Vision Solutions Acquires Lakeview Technology Frequently Asked Questions On Friday, June 8, Vision Solutions, Inc. completed the acquisition of Lakeview Technology Inc. The acquisition significantly expands its distribution, technology and service offerings for its worldwide customer base and boosts its commitment to the System i high availability, disaster recovery, and system & data management markets. The combined organization creates the world’s largest development, services, and customer support centers for System i infrastructure software. These resources, including one of the most established global partner networks in the world, provide the System i market with unprecedented global coverage. General Q: Who is Lakeview Technology Inc.? A: Lakeview Technology is a leading high availability solutions vendor in the System i marketplace. Over 12,000 licenses of MIMIX high availability, clustering, disaster recovery, and data management products are installed at more than 2,000 companies worldwide. In addition to creating products for i5/OS environments on the IBM System i platform, Lakeview also creates system availability solutions for AIX, Linux, and Windows environments that run in conjunction with the System i. The privately held company is an IBM Premier Business partner, and was founded in 1992 in Chicago, IL. Q: Who is Visions Solutions, Inc.? A: Vision Solutions, Inc. the world’s largest provider of high availability solutions for the System i market with over 13,000 licenses of its software installed at over 3,000 companies. An IBM Premier Business Partner, Vision Solutions works closely with an international network of channel partners, ISVs, as well as IBM. Privately held by Thoma Cressey Bravo Equity Partners, Vision Solutions is headquartered in Irvine, with offices worldwide. In November, 2006, Vision Solution merged with high availability vendor, iTera, Inc. Q: Who is Thoma Cressey Bravo? A: Thoma Cressey Bravo (TCB) is a private equity firm providing equity and strategic support to experienced management teams building growing companies for more than 25 years. TCB pursues an investment strategy of identifying high-potential industry sectors and partnering with top executives to invest in businesses that can grow both organically and through acquisitions. Within the Software industry, Thoma Cressey Bravo has investments in JDA, Sirius, Attachmate, and Consona Corporation. Q: What is the mission of the combined company? A: The Company’s mission is to help businesses of all sizes keep their information and applications available and to keep systems running efficiently. With the acquisition of Lakeview, our mission is strengthened through the combination of the market’s leading development, service, and support organizations. Going forward, the combined companies will provide a robust infrastructure technology platform that delivers the best-of-breed high availability, disaster recovery, data management, and systems management software for System i and other operating systems. Q: How does Vision’s acquisition of Lakeview benefit customers? How does this impact the System i market as a whole? A: This acquisition will have an immediate positive impact to the organization and to customers, which will accelerate as the development, support, and sales organizations leverage each other’s strengths in the new organization. Vision now provides the largest spectrum of availability, disaster recovery, data management, and systems management products in the System i market. This gives customers a greater choice of technologies from a single vendor. Equally beneficial is Vision’s increased R&D staff which includes unparalleled breadth and depth of infrastructure software development experience. With the ability to cross-pollinate ideas and technologies, the innovations that are expected to come out of this combined team are substantial and are expected to bring a whole new generation of solutions to the market. Finally, the combination of these leading companies provides even an even greater depth of round-the-clock support for its mutual customers. Q: How does this transaction benefit IBM and their customers? A: The transaction is great news for IBM as it brings together the two HA ISV leaders for System i under one common management, capital, and R&D structure. This new company better leverages diversified product offerings, subject matter expertise, and market coverage. With the acquisition of Lakeview, Vision Solutions’ Premier Partner relationship with IBM is expected to strengthen and expand as both companies align product development and go-to-market strategies to support the needs of the growing small and medium business marketplace. This combination of companies will expand, yet simplify choice in the market by providing a broader spectrum of integrated solutions coupled with world-class services and support in all the major geographies. This will uniquely drive high availability to a larger segment of the System i market, driving additional IBM hardware, services, and storage revenue. Customers will enjoy a broader range of mission-critical products, services, and support from a single source. The choice is no longer about which company to buy from - it’s which solution best fits the unique needs of the customer, from SMB’s to large Enterprises. Q: What happens to the companies’ HA brands? A: Vision and Lakeview each have strong equity in their respective product brands. For the foreseeable future, Vision will keep the MIMIX, ORION and iTera brands for Vision’s products. Q: What are the terms of the transaction? A: Since Vision Solutions and Lakeview Technology are both privately held, the financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Q: What is the management structure of the combined company? A: Nicolaas Vlok, Vision’s current president and CEO, will continue to serve in his current role. The other members of the senior management team are comprised of both Vision and Lakeview managers. Q: How do the cultures of the two companies compare? A: The cultures are similar and complement each other well. Each company has a unique cross section of employees who bring a valuable perspective on the System i high availability market. All will benefit from the energy, expertise, and innovation of the other. Q: Will the acquisition affect the physical location of the combined companies? A: Vision Solutions’ corporate headquarters will remain in Irvine, California as all operational departments continue to perform their same roles within their same respective locations with no disruptive changes to procedures, processes, or infrastructure. Q: How does this affect VARs that sell Vision and Lakeview products? A: Partners will each continue to sell and support the same products they are currently selling and supporting. In addition Lakeview partners also receive access to Vision’s iTera HA and systems management products. Over time, partners will be evaluated according to the market(s) they serve and where it makes sense, the company will add or change product offering distribution agreements. Q: How do customers and partners receive further information or submit questions? A: For more information for Vision customers and partners, visit www.visionsolutions.com, call 1.801.799.0300 or contact your local Vision representative. For Lakeview customers and partners, visit www.lakeviewtech.com, call 630.282.8100 or contact your local Vision representative. For media inquiries, please contact Debbie Madoni Lewis at 801.541.7769 or email debbie.lewis@visionsolutions.com. Product/Solutions Q: When will a product roadmap of the combined companies be available? A: By the end of Q3, 2007, the Company will have an exciting new integrated product roadmap. As always, customer and partner requirements for product enhancements remain a top priority. Q: What is the product strategy of the combined company? A: The Company is highly committed to the System i market and the delivery of a broad range of world-class technology, services, and solutions that serve infrastructure needs. Investment in these areas will continue at an aggressive pace as we not only add functionality but enhance overall offerings with complimentary technologies and services. Q: How will the areas of duplication in its three HA product lines be handled? A: The MIMIX, iTera, and ORION (including VSEE) high availability products, each bring important resiliency and recovery capabilities to their respective install bases. Vision Solutions intends to support and enhance each of these valuable and widely installed HA solutions for the foreseeable future, while working to cross-pollinate technology as new releases of each are brought to market. Customers using our products can count on Vision’s commitment of continued investment in future technology initiatives. As we go forward, our synergies will provide customers with even better value from their Vision and IBM availability technologies. The bottom line is that all customers who invest in Orion, iTera, and MIMIX will be protected and will all benefit over time from new levels of HA innovation that will come from the combined companies. Q: How will the transaction affect the support of MIMIX, iTera and ORION products? A: This will not disrupt the current support of any product. Our mutual channel partner and customer care organizations will continue to serve customers. Likewise, existing contracts and agreements will remain in place, and any changes to the order, fulfillment, and support processes will be transparent.