PRESS RELEASE

ASCOT, UK and SEATTLE, WA, USA. February 23, 2004 UK software house, Open Systems Management Ltd. ("OSM") today announced the release of its OSM Microsoft Interface ("OMI") software that enables its COSuser user provisioning software to integrate seamlessly with Microsoft's Identity Integration Server 2003, Enterprise Edition product (MIIS). The release means that MIIS can now be used by end user organizations as a means to manage identity information for both UNIX, Linux and other operating systems, as well as the Microsoft and other directory services currently supported by MIIS. OSM's COSuser software also adds functionality to MIIS that allows both products to better compete in environments where "end-to-end" identity management strategies are being considered.

Sales of identity management systems will grow to $4.6 billion by 2007, nearly doubling the $2.4 billion in revenue they generated in 2002, according to IDC.

OSM believes that the announcement gives end user organizations the alternative of implementing an end to end identity management strategy based on "best of breed" products rather than having to purchase an identity management suite from a single author.

Roberta Witty, Research Director at Gartner said "The integration of metadirectory, user provisioning and extranet access management functionality is necessary for end to end identity management. Although customers aren't buying and implementing all components simultaneously, they want to know that the components will work together with little integration effort when required."

COSuser provides centralized user administration, password synchronization, and web browser based workflow for heterogeneous networks of distributed systems. MIIS is targeted at mid to large-scale end user organizations to synchronize identity information across a wide variety of identity stores, to provision and de-provision user accounts and identity information across systems, and to help manage passwords.

An end-to-end identity management strategy requires a number of elements according to industry analysts, the Burton Group. Key components are a meta-directory and a user provisioning solution. These elements must inter-operate seamlessly. The announcement of the integration between COSuser and MIIS provides for seamless integration of the meta-directory and user provisioning functions, allowing an end user organization to use MIIS as an authoritative source of user information for a heterogeneous network.

Microsoft's success with MIIS as a strategic product has led the company to seek out partners who can integrate into its product offering.

Jackson Shaw, Product Manager, Microsoft Corporation said "We are really excited to see how well OSM has integrated their product with MIIS. Customers now have the ability to integrate even more platforms through this integration with MIIS."

OSM's CEO, Neil Chaney, responded "MIIS is the leading identity management solution on the market for Microsoft infrastructures. By integrating the two products, users can now use the power of MIIS to provision UNIX, Linux and other operating systems as well as the applications residing upon them. They can also do this transparently, so that COSuser appears as a 'silent' MIIS extension for UNIX and Linux."

The products can interact in a number of ways, but Chaney believes that the silent mode, where COSuser acts as an MIIS extension, will be the most popular implementation. In this method of working, COSuser is updated by MIIS with the information required to provision the UNIX and Linux estate. It can then automatically register user accounts and notify MIIS when it has completed the task. The end result is that MIIS appears to have carried out the task itself.

Burton Group’s Gerry Gebel, a leading industry analyst in identity management said, "Meta-directory and provisioning solutions continue on a convergence path. The combination of MIIS and COSuser is another example of this trend, which is designed to meet the requirements for managing and synchronizing identity data in heterogeneous environments."

The integration module is available immediately from OSM. Microsoft announced and demonstrated the integration software to the MIIS User Group at the end of December 2003.

A white paper with the title "COSuser and MIIS integration" may be obtained from www.cosuser.com/doc_synop_6.shtml.

About OSM

Open Systems Management (OSM) – a UK company, founded in 1988 and based out of Ascot, UK andSeattle, WA, USA – develops and markets COSuser, a UNIX or Linux hosted user provisioning solution that incorporates nine years of real-world experience of providing centralized user administration software. OSM is backed by 3i, Europe's largest venture capital investment company. Notable customers include Bloomberg, Duke Energy, Iams, Lloyds TSB Bank, and Northumbrian Water.

• Visit the COSuser web site at: www.cosuser.com.

• Visit the Microsoft^® MIIS web site.

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