Experienced and Proven Leadership Team Brings Enterprise Software Expertise to Address Growing Demand for OpenSpan Platform

ATLANTA, April 23, 2007 – OpenSpan, Inc., the enabler of the New Enterprise Desktop, today announced several key additions to the company’s management team including four former JBoss executives. Former JBoss executives joining OpenSpan include Rob Bearden as chief operating officer, Brad Murdoch as vice president of product management and international sales, Tom Leonard as vice president of worldwide channels and Joe McGonnell as vice president of marketing. Combined, the new executives bring more than 75 years of experience building successful enterprise software businesses, including recent tenures at JBoss, which was acquired by Red Hat in June 2006.

The OpenSpan Platform enables organizations across any industry to quickly and easily build new enterprise desktops by accessing and integrating applications under a single user interface (UI). The platform transcends traditional server and user interface integration technologies by leveraging the interactions between applications and the underlying operating system. This enables OpenSpan customers to quickly integrate and automate legacy desktop, Microsoft Office® applications and virtually any desktop or server-side application, including Web services. Common uses of the OpenSpan Platform include automating time-consuming data entry across applications, adding compliance or validation processes to existing applications, building composite applications or dashboards that span multiple applications and leveraging Web services functionality to extend legacy systems. 

 “Just as this team played a significant role in gaining market acceptance of the JBoss open source middleware stack, we expect their experience will be crucial in helping OpenSpan carve out a substantial segment of the application integration and enterprise desktop markets,” said David Skok, general partner at Matrix Partners. “With the addition of these seasoned executives to an already impressive management team, OpenSpan is well positioned to become a leading provider in both of these markets.”

Also joining OpenSpan from JBoss is Jeff Miller as senior director of sales for Western North America. In addition, Tim Bertrand, formerly of Systinet and Mercury Interactive, joins the company as senior director of sales for Eastern North America and Mark Sphar joins the company as the corporate controller with more than 15 years of financial experience at high-growth companies. The OpenSpan management team expansion follows November’s $8 million round of funding from Sigma Partners and Matrix Partners. Both events signify OpenSpan’s commitment to hone its global messaging and ramp up sales efforts in response to the growing demand for the OpenSpan Platform.

 “With an innovative platform for creating the next-generation enterprise desktop, OpenSpan is uniquely positioned to address a growing market need for simpler and more cost-effective application integration,” said Francis Carden, CEO of OpenSpan. “Adding Rob, Brad, Tom, Joe, Jeff, Tim and Mark to our existing management team will ensure that OpenSpan continues to provide its customers with unparalleled service and the industry’s most innovative platform for application integration and automation. Each new management team member will play a significant role as OpenSpan expands its gloabal presence in the call center, insurance, banking, telecommunications and retail industries.”

The enterprise software market experience of the new executive team members will complement the existing founders and executive team’s proven success in the call center market. OpenSpan CEO Francis Carden has more than 20 years experience running multi-national technology companies, including Pixel Innovations Ltd. OpenSpan Chief Technology Officer and Founder Stephen Becket was also a founder at Witness Systems, which was recently acquired by Verint in February 2007. In addition, OpenSpan Vice President of Development and Founder Damon Lockwood managed several implementations of Microsoft Contact Center Framework for Fortune 100 enterprises.

About OpenSpan, Inc.
OpenSpan is a venture-backed software organization focused on enabling the New Enterprise Desktop.  Global 2000 enterprises leverage the OpenSpan Platform to integrate applications, automate business processes, extend functionality and build new composite applications in order to realize immediate value on their IT investments.  Recognizing the unique approach to the difficult challenges associated with application integration, Gartner awarded OpenSpan with a 2006 Cool Vendor Award.  OpenSpan is headquartered in Alpharetta, GA.  More information about OpenSpan is located online at www.openspan.com.