RE: Compaq Teams With Avesta to Supply eBusiness Service Management Solutions in Asia-Pacific

NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CANADIAN CORPORATE NEWS

FOR:  AVESTA TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

AND COMPAQ COMPUTER CORPORATION

MARCH 10, 2000

RE: Compaq Teams With Avesta to Supply eBusiness Service
Management Solutions in Asia-Pacific

NEW YORK, NEW YORK-- 

Relationship Expands Compaq's e-Infrastructure Practice in Asia 
Pacific with Avesta's Leading-Edge Trinity and eWatcher Internet 
Infrastructure and Service Management Software 

Avesta Technologies(R), Inc., a leading provider of software that 
manages the infrastructure of e-business, today announced an 
agreement with Compaq Computer Asia Pacific that will allow Compaq
to offer the world's leading service management software as part 
of its e-Infrastructure practice. 

As a result of this agreement, Avesta's Trinty(TM) and 
eWatcher(TM) software will become a strategic part of Compaq's 
Infrastructure Management solution set. Compaq will resell 
Avesta's software to build service practices throughout the ASEAN 
(Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia), India and Greater
China (Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China). 

"Compaq is committed to delivering best-of-breed solutions to 
enable NonStop e-Business(TM). The shift to e-Business exposes an 
enterprise's IT infrastructure to its customers, suppliers and 
partners, so proactive service management becomes a number one 
priority," said Vincent Tan, Enterprise Management Practice 
Manager, Compaq Computer Asia Pacific. "With Trinity's real-time 
business impact analysis and root-cause determination, customers 
can reduce business risks arising from service disruptions." 

Avesta Technologies' Trinity provides enterprises with Total 
e-Business Assurance(TM) by automatically discovering and managing
the network, system and application resources that define a 
customer's Web experience. The software correlates events in 
real-time to isolate root cause, gauge business impact, report on 
service levels, and generate highly qualified alarms for priority 
resolution before they have a negative impact on customers. Avesta
Technologies' eWatcher is the first Web monitoring solution to 
assess end-to-end site performance, confirm site integrity and 
report on the customer's Web experience in real time 24 hours a 
day, 7 days a week without having to install any agents. 

"The enormous growth of the Internet economy in Asia Pacific is 
steadily increasing the demand for real-time service management 
solutions, " said Kam Saifi, President and CEO of Avesta 
Technologies, Inc. "Organizations can use Avesta's Trinity and 
eWatcher products to maximize service availability, from the 
network to the customer. We are pleased to have Compaq as a 
partner to help deliver this value to our clients and substantiate
our vision of service-level management around the world." 

About Compaq 

Compaq Computer Corporation, a Fortune Global 100 company, is the 
second largest computer company in the world and the largest 
global supplier of computer systems. Compaq develops and markets 
hardware, software, solutions, and services, including 
industry-leading enterprise computing solutions, fault-tolerant 
business-critical solutions, enterprise and network storage 
solutions, commercial desktop and portable products and consumer 
PCs. The company is an industry leader in environmentally friendly
programs and business practices. 

Compaq products are sold and supported in more than 100 countries 
through a network of authorized Compaq marketing partners. 
Customer support and Compaq products are available at 
www.compaq.com . 

About Avesta Technologies, Inc. 

Avesta Technologies, Inc. (http://www.avesta.com) is a leading 
provider of software that manages the infrastructure of 
e-business. Its software monitors, manages and reports on the 
availability and performance of an organization's information 
technology resources in real time, maximizing service to end 
users. Avesta's clients include some of the largest corporations, 
service providers, government agencies and Internet companies 
ranging from ALLTEL Information Services, Inc. to Morgan Guaranty 
Trust Company, AT&T Solutions, Buoygues Telecom, ICG 
Communications, Inc., National Institutes of Health, US West, 
Inc., and Waterhouse Securities, Inc. Headquartered in New York 
City, the company has signed a definitive agreement to merge with 
Visual Networks, Inc. of Rockville, Maryland 
(http://www.visualnetworks.com) (NASDAQ: VNWK), a leading provider
of service management solutions for the Internet. 

Avesta Technologies is a registered trademark in the United 
States, and Trinity, eWatcher, Total e-Business Assurance and 
other Avesta product names, service names or slogans mentioned 
herein are trademarks of Avesta Technologies, Inc. All other 
product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks or 
registered trademarks of their respective holders in the U.S., and
in other countries. 

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Avesta Technologies, Inc., New York

Steven Letendre, 212/209-1571

Manager, Partner Marketing

sletendre@avesta.com

or

Avesta Technologies Inc. - Singapore

Paul Harapin, 011-65-430-6786

Vice President, Asia Pacific Operations

pharapin@avesta.com

or

Burson-Marsteller Technology

Seth Kaplan

978/443-7099 or 508/494-3851

Manager, Media Relations

seth_kaplan@bm.com