BusinessWire
November 07, 2005 09:00 AM US Pacific Timezone

Identify Announces Beta Availability of AppSight 6.0 for Microsoft Development Environments; New Release Extends and Enhances Microsoft's Platform for Building, Operating, and Reliably Supporting Mission-Critical Applications

NEW YORK & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 7, 2005--Today, at the global launch event for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005, and BizTalk Server 2006, Identify(R) Software, the leader in application problem resolution software and a Premier member of the Microsoft Visual Studio Industry Partner (VSIP) program, announced the beta availability of AppSight(TM) 6.0 for Microsoft development environments. AppSight automates and accelerates the tasks of application problem resolution -- one of the most time-consuming and costly processes of application lifecycle management.

AppSight 6.0 includes support for the most recent releases of key Microsoft development technologies, including the .NET Framework 2.0, Visual Studio 2005, and SQL Server 2005. In addition, AppSight 6.0 includes new functionality to integrate with Visual Studio 2005 Team System.

"With these new development technologies being announced today, Microsoft is delivering a robust platform for building reliable mission-critical applications," said Eldad Maniv, vice president, product management and business development, Identify Software. "AppSight adds a vital dimension of application insight and problem resolution technology that enables the extended development team to efficiently build and deliver high-quality software, and effectively support those applications when deployed in the production environment."

For most enterprises and software vendors, problem resolution remains a manual, error-prone, communications intensive activity that involves multiple members of the application team: architects, developers, testers, and operations. The problem resolution team typically goes though a lengthy and costly process that includes iterative attempts to gather information about the problem and multiple attempts to recreate it before even beginning the root cause analysis phase. AppSight automates the entire process, leveraging patented Black Box software to record application execution and capture a synchronized, real-time log of user actions, system events, performance metrics, configuration data, and code execution flow -- much like the "black box" flight recorder on an aircraft captures a real-time record of a flight. By streamlining communication, eliminating the need to recreate the problem, and providing tools to pinpoint the root cause, AppSight has been proven to accelerate the end-to-end problem resolution process by up to 70 percent.

AppSight 6.0 will deliver integration with Visual Studio 2005 through embedded user interfaces that allow users to access AppSight functionality from within Visual Studio 2005. This is the first phase of AppSight's integration with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System, with several new workflows to support collaboration among developers, testers, and operations personnel involved in problem triage and resolution. While testers execute manual and automated tests through Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Testers, AppSight's patented Black Box technology transparently captures a complete execution record. This saves the tester the time-consuming tasks of problem replication and documentation. Developers then analyze the logs to determine the root cause of any application problem, such as hangs, crashes, incorrect logic, slowdowns, interoperability issues, or configuration problems. By capturing actual problem history in a centralized repository using AppSight Black Box technology, AppSight provides the basis for team collaboration and communication.

AppSight 6.0 will also deliver key AppSight functionality, such as line-level recording and local variables support, for applications developed on the .NET Framework 2.0, and will support SQL Server 2005, extending its trouble-shooting capabilities to the user-specific code written in stored procedures within the database.

"Identify's AppSight extends and enhances the Microsoft development environment by providing valuable and practical problem-resolution technologies," said Prashant Sridharan, group product manager of the .NET Developer Product Marketing Group at Microsoft Corp. "By using the same technology to deliver a problem resolution solution for both the development and live production environment, AppSight can significantly reduce the complexity of the lifecycle management processes for critical business applications."

About Identify Software

Identify is helping hundreds of enterprises and software vendors automate their application problem resolution processes to speed application delivery, increase application quality, performance, and availability, and reduce application support costs. The company's AppSight Application Problem Resolution System leverages unique, patented Black Box Application Flight Recorder technology to capture, communicate, and determine the root cause of application problems, thereby dramatically accelerating problem resolution processes across the application lifecycle. Founded in 1996, Identify is a global organization, with operational headquarters in New York and offices in Israel and throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific. For more information about Identify, please visit www.identify.com or call 800.364.5467.

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