Mercury Interactive Unveils Application Risk Management Model to Maximize IT Efficiency and Increase Application Quality

Leveraging more than 12 years of experience helping companies meet the challenges of deploying high quality applications, Mercury Interactive (Nasdaq: MERQ), the leading provider of enterprise testing and application performance management solutions, today introduced its new Application Risk Management Model (ARMM). ARMM provides a framework for assessing a corporation~{!/~}s current quality control practices and guides an organization through a series of incremental steps to maximize IT efficiency, increase application quality and minimize risk. Comprised of best practices, practical recommendations, training, coaching, and expertise, ARMM is delivered in the form of new training courses and professional service offerings, as well as a Web-based portal that provides an introduction into the quality process and a self-assessment.

Singapore ~ March 12, 2002 ~ Leveraging more than 12 years of experience helping companies meet the challenges of deploying high quality applications, Mercury Interactive (Nasdaq: MERQ), the leading provider of enterprise testing and application performance management solutions, today introduced its new Application Risk Management Model (ARMM). ARMM provides a framework for assessing a corporation~s current quality control practices and guides an organization through a series of incremental steps to maximize IT efficiency, increase application quality and minimize risk. Comprised of best practices, practical recommendations, training, coaching, and expertise, ARMM is delivered in the form of new training courses and professional service offerings, as well as a Web-based portal that provides an introduction into the quality process and a self-assessment.

Findings from a recent survey conducted by Mercury Interactive with 300 IT professionals from organizations with at least 100 employees show that only 24 percent of organizations perform systematic testing of their enterprise applications. Despite this, 81 percent of respondents believe that their companies have good quality control procedures but once they further analyze their quality practices, they realize that there is usually much room for improvement. This clearly indicates a need for processes and services to help organization identify and minimize the risk as well as manage quality in application development, which ARMM aims to address.

Delivered in a common language that both IT and C-level executives can use to work together, Mercury Interactive~s ARMM guides an organization through the decisions needed to make tradeoffs between application quality, time-to-market and required resources. Regardless of the software quality tools or implementation partners employed, ARMM helps organizations answer questions such as ~What metrics should I focus on?~, ~How large should a QA team be?~, and ~How should QA interact with a development team?~. The end result is a greatly increased return on investment with existing testing tools and in-house applications.

~Since Mercury Interactive~s founding in 1989, we have worked diligently with leading systems integrators, consulting firms, and thousands of customers to ensure organizations can deliver the level of quality needed for their application requirements and business objectives,~ said Yossi Meshulam, managing director for Mercury Interactive Asia. ~ARMM is a compilation of this experience delivered in a clear, distinct and actionable manner so both IT and executive management can more proactively create the framework and strategy to deliver the highest application quality possible, minimize the level of risk associated with deployment, use practical steps to accelerate decision making, and get the most from their existing IT investment.~

ARMM-ing IT and Executives With Information and Tools to Increase Efficiency, Minimize Risk, Maximize ROI

Since it is unrealistic to expect new development and testing procedures to be implemented across an entire organization at the same time, ARMM provides an incremental approach to improving quality. ARMM identifies the maturity of a given organization and maps that maturity to one of the five ~levels~ described in the model. There are three main deliverables for ARMM for assessing current quality control activities within an organization and implementing processes to help a QA organization move to the next level in the model.

First, the Web portal provides a general introduction to the quality practices and procedures place that make up ARMM, and an online repository of resource materials. A guided self-assessment, designed to give organizations a snapshot of where their current practices and procedures place them in the model, will be accessible via the portal as well. Secondly, ARMM provides a series of training classes designed to help QA professionals tasked with building superior application quality assurance processes learn skills that help them lower the risk associated with customer-facing applications. Finally, ARMM~s professional services component, delivered by highly-skilled Mercury Interactive consultants, combines two key service areas, including:
~   Assessment & Planning - Mercury Interactive's consultants can conduct an onsite evaluation to rate how effective an organization is within the five levels of ARMM. The consultants then provide a detailed implementation plan to achieve the level of quality appropriate for the organization's application requirements and business objectives.
~   Coaching & Mentoring - Mercury Interactive's consultants can provide ongoing coaching and mentoring on implementing ARMM. Depending on the size of the plan and implementation, Mercury Interactive's professionals are available for a predetermined amount of time to assist an organization with all facets of the model, from building effective QA teams to establishing metrics for success.

~Today~s economic climate dictates that companies require the absolute best quality assurance processes for their critical business applications, and do it with as many of their existing resources as possible to stay competitive,~ said Kathleen Quirk, senior analyst at Hurwitz Group. ~An assessment and planning process, such as Mercury Interactive~s Application Risk Management Model, allows organizations to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their testing, tuning and performance management process.~

Mercury Interactive Corporation
Founded in 1989, Mercury Interactive is the leading provider of enterprise testing and performance management solutions. The company's automated software and managed services help companies deliver and maintain high-performance applications. Customers worldwide use Mercury Interactive solutions across their application and technology infrastructures to minimize hardware and operational expenses, protect revenue streams and enhance their competitive positions.

Mercury Interactive is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California with offices in more than 20 countries. Further information is available at www.mercuryinteractive.com. The company's common stock trades on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol MERQ. For more information, please visit www.mercuryinteractive.com.