Opsware Awarded Patent for Software Automation

Core Technology Embedded in the Company’s Line of Data Center Automation Products

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Opsware Inc. (NASDAQ:OPSW), the leading provider of Data Center Automation software, today announced that it has been awarded a U.S. patent for the “Automated Provisioning Framework for Internet Site Servers,” which is critical in helping IT departments control vast and ever-expanding data centers and information networks.

The patent -- number 7,124,289 -- covers the cornerstone of Opsware’s technology, the ability to automate the management of servers and network devices across a data center through model-based control. This innovation allows models of granular configuration information about servers or networks to be stored as records in a database and, as changes are made to any aspect of a systems configuration model, to “push” those changes to any relevant servers or network devices. This technique supports automation for even extremely large and global datacenters, and it provides a fast, efficient and cost-saving approach to ensuring consistency and compliance.

Data Center Automation has become increasingly important as the number of servers and network devices deployed in data centers continues to grow -- and the associated costs of managing those resources grows even faster. Data Center Automation helps IT departments control rising labor costs by greatly extending the amount of IT infrastructure each individual staff member is capable of managing, with Opsware customers seeing server-to-admin ratios increase to as high as 300:1 versus an industry norm of typically 15:1.

This announcement marks the fifth patent Opsware has been awarded since the company’s founding in 2002 and continues to demonstrate Opsware’s position as the innovator and thought leader in Data Center Automation.

“This patent solidifies and protects the work we’ve done to greatly advance the automation of data centers,” said Ben Horowitz, president and CEO of Opsware Inc. “As a result of our technology leadership, IT departments can streamline their data center operations to achieve significant time and cost savings.”

About Opsware Inc. (NASDAQ:OPSW)

Opsware Inc. is the world’s leading Data Center Automation software company. The growth of the Internet is driving a shift from client/server computing to Web architecture. With this shift comes an overwhelming proliferation of servers, networking devices and applications, creating massive complexity that makes automated IT operations a necessity. Opsware automates the complete IT lifecycle and enables IT to automatically discover, provision, patch, configure, secure, change, scale, audit, recover, consolidate, migrate, and reallocate servers, network devices and applications. Over 350 of the world’s largest companies, outsourcers and government agencies use Opsware to deliver this new, automated model of IT. For more information on Opsware Inc., please visit our Web site at www.opsware.com.

Opsware is a service mark and trademark of Opsware Inc. All other product names, service marks, and trademarks mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.