VITAL ANNOUNCES ENHANCEMENTS TO THEIR GLOBALWATCH NETWORK MANAGEMENT SERVICE

Additional Features Offer a More Robust Suite of Management Services for Today’s Mission Critical Networks

TAMPA, Fla. -- August 23, 2004 -- VITAL Network Services, Inc., a multivendor provider of worldwide network lifecycle services, today announced further enhancements to their GlobalWatchSM portfolio creating a more robust suite of network management services for today’s mission critical networks. VITAL’s management offering now includes the integration of new feature rich management platforms, improved online access to real-time and historical fault and performance information, more extensive reporting and analysis capabilities, revised global management processes and service delivery procedures, and the addition of a second fully-staffed network operations center for better redundancy and backup functionality.

“With so many of today’s business transactions depending upon peak network performance, even an hour of downtime can have a significant impact on your business,” said John Koehler, president and CEO of VITAL Network Services, Inc. “Our recent enhancements offer a remote monitoring solution that utilizes robust monitoring toolsets as well as measurable and documented processes to help us identify and resolve network issues quickly and efficiently. When paired with our highly trained technical support staff and our compelling pricing, we believe we have created a winning solution for our customers and partners.”

“By using VITAL to monitor our network, we know how our network is performing without the hassle and investment of managing it ourselves,” said Rhonda Cobb, director of IT for Reeds Jewelers. “When a problem arises, VITAL notifies us immediately and takes ownership of the problem through resolution. Additionally, they provide us with valuable performance information that we can use to perfect our design and plan for future requirements.”

Developed to support the needs of medium to large enterprise customers with mission critical multivendor networks, VITAL’s GlobalWatch portfolio of network management services offer customers 24x7x365 fault, configuration and performance management solutions.

• Fault Management – VITAL’s GlobalWatch Fault Management service incorporates the use of trained network management professionals utilizing state-of-the-art fault management tools to monitor our clients’ network devices 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week. The service includes real-time fault management with procedural diagnosis, initiation of remedial action, weekly case summary reports and monthly reports detailing the network faults, resolution details and an analysis of any chronic trends.
  
• Configuration Management – VITAL’s GlobalWatch Configuration Management service includes the daily download and archival of Cisco device configurations, verification, validation and audit trail of configuration changes, configuration recovery in the event of a loss or hardware replacement, and a monthly configuration change report.
  
• Performance Management - VITAL’s GlobalWatch Performance Management service provides data collection and performance monitoring – complete with performance analysis and recommendations – to ensure optimal functionality within our clients’ network environments. VITAL captures real-time and historical performance data for the contracted network devices and systems, monitors and raises threshold events, maintains a database of historical performance information, and provides online access to on-demand performance reports complemented by monthly and quarterly performance reports prepared by GlobalWatch engineers.

VITAL’s management services are available to support network devices (and their attached communications links) in virtually any location and can be purchased together as a turn-key management solution or individually to meet a client’s specific budgetary or management requirements.

About VITAL Network Services
VITAL Network Services, a global, multivendor support provider, delivers world-class network support services to large enterprise customers, network equipment manufacturers, integrators, value-added resellers, distributors, and carriers around the world. VITAL’s comprehensive portfolio of data, voice, and video network services helps customers realize the full value of their network by addressing all facets of the network lifecycle including network design and planning, integration, training, maintenance, and proactive monitoring. With its own technical staff and access to a network of over 2000 field technicians located throughout the world, VITAL provides onsite service in more than 60 countries across six continents.

VITAL provides around-the-clock support for over 2000 customers worldwide from its operations centers in the US and England. Corporate headquarters are located in Tampa, Florida with sales and field support organizations throughout the world. More information about VITAL and its services is available at www.vital-ns.com, or by calling 1-888-248-4825 (U.S. and Canada) or 1-813-818-5100 worldwide.

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