01/19/2004 — OpForce 3.2 Software Integrates with VERITAS' Industry Leading Heterogeneous Virtualization Technology

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 19 -- VERITAS Software Corporation (Nasdaq: VRTS - News), the leading storage software provider, today announced the availability of VERITAS OpForce(TM) 3.2 software, the latest version of its automated server provisioning software that helps significantly reduce the time, cost and resources traditionally required to deploy servers in heterogeneous environments, including the rapidly growing Linux platform. With the new software, customers can now automatically provision bare metal and blade servers running on both major Linux platforms, SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Server, including support for Intel 64-bit Itanium processor-based servers.

According to a November 2003 IDC study, sales of servers running the Linux operating system increased 49.8 percent in the third quarter of 2003 over the year-earlier period marking the sixth consecutive quarter of growth.

"With expanding Linux support from major vendors like VERITAS, the benefits of deploying Linux in the enterprise are becoming clearer by the day," said Chris DiBona, cofounder of San Francisco CA-based Linux consultancy Konstrux Technologies. "More and more organizations are finding out that Linux can be an integral part of a scalable, heterogeneous, cost-effective enterprise clustering and transaction solution. No matter your application, unique tools such as VERITAS OpForce that can save administration costs -- and more importantly IT staff time -- in these mixed IT environments will be essential to unlocking the full value of these deployments."

VERITAS OpForce 3.2 software dramatically increases the utilization of existing IT environments by intelligently provisioning resources such as servers across computer networks. By deploying VERITAS OpForce 3.2, customers can reduce the standard server deployment in a common scenario of preparing and provisioning 30 servers from more than 200 hours down to less than 15 hours. Automated server provisioning is a key pillar of utility computing and VERITAS is committed to helping customers streamline their IT operations, provide higher levels of IT services and increase the flexibility of their server infrastructures through OpForce 3.2's innovative new features including:

• Expanded OS support that includes SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Server 3.0 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
• Improved performance and scalability with provisioning support for Intel 64-bit Itanium processor-based servers
• Increased service levels for enterprise customers with automated bare metal discovery that includes in-context provisioning, resource pooling, and on-the-fly personalization
• New pre-deployment feature that allows IT staff to associate a server profile with specific slots on a blade server chassis so that when a blade server is inserted into a slot it is automatically provisioned with the appropriate operating system and applications
• Increased capability to automate provisioning for both 32 and 64-bit servers to run SUSE Linux or Red Hat. Automated provisioning reduces IT administrative costs while increasing administrative efficiency in order to create an IT environment that is aligned with changing business needs

VERITAS OpForce integrates with the industry's leading virtualization technology, VERITAS Volume Manager(TM) and VERITAS File System(TM), and supports IBM AIX, Red Hat Linux, SUSE Linux, Sun Solaris and Microsoft Windows.

"The promise of utility computing benefits the end user when costs are kept moderate, however, management costs can increase in scale when multi-vendor datacenter environments need to interact," said Fred van den Bosch, VERITAS executive vice president and CTO. "VERITAS OpForce 3.2 enables our enterprise customers to obtain the benefits of a utility computing model by provisioning resources on any platform, which allows datacenters to run more efficiently, and at lower costs."

Pricing and Availability

VERITAS OpForce 3.2 is available on March 1, 2004. Licenses start at US $7,500 for the OpForce Server Provisioning License and US $500 for each additional CPU.

About VERITAS Software

With revenues of $1.5 billion in 2002, VERITAS Software ranks among the top 10 software companies in the world. VERITAS Software is the world's leading storage software company, providing data protection, storage management, high availability and disaster recovery software to 99 percent of the Fortune 500. VERITAS Software's corporate headquarters is located at 50 Ellis Street, Mountain View, CA, 94043, tel: 650-527-8000, fax: 650-527-8050, e-mail: vx-sales@veritas.com, Web site: www.veritas.com.

This press release may include estimates and forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the risk that we will not maintain market acceptance of our products and services and the risk that we will not be able to maintain or increase the quality of our end-user customer and partnering relationships that could cause the actual results we achieve to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. For more information regarding potential risks, see the "Factors That May Affect Future Results" section of our most recent report on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q on file with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

NOTE: VERITAS, the VERITAS Logo, OpForce, and all other VERITAS product names and slogans are trademarks of VERITAS Software Corporation. VERITAS, the VERITAS Logo, OpForce Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. Other product names and/or slogans mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Press Contact:
Jasmin Ul-Haque
Novell, Inc
Phone: +44 (0)1344 326-900
E-mail: juh@novell.com