questions

About Knova Software

Knova Software is a leading provider of service resolution management applications that reduce service costs, increase revenues and improve customer satisfaction. Built on a next-generation search and knowledge management platform, Knova’s suite of knowledge-empowered customer service applications automate the resolution process across multiple channels including contact centers, help desks, email and self-service sites. Industry leaders including EDS, Ford, HP, H&R Block, Novell, Merrill Lynch, McAfee, Reuters and QUALCOMM rely on Knova’s award-winning solutions to deliver world-class customer service. Knova Software is headquartered in Cupertino, Calif. For more information, visit www.knova.com.

Knova Software, Knova, Knova 6, Knova 6.5, Knova Contact Center, Knova Self-Service, Knova Forums, Knova Field Service and Knova Knowledge Desk are trademarks of Knova Software, Inc. Business Objects and the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, and Crystal Reports are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects S.A. or its affiliated companies in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.

Under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, statements in this press release that are not historical facts, including those statements that refer to Knova Software’s plans, prospects, expectations, strategies, intentions, hopes and beliefs and the expected benefits of the use of Knova’s products are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts and are only estimates or predictions. Actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Any forward-looking statements are based on information available to the company today and the company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of future events, new information, or otherwise.

CONTACTS:
Michele Mehl
Knova Software/CDW Public Relations
425-205-9444
michele.mehl@knova.com

Al Palombo
Knova Software, Investor Relations
Cameron Associates
212-554-5488
al@cameronassoc.com

New tools improve ability to track rebates, manage contracts and develop audit bid certifications

TEMPE, Arizona - Aug. 17, 2005

Avnet Partner Solutions, Americas, the leading value-added distributor of enterprise servers, storage, software and services, and a division of Avnet Inc. (NYSE: AVT), today announced it received the “Best Partnering Award” from HP. The award recognizes the role partnering plays in enabling HP OpenView solutions to be brought to market. During the past year, Avnet Partner Solutions has provided a variety of services to solution providers, resulting in a 45 percent annual increase in HP OpenView solutions delivered by Avnet partners to end users.

Avnet Partner Solutions has a suite of services designed specifically to help partners grow their HP OpenView business. Avnet’s HP OpenView services include pre-sales and post-sales support in OpenView Network Node Manager, Operations and Service Desk, technical phone support, product demonstrations via Avnet’s online demonstration capabilities and Avnet’s HP Solution Center, and professional services for software implementations.

“With a variety of services that allow partners to enter new markets and provide value without adding expenses, Avnet Partner Solutions has helped many reseller partners grow faster,” said Jim Kleeman, vice president and general manager of Avnet Partner Solutions, Americas, HP Business Unit. “Receiving the ‘Best Partnering’ award is extremely gratifying and demonstrates the value of our services in helping our partners grow their businesses.”

“Avnet has always been there for us whether we needed help with product demonstrations, marketing support or even implementation services,” said Jeff Jamieson, vice president, sales, Whitlock Infrastructure Solutions. “They understand our business and how to help us take advantage of opportunities, making it easy for us to get into new markets and serve our customers better.”

Additionally, Avnet Partner Solutions’ efforts contributed to its reseller partners’ receiving more than 15 awards from HP, ranging from “Best Solutions Development Partner” to “Individual Sales Champion.” Tim FitzGerald, director of marketing for Avnet Partner Solutions, HP Business Unit, commented, “Avnet is delighted to see our partners recognized for the value they bring to market with HP software, and we’re proud of the association we have with these companies and HP.”

“This award recognizes Avnet’s ability to add support services to HP’s leading OpenView technology to help reseller partners make the most of growth opportunities and succeed in the marketplace,” said Tom LaRocca, vice president of partner development and programs at HP.

About Avnet Partner Solutions, Americas

Avnet Partner Solutions, Americas is an industry-leading, value-added distributor and provider of enterprise servers, storage, software and services, with operations in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Avnet Partner Solutions provides solutions from industry-leading manufacturers including Computer Associates, EMC, HP, IBM, Microsoft, NEC, Network Appliance, Oracle, StorageTek and VERITAS– driving growth for partners and manufacturers. Avnet Partner Solutions is a division of the Avnet Technology Solutions operating group of Avnet Inc. For more information, visit www.aps.avnet.com.

Avnet enables success from the center of the technology industry, providing cost-effective services and solutions vital to a broad base of more than 100,000 customers and 250 suppliers. The company markets, distributes and adds value to a wide variety of electronic components, enterprise computer products and embedded subsystems. Through its premier market position, Avnet brings a breadth and depth of capabilities that help its trading partners accelerate growth and realize cost efficiencies. Avnet and the company it acquired in July 2005, Memec Group Holdings Limited, together generated more than $13 billion in revenue in the past year through sales in 68 countries.

Visit: www.avnet.com.

Product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

CONTACT:
Avnet Technology Solutions
Michelle Gorel, 480-794-6943
michelle.gorel@avnet.com

Customer Service

tags: customer service

According to a new study by Accenture, the primary reason people switch from one mobile phone carrier to another is due to poor customer service. This flies in the face of people who think most mobile phone consumers are price sensitive over everything else.

According to the Accenture study:
Nearly half (49%) of the more than 2000 USA and UK consumers surveyed said poor service led them to change service providers in at least one industry in the past year. When asked to further explain their reasons for switching, the greatest number of these respondents (61%) identified poor service or product quality, to get lower prices (46%), a service representative’s lack of knowledge about a provider’s services or products (39%), lack of customized solutions (22%), company policies that create bureaucracy (19%), and technologies that delay or stop service (19%).

Read more at cellular-news.com.

First Contact And Customer Management Solution To Provide User Options For Seamless Online/Offline Information Access

Business productivity choice of millions now enables secure, real-time Web access to centralized data with industry’s most flexible deployment and administration options

Scottsdale, Ariz. - June 28, 2005

Sage Software, maker of market leading ACT! contact and customer management products, today introduced ACT! Premium for Web 2005, to provide real-time online access to centralized customer data for remote, traveling and onsite sales professionals and workgroups. ACT! Premium for Web 2005 leverages the feature-rich toolset that has made ACT! the preferred choice of over 2.3 million users since 1987. Users can now run ACT! Premium for Web for online access and ACT! Premium for Workgroups 2005 as a full-featured offline client. Combined, the products create the first and only contact and customer management solution to provide a seamless online and offline user experience with Web, desktop or mixed deployment.

“We developed ACT! Premium for Web 2005 to deliver greater deployment flexibility and user productivity at the lowest total cost of ownership when compared head-to-head with hosted alternatives,” said Joe Bergera, senior vice president and general manager for Sage Software Contact Management Solutions. “Our philosophy of real-time, centralized customer data lets users access information however they wish, whether they’re running ACT! on the Web, their desktops or from remote locations, allowing a true work-as-desired environment.”1

Organizations using ACT! Premium for Web 2005 can realize up to 60% lower total cost of ownership over alternatives such as Salesforce.com Professional edition, while keeping complete ownership of their valuable customer data, avoiding ongoing subscription fees and benefiting from the ability to add users, capacity and storage as needed to optimize their business.2

“Sage has delivered an interesting contact management solution for users who are still wary of storing their data with hosted solutions providers,” said Denis Pombriant, managing principal of Beagle Research Group. “Sales force automation and CRM solutions that have a feature-rich heritage and can leverage centralized data sources via the Web to keep data assets in-house and easily accessible provide another option for companies of all sizes that are becoming involved in CRM.”

Anytime, anywhere access to customer data

ACT! helps sales and marketing professionals track opportunities, close sales, and manage customer relationships by streamlining the communications and tasks required for successful relationship selling.

ACT! Premium for Web 2005 expands the reach and simplicity of the feature-rich ACT! toolset with Web-based access so sales professionals and corporate workgroups in any location, at any time can:

• Work with easy-to-use and time-tested features that can be customized for individual and industry-specific preferences;
• Increase productivity by efficiently managing appointments, activities, documents, customer communications and campaigns and notes/histories;
• Improve bottom-line results by automating and customizing key aspects of the sales cycle to provide better forecasting and opportunity tracking;
• Access data quickly using keyword searches, detailed views and list sorting;
• Organize data efficiently using group, sub-group and company categories;
• Collaborate with team members using Web or Windows permission-based access to customer information, team calendars and company resources.

Most flexible deployment and security options

ACT! Premium for Web 2005 is built on the ACT! 2005 framework, developed using .NET, and uses a centrally administered server that resides securely behind a company’s firewall and updates customer data in real time – eliminating the need for remote synchronization and end-user software installation. The product can be deployed easily in single-server, dual-server or multiple architecture scenarios to support an organization’s precise performance and security preferences.

ACT! Premium for Web 2005 works in conjunction with ACT! Premium for Workgroups 2005 and, combined, the products function as the industry’s only contact and customer management solution that lets users work online and offline seamlessly without sacrificing features, performance and security. With ACT! Premium for Workgroups 2005, users can also synchronize their contact data with many Palm, Pocket PC and BlackBerry handheld devices.

Simple administration

ACT! Premium for Web 2005 servers allow administrators to quickly and easily add new users and set individual and group data access permissions. The system also provides an automatic software update option, so end users can receive new features instantly.

Administrators can customize screen layouts and reports easily by creating customizations once and rolling them out seamlessly to all desired users.

Synergy between the ACT! Web and Windows products helps reduce training and support time for new users, as many Windows users can adapt quickly to the familiar ACT! environment online and the products’ similar and intuitive interfaces help new users quickly learn how to use features and embrace the ACT! experience.

ACT! from Sage Software

ACT! Premium for Web 2005 further expands the Sage Software portfolio of easy-to-use, flexible and affordable customer relationship management solutions for small and medium-sized businesses that also includes ACT! Premium for Workgroups 2005, Sage CRM and the SalesLogix CRM Suite.

ACT! Premium for Web 2005 is available through the ACT! Corporate Licensing Team for $399.99 (upgrade licenses $259.95) by phoning 888-855-5222, and from more than 400 ACT! Certified Consultants located at www.act.com/certifiedconsultants.

ACT! Premium for Workgroups 2005 is available for $399.99 (upgrade $259.95).

(1)To access ACT! Premium for Web 2005 data through an offline client requires licenses of both ACT! Premium for Web 2005 and ACT! Premium for Workgroups 2005.

(2)TCO comparison of ACT! Premium for Web 2005 and Salesforce.com Professional edition is based on three year licensing scenario comparing user implementation ranges for 5 to 50 users. Costs are based on list prices for both products as of May 2005, as well as yearly update costs and server hardware costs for ACT! They do not include any ACT! volume or promotional discounts or potential Salesforce.com promotional offers.

About Sage Software (formerly Best Software)
Sage Software offers leading business management products and services that support the needs, challenges and dreams of more than 2.4 million small and mid-sized customers in North America. Its parent company, The Sage Group plc (London: SGE.L), supports 4.5 million customers worldwide. For more than 25 years, Sage Software has delivered easy-to-use, scalable and customizable applications through its portfolio of leading brands, including Abra, ACCPAC, ACT!, BusinessWorks, CPASoftware, FAS, MAS 90, MAS 200, MAS 500, MIP, Peachtree, SalesLogix, and Timberline Office, among many others. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.bestsoftware.com/moreinfo or call (866) 308-BEST.

Brentwood, Essex June 15, 2005 — LogicNow have released a Windows Operating System (OS) version of PerlDesk, a leading browser based help desk solution. The Windows version allows users to install PerlDesk for local, intranet or internet use allowing for a fully scalable help desk solution.

PerlDesk is a fully featured help desk management product, this release will allow a greater audience to experience the benefits of PerlDesk and utilize it on a Windows based OS. The tailored Windows version offers many benefits to the standard source distribution:

* Less dependencies, users only need to install MySQL, a database server to use with PerlDesk, allowing for a quicker deployment.
* Easy Installation via a self extracting archive.
* High performance local help desk solutions for an intranet or internet with POP3 email management.

“This is a landmark release for PerlDesk,” said John Bennett, CEO for LogicNow “We now offer users a solution to install PerlDesk easily on a Windows OS and take advantage of a browser based help desk management application for the network or internet.”

The current release of PerlDesk is available from the PerlDesk site, www.perldesk.com, and can be downloaded on-line. For further information, please contact LogicNow sales (sales@logicnow.com) 312-224-4676.

About LogicNow:

LogicNow currently has a global customer base for it’s software solutions, focusing on web based communication and client management solutions. LogicNow provides software solutions for small organizations to large international companies.

Launched in 2001, LogicNow LTD is an Essex based privately funded company registered in England and Wales. www.logicnow.com.

Contact:
John Bennett
LogicNow Limited
pr@logicnow.com
www.logicnow.com

PerlDesk and LogicNow are registered trademarks of LogicNow Limited. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

3am Labs has extended it’s line of remote management products with their Web-based help desk platform which allows administrators to gain control of a remote system to resolve problems without having to preinstall any software.

The system is called LogMeIn Rescue. It allows either technicians or users to initiate a session through a Web site, where a small applet is downloaded to the user’s local computer system. The applet enables temporary remote access. The complete remote support process is permissions-based: End-users must explicitly give permission to technicians for capabilities such as remote view, remote control, file transfer, and access to system information.

Once connected to the remote system, technicians gain a view of all system information — including running services and processes, installed applications, and recent technical events — allowing them to check a system’s overall health.

Pupcake just posted something in the Yahoo! Customer Service Forum about Yahoo’s spectactular overseas help desk people. It appears that pupcake was trying to let Yahoo! know about a small glitch in their new Yahoo News upgrade. Apparently the level one “techs” that reside overseas are not looking to get that problem fixed.

We are happy to announce that Alameda Yacht Charters will be using the SupportSentry Web Support PRO customer service software on their new yacht charter website. WebSupport’s easy setup, web based configuration and robust ticketing and email system was perfect for Alameda’s website customer service needs.