Digital Fuel Signs Partnership Agreement with Leading Systems Integrator Xpert Systems

Xpert, a Leading Provider of IP-Infrastructure Design and Implementation Services, to Resell ServiceFlow: Performance™ as Key Component of IT Service Infrastructure

BRISBANE, CA - June 20, 2001
Xpert (www.xpert.com), the leading Architecture design and implementation house for IP-based Service Providers and Digital Fuel, the leading provider of Service Level Management solutions for IT outsourcers and corporate enterprises, today announced a strategic partnership designed to enable IT service providers and large corporate IT departments to support robust service guarantees, continuously improve performance, and hold third parties accountable for service levels.

The alliance brings together Xpert's extensive experience designing and building large-scale IT infrastructure with Digital Fuel's ServiceFlow: Performance™ service level management platform. ServiceFlow: Performance™ enables IT service providers to automatically track and audit Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with customers, suppliers and internal business units. It supports flexible, web-based SLA compliance reports as well service usage and cost of service forecasts and analysis.

"In today's competitive IT service marketplace, service quality is a critical differentiator for IT service providers that deliver business critical functionality to enterprise customers. It is also essential for internal IT service centers to verify the levels of service they deliver to business units and receive from external service providers. By incorporating ServiceFlow: Performance™ as a key component of our infrastructure designs, we are enabling our customers to optimize both service performance and cost-effectiveness over time," explains Amnon Bar-Lev, President and CEO of Xpert Systems.

"Xpert is a leading providers of advanced IP-infrastructure for the EMEA region. By partnering with Xpert, Digital Fuel will extend its geographic reach and leverage Xpert's knowledgeable and highly regarded staff of consultants to integrate ServiceFlow: Performance™ with complementary systems, such as systems and network monitoring tools, help desk applications, billing solutions, etc," adds Mario R. Cavagnari, Vice President of Worldwide Sales for Digital Fuel.

About Xpert

Xpert is the world's leader in Architecture design and implementation for IP-based Service Providers.Xpert's solutions are aimed at those service providers that require a high-end, innovative approach that takes into account both their present and their future needs.

Xpert's solutions and services are grounded in a thorough understanding of the IP world's needs. Xpert takes an interdisciplinary approach that brings together four basic areas: Infrastructure, OSS, Security, and Service platforms. Xpert's experience and proven know-how are put to work in supplying end-to-end solutions that will justify the trust that our clients have put in us.

As a direct result of the above, Xpert can tailor solutions for traditional and broadband ISP's, Data Centers, Cellular operators, or large scale ASP's and eBusiness to meet their evolving needs.

Founded in 1993, Xpert is a privately held company located in Herzliya, Israel, just north of Tel Aviv. Xpert currently employs over 150 highly qualified professionals.

About Digital Fuel

Digital Fuel is the leading provider of business service management (BSM) software solutions, helping service providers and enterprise service organizations manage the performance, financial, and regulatory aspects of IT, telecommunications, and business process services.  Digital Fuel has the largest deployments for SLA management and service cost management in the world, with thousands of concurrent users, SLAs, KPIs, metrics, cost formulas, and pricing rules.  With Digital Fuel's patented visual approach, our customers are deployed rapidly to quickly drive business value from automating the management of service offerings, agreements, service cost, and performance with their service customers and vendors.  ServiceFlow manages billions in business and IT services at companies and governments around the world such as Procter & Gamble, General Electric, Cummins, Capgemini, BT, IBM, SITA, Siemens Business Services, O2, Atos Origin, Telefonica, Transport of London, CSC and many others.  Digital Fuel is headquartered in San Mateo, California, with offices across North America and Europe.  Learn more at http://www.digitalfuel.com.