StackSafe - Press Releases

StackSafe Research Report Shows E-Commerce Would Benefit from Greater Testing Maturity

Tue, 06 May 2008 12:18:43 +0000

Study examines downtime, testing trends within multi-tiered applications and operating systems. Vienna, Va. May 6, 2008 -- A recent study conducted by StackSafe, a developer of IT operations staging and testing solutions, and Research Edge, Inc., an independent, third-party research firm, revealed that "high stress environments" like e-commerce face more pressure in making changes to multi-tier applications than other environments. Over 400 IT operations professionals participated in the study, which focused on software infrastructure testing differences in multi-tiered applications and operating systems.

The study, titled "IT Operations Research Report: Testing Maturity Part II - Applications and Operating Systems" is the fourth in a series of reports developed by StackSafe and Research Edge that focus on topics of interest to IT Operations teams. Past reports have focused on downtime, change management and testing maturity.

Multi-tier Applications

The study found that applications heavily influence the approach companies adopt for change management and testing. This is in part due to differences in application complexity, change lead time and downtime costs. Applications tend to fall into three profiles with regard to change management and testing:

High Stress Environments - companies supporting E-commerce and Customer Relationship Management
Prudent Planners - companies supporting Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Production/Supply Chain Management and Transaction Processing
Laissez-faire Planners - companies supporting Website Hosting

The report indicates that companies supporting high stress environments have difficulty dealing with the rapid pace of change they encounter. Almost 30 percent of changes made to e-commerce applications are unscheduled and considered "emergencies", giving IT less time to determine what impact the changes may have. The report also indicated that IT teams have no confidence in over 15 percent of the changes that they make to e-commerce applications.

While companies that support web hosting applications are the most likely to have testing tools (82 percent), their use is inconsistent, with only 20 percent of organizations testing all changes to production. They are nearly 40 percent less likely to use automated change management solutions than the average company in the survey.

"The traditional rationale for not consistently testing changes to e-commerce, web hosting and CRM applications is that the applications operate in fast-paced and volatile environments where testing changes is very challenging, especially for web hosting applications," said Dennis Powell, senior product manager with StackSafe. "The rise in easy-to-use and inexpensive testing solutions for IT operations teams means that ALL software infrastructure changes can be tested, regardless of environment or usage. Improving change management and testing maturity can also provide significant value to organizations by reducing downtime and improving availability."

Operating Systems

The report also examined testing and change management differences across different operating systems environments. The research indicated that organizations supporting UNIX push through 25 to 33 percent more changes than companies supporting Windows or Linux environments. The greater number of changes results in 60 percent greater costs due to downtime for UNIX shops.

Organizations with multi-tier applications supporting multiple operating systems were also shown to have more expensive downtime, double that of companies running multi-tier applications on a single OS, due to an increase in IT staff time to address unplanned downtime emergencies. The report indicated that companies with multiple operating systems devote 60 percent more staff time to addressing outages and service issues.

"Heterogeneous operating environments are becoming increasingly common, as organizations turn to specific systems for certain tasks, like development or hosting," continued Powell. "While not standardizing on a single operating system can give an organization more flexibility when it comes to service offering, it also means that changes are more likely to cause problems across the board. Because of this, pre-deployment change testing needs to become the norm for organizations utilizing multiple operating systems, regardless of purpose or industry."

"IT Operations Research Report: Testing Maturity Part II - Applications and Operating Systems" is the fourth report in a series of studies published by StackSafe in conjunction with Research Edge. Past research reports can be viewed on the StackSafe Research Reports Resource Page.

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe provides software infrastructure testing solutions that enable IT Operations to significantly improve uptime and resiliency. StackSafe's flagship product, StackSafe^TM Test Center, directly addresses the challenge of incomplete and ineffective IT Operations staging and testing of changes to multi-tiered software infrastructure stacks. With Test Center, StackSafe provides the first easy-to-use virtualized staging and testing solution that enables IT Operations to understand the business impact of changes--before they touch production systems. Test Center was awarded the 2008 ITIL Innovation of the Year award at the International IT Service Management Conference and Exhibition. Based in Vienna, Virginia, StackSafe serves IT Operations teams across multiple vertical markets. For more information, visit www.stacksafe.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on StackSafe and its products, please visit the StackSafe Press Room at http://www.stacksafe.com/press-room.

The trademark "StackSafe" and the StackSafe logo are the property of StackSafe, Inc. and may not be reproduced without written consent of StackSafe, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

StackSafe Named "Cool Vendor” in IT Operations by Leading Analyst Firm

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:40:10 +0000

Vendors selected for the "Cool Vendor Report" are innovative, impactful and intriguing.

Vienna, Va. - April 17, 2008 - StackSafe, Inc., a provider of pre-production staging and testing solutions for IT operations teams, announced today it has been named by Gartner in its "Cool Vendors in IT Operations, 2008," report. The 2008 report highlights vendors that are bringing innovative solutions to IT operations management teams.

Among the report's key findings, Gartner identified release management as an "important requirement" for IT operations teams who are responsible for testing infrastructure and operations changes, such as deploying patches or upgrades, quickly and cost-effectively.

"We are honored to be chosen by Gartner as one of six companies included on the Cool Vendor List in IT Operations for 2008," said Loren Burnett, president and CEO of StackSafe. "We feel it is affirming that the importance of better infrastructure testing by IT operations teams is recognized by an authority like Gartner as a key to improved uptime."

The report, written by Donna Scott, VP Distinguished Analyst, Gartner, states that "while business system availability requirements are rising and change frequency is increasing, infrastructure and operations (I&O) change testing lacks the rigor required for optimal availability levels. Organizations that perform deep root-cause analysis on outages often find that more-thorough testing (of the change and rollback plans) could have prevented the outage"

The report also identifies release management as rapidly becoming an important requirement in I&O. It is particularly needed to test infrastructure and operations changes, such as patching and upgrades, quickly and cost-effectively.

StackSafe Test Center enables users to import production systems into a testing "sandbox" in order to conduct comprehensive staging, testing, analysis and reporting. Using virtualization technology, the imported system copies are networked into a working software infrastructure stack that closely represents the actual production configuration. IT Operations teams can then execute pre-packaged and customized tests to understand the impact of changes before they touch the live environment.

To read the full report, please visit www.stacksafe.com/gartner-cool-vendor.

To read analysts reports about StackSafe, please visit www.stacksafe.com/analysts. For information about StackSafe, please visit www.stacksafe.com.

About Gartner's Cool Vendors Selection Process

Gartner's listing does not constitute an exhaustive list of vendors in any given technology area, but rather is designed to highlight interesting, new and innovative vendors, products and services. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness of a particular purpose.

Gartner defines a cool vendor as a company that offers technologies or solutions that are: Innovative, enable users to do things they couldn't do before; Impactful, have, or will have, business impact (not just technology for the sake of technology); Intriguing, have caught Gartner's interest or curiosity in approximately the past six months.

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe provides software infrastructure testing solutions that enable IT Operations to significantly improve uptime and resiliency. StackSafe's flagship product, StackSafe^TM Test Center, directly addresses the challenge of incomplete and ineffective IT Operations staging and testing of changes to multi-tiered software infrastructure stacks. With Test Center, StackSafe provides the first easy-to-use virtualized staging and testing solution that enables IT Operations to understand the business impact of changes--before they touch production systems. Based in Vienna, Virginia, StackSafe serves IT Operations teams across multiple vertical markets. For more information, visit www.stacksafe.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on StackSafe and its products, please visit the StackSafe Press Room at http://www.stacksafe.com/press-room.

Ptak, Noel & Associates Reviews StackSafe Test Center

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:07:00 +0000

Analyst study predicts virtualized staging and testing software package will generate rapid market penetration and acceptance from enterprise IT departments

Vienna, Va. - April 4, 2008 - StackSafe, Inc., a provider of pre-production staging and testing solutions for IT operations teams, announced today the release of a Ptak, Noel & Associates report that anticipates a high acceptance of StackSafe Test Center, the first virtualized staging and testing solution of its kind. The report suggests that although many IT professionals know that software infrastructure testing is critical, many infrastructure and operations teams cannot afford such an action. However, Ptak, Noel & Associates believes Test Center is a solution that many IT departments can implement and successfully use.

"Plenty of solutions exist for testing in the development environment - but few, if any, exist that have been specifically designed for pre-testing changes in the production environments," wrote Richard Ptak, Managing partner and co-founder of Ptak, Noel & Associates LLC. "Those that have focused on helping production teams turn out to be cost - prohibitive, difficult to use or fail to provide sufficient information. StackSafe introduced Test Center to fill that gap."

According to the report, Test Center is valuable for its ease of use and time-cutting strategies. Using virtualization as an enabling technology, the infrastructure it creates is a mirror image of what currently runs in the production environment, which can then be altered without affecting production system functions and performance. This allows IT professionals to perform preliminary tests to better anticipate the effect of changes before altering the live environment itself.

For more information about Test Center or to read the complete report, please visit www.stacksafe.com/analysts.

About Ptak, Noel & Associates LLC

With a belief that business success and IT success are inseparable, Ptak, Noel & Associates LLC works with clients to identify, understand and respond to the implications of today's trends and innovations on the future of IT Operations.
www.ptaknoelassociates.com

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe provides software infrastructure testing solutions that enable IT Operations to significantly improve uptime and resiliency. StackSafe's flagship product, StackSafe^TM Test Center, directly addresses the challenge of incomplete and ineffective IT Operations staging and testing of changes to multi-tiered software infrastructure stacks. With Test Center, StackSafe provides the first easy-to-use virtualized staging and testing solution that enables IT Operations to understand the business impact of changes--before they touch production systems. Based in Vienna, Virginia, StackSafe serves IT Operations teams across multiple vertical markets. For more information, visit www.stacksafe.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on StackSafe and its products, please visit the StackSafe Press Room at http://www.stacksafe.com/index.php/press-room.

StackSafe Awarded with Innovation of the Year at Pink Elephant's IT Service Management Conference

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:55:40 +0000

StackSafe Test Center honored as most innovative solution developed in 2007
Vienna, VA. -February 21, 2008 -- StackSafe Inc., a provider of pre-production staging and testing solutions for IT operations teams, announced today that its flagship product, StackSafe™ Test Center, was named the winner of the 2008 Pink Elephant Innovation of the Year award at the 12th annual International IT Service Management Conference and Exhibition. The award is presented to a product or service developed during the previous year that offers the most innovative solution for IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) practitioners.

"We are honored to be named as Pink Elephant's 2008 Innovation of the Year. This award validates the value that StackSafe Test Center brings to both IT Service Management and the IT Operations community," said Loren Burnett, CEO of StackSafe. "We developed Test Center in direct response to an unaddressed market need: The staging and testing of changes within IT Operations to enable smoother change deployments and reduced downtime."

Test Center converges ITSM (ITSM) best practices with real-world IT Operations requirements to provide a solution that is squarely aimed at improving pre-deployment infrastructure testing by IT Operations personnel. The product has direct alignment to the ITIL functions of Configuration Management, Release Management, and Change Management, and indirectly benefits Incident, Problem, and Availability Management.

"Pink Elephant works diligently to increase awareness of IT Service Management best practices," said George Spalding, vice president of Pink Elephant. "With their innovative product for pre-deployment testing of changes, StackSafe helps organizations improve the quality of IT service."

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe provides software infrastructure testing solutions that enable IT Operations to significantly improve uptime and resiliency. StackSafe's flagship product, StackSafe™ Test Center, directly addresses the challenge of incomplete and ineffective IT Operations staging and testing of changes to multi-tiered software infrastructure stacks. With Test Center, StackSafe provides the first easy-to-use virtualized staging and testing solution that enables IT Operations to understand the business impact of changes--before they touch production systems. Based in Vienna, Virginia, StackSafe serves IT Operations teams across multiple vertical markets. For more information, visit www.stacksafe.com.

About Pink Elephant

Pink Elephant is the world leader in IT management best practices, offering conferences, education and consulting services to public and private businesses globally. The company specialises in improving the quality of IT services through the application of recognised frameworks, including the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®). Pink Elephant has been involved in the ITIL project since its inception in 1987, and was selected as an international expert to contribute to the ITIL V3 project - as authors of V3's Continual Service Improvement book and through representation on the international exam panel. For more information, visit https://www.pinkelephant.com/en-ZA/AboutPink/AboutUsHomepage.htm.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on StackSafe and its products, please visit the StackSafe Press Room at http://www.stacksafe.com/index.php/press-room. The trademark "StackSafe" and the StackSafe logo are the property of StackSafe, Inc. and may not be reproduced without written consent of StackSafe, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

StackSafe and Enterprise Management Associates Host Webinar on Improving Change Management through Pre-Deployment Testing

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:38:47 +0000

February 27 session to discuss how Pre-Deployment Testing Practices Enable ITIL Adoption Vienna, VA - February 20, 2008- StackSafe Inc., a provider of pre-production staging and testing solutions for IT operations teams, will participate in a webinar with Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) to detail how IT operations teams can utilize pre-production testing to minimize downtime caused by changes. Using the ITIL processes around Configuration, Change, and Release Management as a basis for the discussion, the webinar will illustrate how organizations can come closer to the ITIL ideal by implementing a pre-production testing program within their IT operations practice.

What: Free webinar: "Improving Change Management Through Pre-Deployment Testing"

When: February 27, 2008 -- 2:00 p.m. EST

Where: http://www.emausa.com/ema_lead.php?ls=stacksafewebhl0208&bs=stacksafeweb0208

Who: Dennis Powell, Senior Product Manager, StackSafe, Inc. and Julie Craig, Senior Analyst, EMA

The webinar will discuss how to simplify the task of predicting the impact of changes to the software infrastructure. Topics covered will include:

The difference in the testing capabilities and needs of software development teams and IT operations
How the testing of changes fits into the ITIL V2 and V3 frameworks
The impact of increased distributed applications, such as SOA, on changes and testing
The link between the testing of changes and reductions in production problems
The cost and management challenges associated with traditional staging and testing strategies
How virtualization technologies are being implemented to improve staging and testing solutions for IT operations teams

StackSafe is currently exhibiting at the Pink Elephant 12th annual International IT Service Management Conference and Exhibition (February 18-21) where StackSafe's flagship product, StackSafeTM Test Center, has been named a finalist for the Pink Elephant Innovation of the Year Award.

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe provides software infrastructure testing solutions that enable IT Operations to significantly improve uptime and resiliency. StackSafe's flagship product, StackSafe Test Center, directly addresses the challenge of incomplete and ineffective IT Operations staging and testing of changes to multi-tiered software infrastructure stacks. With Test Center, StackSafe provides the first easy-to-use virtualized staging and testing solution that enables IT Operations to understand the business impact of changes--before they touch production systems. Based in Vienna, Virginia, StackSafe serves IT Operations teams across multiple vertical markets. For more information, visit www.stacksafe.com.

About Enterprise Management Associates

Founded in 1996, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading industry analyst and consulting firm dedicated to the IT management market. The firm provides IT vendors and enterprise IT professionals with objective insight into the real-world business value of long-established and emerging technologies, ranging from security, storage and IT Service Management (ITSM) to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), virtualization and service-oriented architecture (SOA). Even with its rapid growth, EMA has never lost sight of the client, and continues to offer personalized support and convenient access to its analysts. For more information on the firm's extensive library of IT management research, free online IT Management Solutions Center and IT consulting offerings, visit www.enterprisemanagement.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on StackSafe and its products, please visit the StackSafe Press Room at http://www.stacksafe.com/index.php/press-room. The trademark "StackSafe" and the StackSafe logo are the property of StackSafe, Inc. and may not be reproduced without written consent of StackSafe, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

StackSafe Launches Enhanced Focus on ITIL with Online ITIL Knowledge Center

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:10:00 +0000

Company offers solution for organizations to meet ITIL requirements around Change Management and Release Management

Vienna, Va. - February 11, 2008 - StackSafe, Inc., a provider of pre-production staging and testing solutions for IT Operations teams, announced today the launch of its Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Knowledge Center, which will provide resources and best practices for organizations seeking to improve their adoption and processes around ITIL. StackSafe's Knowledge Center will focus on the role of pre-production testing within ITIL and how companies can improve IT Service Management (ITSM) and reduce downtime by leveraging these best practices.

"Pre-production testing is a required activity to achieve the goals set forth in ITIL's Change and Release Management guidelines," said Dennis Powell, Senior Product Manager at StackSafe. "Organizations that adhere to ITIL's Change and Release Management best practice are better positioned to minimize downtime, reduce the frequency of negative change impact and enjoy a smoother Change Management process. These are benefits of a mature Change Management approach."

According to Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), a significant portion of production problems relate back to change: patches, upgrades or new services. Organizations lacking a mature approach to change deployment testing could see up to 80 percent of these problems adversely affecting their production systems, resulting in severe downtime and expensive IT costs.

StackSafe provides an answer to change impact analysis problems with its flagship IT Operations testing solution, StackSafeTM Test Center. Test Center enables IT departments to quickly create a virtualized copy of their existing software infrastructure and test patches, configurations changes, software upgrades and other changes in this safe and secure environment before going live. This directly addresses the testing needs of IT operations teams and provides a cost-effective solution supporting ITIL best practices for testing of changes as a part of Change Management and Release Management.

"For companies that do not have strong Change and Release Management processes in place, StackSafe Test Center facilitates the implementation and evolution of these processes with predictive insight into change impact," said Julie Craig, senior analyst with EMA. "For more mature companies that already have ITSM processes in place, it strengthens the ITSM foundation, providing a good basis for ITIL v3's focus on continual service improvement."

StackSafe's ITIL Knowledge Center can be accessed at http://www.stacksafe.com/knowledge-center/ITIL/.

In addition to this Knowledge Center, StackSafe will discuss pre-production testing's role in ITIL at the Pink Elephant (https://www.pinkelephant.com/en-US/) IT Service Management (ITSM) Conference February 18-21 and as part of a Webinar with analyst firm EMA on February 27 (http://www.emausa.com/ema_lead.php?ls=stacksafewebhl0208&bs=stacksafeweb0208).

For more information on StackSafe and Test Center, please visit www.stacksafe.com.

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe provides software infrastructure testing solutions that enable IT Operations to significantly improve uptime and resiliency. StackSafe's flagship product, StackSafe^TM Test Center, directly addresses the challenge of incomplete and ineffective IT Operations staging and testing of changes to multi-tiered software infrastructure stacks. With Test Center, StackSafe provides the first easy-to-use virtualized staging and testing solution that enables IT Operations to understand the business impact of changes--before they touch production systems. Based in Vienna, Virginia, StackSafe serves IT Operations teams across multiple vertical markets. For more information, visit www.stacksafe.com.

StackSafe Participates in Webinar on Improving Change Management via Better Testing for IT Operations

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:11:53 +0000

February 6 session highlights how IT operations teams can leverage testing/analysis methodologies and techniques for effective change management

Vienna, Va.-February 4, 2008 - StackSafe, Inc., a provider of pre-production staging and testing solutions for IT operations teams, will participate in a Webinar on improving change management in IT organizations through better testing and analysis processes. Hosted by Ecora Software, this complimentary Webinar will feature Dennis Powell, Senior Product Manager with StackSafe.

What: Free Webinar: "Improving Change Management Through Better Testing for IT Operations"

When: February 6 -- 1:00 p.m. EST

Where: http://www.ecora.com/ecora/webinars/webinar.asp/2008-02-6/

Who: Dennis Powell, Senior Product Manager, StackSafe, Inc. and Chris Fox, Ecora

The Webinar will discuss the different levels of testing adoption and usage among organizational IT departments based findings from a recent study of over 400 IT Operations professionals. This seminar will highlight:

The different classifications of IT testing users: "Testing Neophytes," "The Unfortunate Middle," and "Test Leaders"
The impact inadequate testing has on IT operations and the business as a whole
How testing against a portion of the stack compares against testing against the entire infrastructure
The importance of "matching" your testing environment to the live software stack

This free Webinar will provide attendees with proven research on the benefits of IT testing for change management, backed up with third-party research from Research Edge. It will also offer attendees ideas and tips on how to institute a more rigorous and sustainable change management program through IT testing in their own organizations.

All StackSafe research reports conducted by Research Edge can be found at www.stacksafe.com/research.

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe provides software infrastructure testing solutions that enable IT Operations to significantly improve uptime and resiliency. StackSafe's flagship product, StackSafe^TM Test Center, directly addresses the challenge of incomplete and ineffective IT Operations staging and testing of changes to multi-tiered software infrastructure stacks. With Test Center, StackSafe provides the first easy-to-use virtualized staging and testing solution that enables IT Operations to understand the business impact of changes--before they touch production systems. Based in Vienna, Virginia, StackSafe serves IT Operations teams across multiple vertical markets. For more information, visit www.stacksafe.com.

About Research Edge

Research Edge is a full service firm that specializes in quantitative and qualitative technology research. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon - and with partners providing 20+ years of experience with IT research - Research Edge provides worldwide coverage and an emphasis on business-to-business IT. For additional information please visit www.rsedge.com

About Ecora Software

Ecora Software is the market-proven leader for Configuration Audit and Analytics solutions that allow a proactive view of the IT infrastructure and deliver actionable evidence ensuring critical business services remain operationally effective, secure, and compliant with internal standards and external regulations. Auditor ProfessionalTM offers immediate value with its agentless architecture matched with rich report templates and pre-defined policies providing the foundation for effective change and configuration management. Please visit us at www.ecora.com

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on StackSafe and its products, please visit the StackSafe Press Room at http://www.stacksafe.com/index.php/press-room.
The trademark "StackSafe" and the StackSafe logo are the property of StackSafe, Inc. and may not be reproduced without written consent of StackSafe, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

StackSafe Test Center Unveiled at DEMO 08

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:37:26 +0000

Flagship solution enables organizations to analyze the impact of software infrastructure changes to improve uptime performance

Vienna, Va.—January 28, 2008—StackSafe, Inc., a provider of pre-production staging and testing solutions for IT operations teams, announced today the immediate availability of StackSafe™ Test Center. Test Center is the first virtualized staging and testing solution for IT Operations teams that improves availability and resiliency through enhanced software infrastructure testing. StackSafe's solution directly addresses incomplete and ineffective IT Operations testing and analysis of changes to multi-tiered software infrastructure stacks.

"If IT Operations teams can test and certify changes to software infrastructures before they go live, then IT services become more available and resilient as well as more repeatable and better documented," said Donna Scott, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Comprehensive and efficient staging, testing and analysis are essential to achieving optimum levels of availability."

IT operations teams presently employ a variety of less than optimal approaches to testing changes before they are put into production-ranging from "smoke" testing of live systems to simply making the change with a "patch and pray" approach. With the release of Test Center, these teams now have the ability to quickly and easily create virtual copies of their software infrastructure and to test changes on these copies before they impact production environments.

"In today's fast-paced global economy, organizations are expected to make changes at an increasingly rapid rate while limiting the amount of downtime they experience," said Loren Burnett, president and CEO of StackSafe. "Test Center enables IT Operations teams to test changes at the speed of business while significantly reducing downtime."

Product Benefits

Reduces the uncertainty and downtime associated with IT changes, thus avoiding costly application and system failure
Enables pre-production changes to be made safely before they are implemented into the live environment
Helps IT Operations teams to understand the potential impacts that changes could have on their environment-before they impact production systems
Enables IT Operations to be more responsive to dynamic and changing business process requirements
Improves confidence in IT changes, while reducing the percentage of time spent on testing and staging-which can significantly lower IT operating costs

"It is an honor and a measure of product excellence and innovation to be selected to launch at DEMO," said Chris Shipley, executive producer of DEMO. "StackSafe Test Center is in that elite class, and we are confident that Test Center will make waves in IT Operations."

Product Overview

StackSafe Test Center enables users to import production systems in order to conduct comprehensive staging, testing, analysis and reporting. Using virtualization technology, the imported system copies are networked into a working software infrastructure stack that closely represents the actual production configuration. IT Operations teams can then execute pre-defined and customized tests to understand the impact of changes before they touch the live environment. Typical testing activities within StackSafe Test Center include:

Production changes
Regression testing
Patch testing
Performance evaluation
Security/Risk assessment
Diagnostics and root cause analysis
Emergency change testing
Application upgrades
Application assembly and validation
Compliance reporting

Test Center enables IT Operations teams to include software infrastructure testing in the management of existing production environments easily and seamlessly. The product is licensed through a subscription model and packaged as a turnkey software appliance that runs on industry-standard x86 server hardware. The following features are included as part of Test Center:

Operating system
Virtualization and "one-click" image import capabilities
Suite of IT Operations-focused testing and analysis tools
Reporting and flexible output options
Easy-to-use Web console
Regular update service
24x7 technical support

Test Center is generally available as of today. For more information, please visit www.stacksafe.com

About DEMO

Produced by Network World Events and Executive Forums, the semi-annual DEMO conferences focus on emerging technologies and new products, which are hand-selected from across the spectrum of the technology marketplace. The DEMO conferences have earned their reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow's cutting-edge technologies, and have served as launch pad events for companies such as Palm, E*Trade, Handspring, and U.S. Robotics, helping them to secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters. Each DEMO conference features approximately 70 new companies, products and technologies. For more information, visit www.demo.com.

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe provides software infrastructure testing solutions that enable IT Operations to significantly improve uptime and resiliency. StackSafe's flagship product, StackSafe™ Test Center, directly addresses the challenge of incomplete and ineffective IT Operations staging and testing of changes to multi-tiered software infrastructure stacks. With Test Center, StackSafe provides the first easy-to-use virtualized staging and testing solution that enables IT Operations to understand the business impact of changes--before they touch production systems. Based in Vienna, Virginia, StackSafe serves IT Operations teams across multiple vertical markets. For more information, visit www.stacksafe.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on StackSafe and its products, please visit the StackSafe Press Room at http://www.stacksafe.com/index.php/press-room

StackSafe Releases Testing Maturity Report for IT Operations

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 20:24:47 +0000

Study Identifies Testing of Software Infrastructure Changes before Implementation as a Key to Limiting Downtime and Other Problems

Vienna, VA—January 17, 2008—A recent study conducted by StackSafe, a developer of IT operations staging and testing solutions, and Research Edge, Inc., an independent, third-party research firm, has shown the deepening links between IT testing maturity and the effectiveness of changes to multi-tier business applications. Over 400 IT operations professionals participated in the study, with over 40 percent citing inadequate pre-production testing as the prime reason for problems with implementing changes to the software infrastructure stack.

One problem caused by insufficient testing is the need to "rollback" or reverse changes made without first conducting proper tests. According to the IT operations professionals surveyed, nearly 25 percent of all IT changes made are delayed in some form or another, with more than 10 percent of these changes being cancelled completely due to irresolvable issues.

"Changes, whether certified for production or not, cost a significant amount of time and money," said Dennis Powell, Sr. Product Manager for StackSafe. "IT departments are challenged daily by users to keep up with business and market requirements, and the resulting need to repeal or correct changes due to interoperability or user issues is exceptionally expensive. This study shows that investing in IT Operations testing of changes across the software infrastructure stack prior to release can significantly improve the availability of critical business applications."

Another trend revealed by the study is that changes are often completely untested or only tested partially. Over 50 percent of IT changes are not tested comprehensively against the entire software stack, meaning that serious problems can still occur upon deployment. Even more disconcerting is the fact that 27 percent of total changes are not tested at all, leading to a greater risk of downtime and service outages once deployed.

The study looked at organizational testing environments as well, with the results varying widely from one organization to another. One-third of IT departments lack even rudimentary testing environments, giving them the greatest risk of change-driven service outages.

Additional trends revealed by the study were:
While most IT departments conduct tests, 30 percent leverage servers or backup data centers instead of an infrastructure specifically designed for staging and testing.
Organizations with higher levels of IT Operations testing maturity experience significant benefits compared to less mature organizations with similar levels of change volumes, including:
- Twice as likely to view change management as a smooth process
- 30 percent fewer downtime incidents
- 33 percent greater likelihood to resolve production problems
Organizations with the lowest level of testing maturity report require almost 21 hours per test, compared to more mature organizations requiring only three hours per test.
Financial Services companies are most likely to show testing maturity compared to other verticals

To view the full results of the study please visit www.stacksafe.com/research

StackSafe's flagship IT operations focused staging and testing solution, StackSafe Test Center, will be launched at DEMO 2008 in Palm Desert, California, from January 28 - 30.

About Research Edge, Inc.

Research Edge is a custom research firm that applies cutting edge techniques and innovative thinking to solve complex business problems. With a focus on business to business research in the IT sector, Research Edge works with leaders in all facets of IT software, hardware and services. As a full service firm with worldwide coverage, Research Edge partners have 20+ years of experience with quantitative and qualitative research. Research Edge was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.

For additional information, please visit www.rsedge.com

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe provides software infrastructure testing solutions that enable IT Operations to significantly improve uptime and resiliency. StackSafe's flagship product, StackSafeTM Test Center, directly addresses the challenge of incomplete and ineffective IT Operations staging and testing of changes to multi-tiered software infrastructure stacks. With Test Center, StackSafe provides the first easy-to-use virtualized staging and testing solution that enables IT Operations to understand the business impact of changes--before they touch production systems. Based in Vienna, Virginia, StackSafe serves IT Operations teams across multiple vertical markets.

For more information, visit www.stacksafe.com

For Media Inquiries:
Joe Pendry
StackSafe
T: (703) 225-2528
media2008@stacksafe.com

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on StackSafe and its products, please visit the StackSafe Press Room at http://www.stacksafe.com/index.php/press-room.

StackSafe Appoints Letitia Larry as Director of Engineering Services

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:24:34 +0000

Customer Support Veteran Joins Leadership Team of Emerging IT Operations Company

Vienna, VA - January 9, 2008- StackSafe, a provider of pre-production staging and testing solutions for IT operations teams, announced today the appointment of Letitia Larry as the Director of Engineering Services. In this role, Larry will be responsible for developing a world-class customer experience by maintaining superior corporate quality standards and support. Her responsibilities include management of the StackSafe support organization, software quality assurance team and business continuity practices. She will report directly to StackSafe's President and CEO Loren Burnett.

Larry joins the team with more than 14 years of technical customer support and quality assurance experience. Prior to StackSafe, she was the director of quality assurance and technical support at Secure Software, Inc. - later acquired by Fortify - where she successfully directed technical customer support, quality assurance, testing, configuration management and the technical writing staff. At Systems Engineering Services Corporation Larry worked on the analysis of systems associated with a billion dollar enterprise resource planning product line to determine and resolve issues associated with producing a quality product through the software development lifecycle.

"As we draw closer to our product launch, we are continuing to expand our team with top-notch talent," said Loren Burnett, founder, president and CEO of StackSafe. "Letitia's extensive experience in technical support will prove to be a great asset to the company as we focus on enhancing customer relations and providing premier technical support."

StackSafe is set to launch its pre-production staging and testing solution later this month.

"I am eagerly awaiting the launch of the StackSafe solution as I know it will answer a tremendous need in the IT Operations market that no other company is addressing," said Larry. "The team has developed a great product and I look forward to working with our customers to enhance the solution as they begin to integrate it into their daily operations."

A full listing of the StackSafe management team can be found at http://www.stacksafe.com/index.php/management-team.

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe provides software infrastructure testing solutions that enable IT Operations to significantly improve uptime and resiliency. StackSafe's flagship product, StackSafe™ Test Center, directly addresses the challenge of incomplete and ineffective IT Operations staging and testing of changes to multi-tiered software infrastructure stacks. With Test Center, StackSafe provides the first easy-to-use virtualized staging and testing solution that enables IT Operations to understand the business impact of changes--before they touch production systems. Based in Vienna, Virginia, StackSafe serves IT Operations teams across multiple vertical markets. For more information, visit www.stacksafe.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on StackSafe and its products, please visit the StackSafe Press Room at http://www.stacksafe.com/index.php/press-room.

StackSafe Study Reveals Windows Domination as Platform for Multi-Tier Applications in Server Marketplace

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:47:25 +0000

Research shows that Linux and Unix less popular across all platforms and industries

Vienna, VA - December 19, 2007 - A recent study conducted by StackSafe, a developer of IT operations staging and testing solutions, and Research Edge has shown the depth of Microsoft's dominance in the server market across nearly every industry with almost 70 percent of the market share. The study of 400 IT operations professionals showed that despite widespread attention to other alternatives, Windows Server continues to be the platform of choice by IT Operations for multi-tier software applications.

The sheer breadth of Windows adoption within IT Operations as the primary platform for multi-tier applications, especially with other highly-viable solutions out there, is impressive, to say the least," said Dennis Powell, Senior Product Manager at Stacksafe.

For multi-tier applications across all application types, tiers and industries, Microsoft holds 68 percent of the market share through its Windows Server 2000, Server 2003 and Server NT operating systems. Its next closest competitor is Red Hat's Linux offering, which has a market share of just over seven percent. Over three-quarters of organizations also use the same operating system across every tier of their infrastructure, furthering reliance on one operating system vendor and platform.

Adoption of Windows as the operating system platform of choice for multi-tier applications across various industries is also extremely high, with manufacturing (86 percent), government (86 percent) and healthcare (83 percent) all using the technology predominantly. Only financial services (70 percent) and computer-related organizations (56 percent) have shown a strong inclination to move to other operating system alternatives.

For the full results of the study, including demographics and hardware statistics, please visit www.stacksafe.com/research.

StackSafe Participates in Webinar Examining the Relationship Between Downtime and Change Management

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:00:00 +0000

December 4th Session to Review Findings of Third Party Research on the Impact of Change Management Practices on IT Operations

Vienna, VA—December 3, 2007—StackSafe, Inc., a provider of pre-production staging and testing solutions for IT operations teams, will participate in a Webinar discussing the findings from a recent study from Research Edge on the maturity of change management practices in IT organizations. Hosted by Ecora Software, this complimentary Webinar will feature Dennis Powell, Senior Product Manager with StackSafe.

What: Free Webinar: "Taking Steps to a Mature Change Management Process"
When: December, 4 2007 -- 11:00 am ET
Where: http://www.ecora.com/ecora/webinars/webinar.asp/2007-12-04/
Who: Dennis Powell, Senior Product Manager, StackSafe, Inc
Chris Chesley, Senior Systems Engineer, Ecora Software, Inc.

The Webinar will present findings from a recent study of over 400 IT professionals that revealed while many companies display some characteristics of Change Management Maturity, most can still improve a great deal. These findings will be used as a basis for discussing:

Why organizations are becoming more concerned with downtime, but budget priorities are lagging behind
The definitive link between change management maturity and quantifiable business benefits
Developing a mature change management process
How to use test and analysis capabilities to improve system availability
Automating the validation of approved changes and proactively identifying unauthorized ones

This free Webinar will provide attendees with proven research on the impact of immature change management processes and arm them with ideas and tips on how to institute a more rigorous and sustainable change management program in their own organizations.

All StackSafe research reports conducted by Research Edge can be found at www.stacksafe.com/research.

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe provides software infrastructure testing solutions that enable IT Operations to significantly improve uptime and resiliency. StackSafe's flagship product, StackSafe^TM Test Center, directly addresses the challenge of incomplete and ineffective IT Operations staging and testing of changes to multi-tiered software infrastructure stacks. With Test Center, StackSafe provides the first easy-to-use virtualized staging and testing solution that enables IT Operations to understand the business impact of changes--before they touch production systems. Based in Vienna, Virginia, StackSafe serves IT Operations teams across multiple vertical markets. For more information, visit www.stacksafe.com.

About Research Edge

About Ecora Software

For Media Inquiries:
Joe Pendry
StackSafe
T: (703) 225-2528
media2007@stacksafe.com

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on StackSafe and its products, please visit the StackSafe Press Room at http://www.stacksafe.com/index.php/press-room.
The trademark "StackSafe" and the StackSafe logo are the property of StackSafe, Inc. and may not be reproduced without written consent of StackSafe, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

StackSafe Appoints Cal Jeffrey as Vice President of Sales

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000

IT Operations Infrastructure Testing Start-up Looks to Jeffrey to Build out Sales Force in Preparation for 2008 Product Launch Vienna, VA—November 29, 2007—StackSafe, Inc., a provider of pre-production staging and testing solutions for IT operations teams, announced today the appointment of Cal Jeffrey to the position of Vice President of Sales. As the newest addition to the StackSafe executive management team, Jeffrey will be responsible for establishing the company's sales and channel partner strategies as well as hiring and training a sales force in preparation for the start-up's product launch scheduled for the first quarter of 2008. StackSafe will be the first company to market with a virtualized pre-production staging and testing solution for IT operations.

"Cal is an outstanding addition to our executive management team and one of the most strategic hires we've made to date" said Loren Burnett, Founder, President and CEO of StackSafe. "His years of technology sales and management experience will provide the foundation for our sales strategy, while his ability to recruit top-notch talent will serve us well as we build the sales team that will take our product to market in 2008."

Jeffrey comes to StackSafe with nearly 20 years of sales and management experience in the public and private sector technology markets. He has served in a variety of sales management and business development roles with some of the top names in technology, including Check Point Software, NeuStar Inc, Silicon Graphics Inc. and Softdesk. Most recently, Jeffrey served as the Director of Sales for NeuStar Ultra Services Inc. In these positions, Jeffrey has proven his ability to grow businesses in new markets, and create dynamic sales teams and strategies.

"I've had the pleasure of working for some of the most innovative companies in the technology market and, based on those experiences, I am confident in StackSafe's ability to deliver a solution that addresses the current gap in the IT operations market for pre-production staging and testing," said Jeffrey. "I'm extremely excited about the management team and I'll be working with them to quickly establish StackSafe in the market. I'll also be looking for innovative sales professionals with the requisite skills to bring a brand new technology to market."

StackSafe is set to launch its pre-production staging and testing platform in early 2008.
A full listing of the StackSafe management team can be found at http://www.stacksafe.com/index.php/management-team.

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe provides software infrastructure testing solutions that enable IT Operations to significantly improve uptime and resiliency. StackSafe's flagship product, StackSafe^TM Test Center, directly addresses the challenge of incomplete and ineffective IT Operations staging and testing of changes to multi-tiered software infrastructure stacks. With Test Center, StackSafe provides the first easy-to-use virtualized staging and testing solution that enables IT Operations to understand the business impact of changes--before they touch production systems. Based in Vienna, Virginia, StackSafe serves IT Operations teams across multiple vertical markets. For more information, visit www.stacksafe.com.

For Media Inquiries:
Joe Pendry
StackSafe
T: (703) 225-2528
media2007@stacksafe.com

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on StackSafe and its products, please visit the StackSafe Press Room at http://www.stacksafe.com/index.php/press-room.

IT Operations Research Report Finds Link Between Change Management Maturity and Improved Business Benefits

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:46:45 +0000

Independent study finds that most companies display change management maturity characteristics but still have significant room for improvement in this area.

Vienna, VA—October 9, 2007—StackSafe, Inc., a provider of pre-production staging and testing solutions for IT Operations teams, today announced the findings of its IT Operations Research Report: Change Management Maturity. The report revealed that while many companies display some characteristics of change management maturity, most can still improve a great deal. The study was conducted by Research Edge, Inc., an independent, third-party research firm, and surveyed more than 400 IT Operations professionals. It revealed five key areas that are considered to be reliable indicators of a company's change management maturity level. Each of these maturity factors is measured against key business benefits to assess its impact and show a company's potential room for growth. The full report can be found at www.stacksafe.com/research.

According to the study, companies of all sizes could benefit breatly from improving change management maturity. When companies display a difficulty in implementing changes they often face production problems: increased staff demands, emergency changes, decreased confidence in future changes, and overall difficulty with the change management process. All of these problems contribute to a company's downtime and hinder productivity.

The report states that nearly a quarter of all changes go bad, with more than half of all respondents citing unforeseen interaction between systems and insufficient pre-production testing as factors that cause specific problems in production. Companies with the highest maturity levels made automated changes at weekly intervals and possessed strong testing programs that could test against the entire stack.

"This study clearly shows that being able to test and predict how software infrastructure changes are going to affect existing IT services can greatly reduce costly failures," said Loren Burnett, President and CEO of StackSafe. "We can clearly see that as companies raise their change management maturity they have fewer and fewer problems with implementing changes in their environments. As companies institute more changes, they need to safely evaluate the risk that these updates could represent for their key business applications."

According to Gartner, "Improving change management processes is one of the best investments that enterprises can make, because availability (reduction in unplanned downtime) can increase by 25 percent to 35 percent, and even more so in the reduction of planned downtime (through effective policies and scheduling)."¹

The report documents and analyzes five ways that companies can increase their change management maturity. To increase positive business impact as dramatically as possible, companies should focus on two activities:

Invest in automating change management
Regularly schedule changes

Additionally, thorough testing and the adoption of change management best practices can also drive stronger business impact from change management. The following three activities will help companies in these areas:

Maintain a staging environment for IT Operations testing
Test changes across the entire stack before making them in production
Adopt a process best practice such as ITIL

About the Study

Research Edge recruited and screened 400 respondents who were and asked to complete a 30-minute Web-based survey. A sample size of 400 provides an error margin of +/- five percent at a 95 percent level of confidence. Respondents verified company size, job position, industry, scope of IT decision making, etc. and were screened against the following criteria:

Work for a company that employs more than 750 employees
Hold position of IT Operations managers and/or responsible for IT Operations
Support multi-tier applications as part of daily position

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe has developed a patent-pending software platform to meet an immediate need within the IT operations market for preproduction testing and analysis solutions. Capable of revolutionizing the way organizations introduce changes into their complex, multi-tier IT Operations environments, the StackSafe™ solution is an easy-to-deploy, virtualized, pre-production platform that enables organizations to understand the business impact of changes across the business application stack. The company is developing its flagship software for general availability in late 2007. StackSafe was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Vienna, Virginia.

For additional information please visit www.stacksafe.com

About Research Edge, Inc.

For additional information, please visit www.rsedge.com

For Media Inquiries:
Joe Pendry
StackSafe
T: (703) 225-2528
media2007@stacksafe.com

¹Architecting for 24x7 Availability, Donna Scott, June 11-13 2007. Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Management Summit.

StackSafe Named IT Management Software Company to Watch by NetworkWorld

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:40:06 +0000

This venture-funded start-up is listed as one of 10 young companies expected to impact IT management in 2008.

Vienna, VA — October 2, 2007— StackSafe, Inc., a provider of pre-production staging, testing and analysis solutions for IT Operations teams, today announced that it was named by Network World magazine as an "IT Management Software Company to Watch" for 2007. StackSafe was recognized for its cost-effective approach to helping IT Operations teams understand the impact of proposed changes to their production environments. The full list can be found at:

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/091207-specialfocus-management-software.html

"Being included in the Network World IT Management Software Companies to Watch list is exciting for us and underscores the immediate need within the IT Operations market for pre-production testing and analysis solutions," said Loren Burnett, CEO of StackSafe Inc. "Until now, most organizations have lacked the resources and manpower to deploy comprehensive pre-production staging and testing environments. Using virtualization as an enabling technology, our software platform will help companies minimize downtime through cost-effective staging, testing and analysis."

The StackSafe solution was developed to help organizations understand the impact that software infrastructure changes in their environment will have on reliability, application, functionality, performance and security. A recent research study commissioned by StackSafe and conducted by an independent research firm found that six out of 10 IT Operations professionals cite changes as a primary cause of downtime. The full report, "IT Ops Research Report: A Look at Top Concerns and Downtime," is available at www.stacksafe.com.

StackSafe has received $2.5 million in Series A financing from Novak Biddle Venture Partners and Chart Venture Partners. The company expects to raise $8 million to $10 million during a Series B round of funding that is anticipated to close this year. StackSafe completed the prototype for its pre-production staging, testing and analysis solution in January 2007. Beta testing began in June 2007, with general availability expected in late 2007.

The "10 IT management software companies to watch" annual list, which appeared in the September 17, 2007 issue of Network World, identifies companies with innovative technologies that are expected to help systems and network managers deal with a variety of emerging challenges associated with virtualization, mobility and security.

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe has developed a patent-pending software platform to meet an immediate need within the IT operations market for preproduction testing and analysis solutions. Capable of revolutionizing the way organizations introduce changes into their complex, multi-tier IT operations environments, the StackSafe solution is an easy-to-deploy, virtualized, pre-production platform that enables organizations to understand the business impact of changes across the business application stack. The company is developing its flagship software for general availability in late 2007. StackSafe was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Vienna, Virginia. For additional information please visit www.stacksafe.com

About Network World Magazine

Established in 1986 to empower network information systems professionals with the knowledge to deliver the open applications and infrastructure required to meet evolving business needs, the publication offers news and features for major corporate users of enterprise network products and services. Network World covers product, technology and industry news, and includes analytical articles on trends, issues, vertical industries and management concerns. In addition, each issue includes comparative product tests, expert opinion and management advice and case histories showing how users have benefited from networking. For additional information please visit www.networkworld.com

For Investor Inquiries:
Loren Burnett
StackSafe
T: (703) 225-2500
investors2007@stacksafe.com

For Media Inquiries:
Joe Pendry
StackSafe
T: (703) 225-2528
media2007@stacksafe.com

IT Operations Research Report: Six Out of 10 Organizations Cite Application Changes as Leading Cause of Downtime

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 23:58:47 +0000

Independent study reveals need for IT Operations teams to gain greater insight into the impact of changes on their environment.

Tysons Corner, VA — July 23, 2007 — StackSafe, Inc., a provider of pre-production staging, testing and analysis solutions for IT Operations teams, today announced the findings of its IT Operations Research Report: Downtime and Other Top Concerns – revealing that six out of 10 companies view application changes as a leading cause of downtime. The study of more than 400 IT operations professionals, conducted by Research Edge, Inc., an independent, third-party research firm, also shows that the more application changes an enterprise makes to the operations environment, the more likely downtime incidents will occur and the greater number of IT staff hours will be required to repair these incidents. The full report can be found at www.stacksafe.com/research.

Downtime represents a key concern for companies of all sizes according to the study. IT operations professionals from small, medium and large enterprises – ranging from 750 to over 10,000 employees – listed downtime as their top concern when managing multi-tier applications. Two company profiles in particular are most concerned with downtime when compared to average companies – enterprises that rely on e-commerce applications and financial services companies.

“This study clearly shows that changes to multi-tier applications are the leading cause of downtime in the IT operations environment,” said Loren Burnett, President and CEO of StackSafe. “We’re seeing that the companies making the most changes experience the greatest number of downtime incidents – even though minimizing downtime is a top concern. Unfortunately, we doubt the number of changes will decrease anytime soon. The reality of complex, multi-tier applications combined with a dynamic IT environment to support Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Software as a Service (SaaS), as well as security and regulatory requirements means that changes will only increase.”

The companies that make more than 150 changes per year provide the greatest depth of insight into the link between changes and downtime. Companies of this type average 22.3 downtime incidents per year – as compared with the report average of 15 incidents – and reported losing 50 percent more hours of IT labor due to downtime (3,086 hours per year) than average companies. Additionally, these companies are more likely to cite inadequate staging and testing as a primary cause of downtime incidents.

These findings support recent research by Gartner regarding the need for better testing to reduce downtime and improve application availability. “To meet business SLA demands, increased rigor in testing is required prior to production implementation,” said Donna Scott, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “Investing in integration testing across applications, infrastructure and management processes/procedures can improve availability levels as much as 40 percent through 2011.”

Research Edge recruited and screened four hundred respondents who were and asked to complete a 30 minute web-based survey. A sample size of 400 provides an error margin of +/- 5% at a 95% level of confidence. Respondents verified company size, job position, industry, scope of IT decision making, etc. and were screened against the following criteria:

Work for a company that employs over 750 employees
Hold position of IT Operations managers and/or responsible for IT Operations
Support multi-tier applications as part of daily position

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe has developed a patent-pending software platform to meet an immediate need within the IT Operations market for pre-production testing and analysis solutions. Capable of revolutionizing the way organizations introduce changes into their complex, multi-tier IT Operations environments, the StackSafeTM solution is an easy-to-deploy, virtualized, pre-production platform that enables organizations to understand the business impact of changes across the business application stack. The company is developing its flagship software for general availability in late 2007. StackSafe was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.

For additional information please visit www.stacksafe.com

About Research Edge, Inc.

Research Edge is a custom research firm that applies cutting edge techniques and innovative thinking to solve complex business problems. With a focus on business-to-business research in the IT sector, Research Edge works with leaders in all facets of IT software, hardware and services. As a full service firm with worldwide coverage, Research Edge partners have 20+ years of experience with quantitative and qualitative research. Research Edge was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. For additional information, please visit www.rsedge.com

For Media Inquiries:

Joe Pendry
StackSafe
T: (703) 225-2528
media2007@stacksafe.com

Revive Systems Changes Name to StackSafe – Enters IT Operations Market with Beta Customer Program and Strong Executive Team

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 15:00:06 +0000

StackSafe will focus on pre-production staging, testing & analysis of application changes.

StackSafe will Focus on Pre-Production Staging, Testing & Analysis of Application Changes

Tysons Corner, VA — July 23, 2007 — Revive Systems, Inc. a developer of pre-production staging, testing and analysis solutions, today announced a rebranding effort that includes renaming the company StackSafe, Inc. a name inspired by the principle that all application changes need to be thoroughly tested for operability, performance and security before deployment into an IT operations environment. Until now, deploying and managing comprehensive pre-production IT operations testing environments was cost prohibitive. In response to this need, StackSafe has developed an easy-to-deploy, pre-production platform that enables organizations to understand the business impact of changes across the business application stack before they are implemented. In an effort to ensure the highest quality offering, StackSafe has initiated an invitation-only beta program to engage customer feedback. StackSafe has also solidified its ability to successfully capitalize on this market opportunity by developing a strong executive management team.

“We carefully analyzed the market and decided that changing the company’s name to StackSafe better reflects our commitment to enabling organizations – and specifically IT operations teams – to fully understand the business impact of changes across the application stack in a safe and controlled manner,” said Loren Burnett, President and CEO of StackSafe. “In looking at the way IT operations teams implement change management and release management, we found a need for IT operations teams to better understand the impact of changes on their business before making a decision to implement. StackSafe is addressing this market gap with the development of a patent-pending software platform that is capable of revolutionizing the way organizations introduce changes into their complex, multi-tier IT operations environments.”

StackSafe is currently working closely with companies participating in a beta program to actively test the functionality of the product in a variety of scenarios and environments while gaining valuable customer feedback. StackSafe views optimal beta partners as IT Operations managers and directors responsible for maintaining, updating and troubleshooting multi-tier business applications.

The StackSafe solution was developed to help organizations understand the impact that changes in their environment will have on reliability, application, functionality, performance and security. A recent research study commissioned by StackSafe and conducted by an independent research firm found that six out of 10 IT operations professionals cite applications changes as a primary cause of downtime. The full report, “IT Ops Research Report: A Look at Top Concerns and Downtime,” is available at www.stacksafe.com/research.

“Highly dynamic IT and business conditions result in continual change,” wrote Thomas Mendel, vice president and research director for Forrester Research. “The requirement for continual change puts tremendous pressure on IT and requires that change is properly managed. The business demands no interruption of business-critical services or access to them, which means that IT must manage changes in a safe and secure manner.”

The StackSafe executive team is comprised of industry leaders with a proven track record of success in their respective roles. The executive team consists of the following professionals:

Loren Burnett, President and CEO, StackSafe

Over 28 years of senior management experience in the technology sector.
President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Celcorp, a provider of enterprise integration software and services.
Senior Vice President and CFO of Riptech, Inc., a leading provider of managed security services: Instrumental in the sale of the firm to Symantec, Inc. for $145 million cash in August 2002. Shareholder profits from this transaction exceeded $100 million.
Co-founder, COO and CFO of FutureNext Consulting: Grew to $72 million in annualized revenue.
CFO at The Hunter Group: Led the IPO initiative. Hunter was subsequently acquired by Renaissance Worldwide, Inc., resulting in profits to Hunter’s shareholders in excess of $150 million.

Andrew Gross, Ph.D., Chief Scientist and Architect, StackSafe

16 years of experience in the design, development and administration of IT operations systems to the company.
An expert in DSP algorithm design, architectural evaluation, and source code review, Gross has consulted with numerous companies on operations and security issues.
Chief Architect for Counterpane Internet Security: Responsible for design of production operations and real-time forensic analysis systems in support of the Secure Operations Center.
San Diego Supercomputer Center: Responsible for security research covering a broad range of areas including dynamic network monitoring, kernel auditing, and the development of new tools for intrusion analysis and tracing and eventual system recovery.

Jonah Paransky, Vice President of Marketing, StackSafe

Over nine years in marketing and a career that spans the entire corporate lifecycle, from building a start-up organization to leading a tier one global services product management team.
Director of Product Management for global Managed Security Services at Symantec: Directed an overhaul of the managed services delivery platform, including adoption of ITIL best practices and a redesign of core services and pricing.
Director of Product Management, Riptech: Directed product strategy and definition, product launches, marketing activities, public relations, competitive analysis, product lifecycle management, pricing, channel marketing and relationships with key technology vendors.
Analyst, Broadview International LLC: Analyzed technology markets and trends to develop acquisition and positioning strategies.

Robert Stratton, CTO, StackSafe

Over 24 years of experience in establishing and growing Internet-related technology firms and related investments.
Analyst for In-Q-Tel, private investment firm: Evaluated new technologies for potential investment in novel in novel technologies serving both commercial clients and the U.S. Intelligence Community.
Chief Technologist and a co-founder of Security Design International, an international consultancy specializing in the security and design challenges of very large-scale and multinational networks.
WheelGroup Corporation, developer of NetRanger™, one of the first commercially-available intrusion detection systems (IDS): Co-developed WheelGroup's Security Posture Assessment™ methodology for network vulnerability assessment.
Manager of Security Products and Services at UUNET Technologies: Established the security organization.

Dr. Carolyn Turbyfill, Ph.D., Vice President of Engineering, StackSafe

25 years of extensive engineering management and product development experience in start-up technology companies.
Vice President of Engineering at Immunix (acquired by Novell in 2005): Implemented the uniform development practices and infrastructure that enabled the company to achieve record delivery performance.
VP of Engineering for Counterpane Internet Security (acquired by British Telecom): Eliminated customer-visible failures; developed QA, staging and deployment practices that enabled multiple weekly updates to the worldwide distributed service; integrated new customers in less than a day; and achieved 99.999 percent service uptime.
Vice President of Engineering and Operations at First Virtual Holdings: Managed service operations and development, redefining product architecture and helping to facilitate sale of the company to Softbank in 1998.
Director of Engineering at the Internet Commerce Group, Sun Microsystems: Built the very first firewall appliance as well as one of the first commercial TCP/IP VPNs.

The full bios for each member of the StackSafe management team can be referenced at: http://www.stacksafe.com/management.htm

About StackSafe, Inc.

StackSafe has developed a patent-pending software platform to meet an immediate need within the IT operations market for pre-production testing and analysis solutions. Capable of revolutionizing the way organizations introduce changes into their complex, multi-tier IT operations environments, the StackSafe™ solution is an easy-to-deploy, virtualized, pre-production platform that enables organizations to understand the business impact of changes across the business application stack. The company is developing its flagship software for general availability in late 2007. StackSafe was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.
For more information please visit www.stacksafe.com.

Contact:

For Investor Inquiries:
Loren Burnett
StackSafe
T: (703) 225-2500
investors2007@StackSafe.com

For Media Inquiries:
Joe Pendry
StackSafe
T: (703) 225-2528
media2007@StackSafe.com