NIKU Niku Corp (MM)

Mercury Extends IT Governance Leadership Agenda -- Announces Rapid Replacement Program for Niku and Changepoint Customers MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today, Mercury Interactive Corporation (NASDAQ:MERQ), the global leader in business technology optimization (BTO), announced the Mercury Rapid Replacement Program for customers of Niku (NASDAQ:NIKU) and Changepoint, acquired by Compuware (NASDAQ:CPWR) in April 2004. The program will provide Niku and Changepoint customers up to 75 percent of the value of their Niku and Changepoint software licenses. The Mercury Rapid Replacement Program is designed to help companies with a smooth transition from legacy point project portfolio management (PPM) tools to Mercury IT Governance Center(TM), and will be offered through June 30, 2005. "With the rise of compliance mandates, outsourcing and consolidation initiatives, legacy PPM tools cannot scale to meet the IT governance needs of Global 2000 companies," said Raj Jain, general manager and vice president of IT Governance at Mercury. "Mercury is committed to supporting companies and governments who are ready to engage in enterprise-class IT governance initiatives." The Mercury program provides services and special license pricing for Niku and Changepoint customers that are migrating to Mercury's broader enterprise- wide IT governance implementations. The Mercury Rapid Replacement Program specifically helps companies avoid PPM problems, such as implementing non- scalable PPM tool upgrades and products that lack critical IT governance functionality. "There is a clear shift in companies moving away from PPM projects to a center of excellence approach for IT governance," said Zeus Kerravalla at Yankee Group. "The uncertainty around the long-term viability of current point tool vendors and lack of thought-leadership from legacy PPM vendors, positions Mercury as the company of choice for IT governance and BTO." Mercury also released research results from a new report based on research conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit identifying IT governance as one of the top IT priorities for 2005. The Economist Intelligence Unit report titled, "Driving Business Value from IT: Optimizing the New IT Environment" is based on a global survey of more than 750 IT executives in 21 individual countries throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. Key IT governance findings include: -- IT governance is ranked as the number one priority for the fast-growing economies of Korea and China; -- Better IT governance, more accurate financial reporting and more visibility of risk are the top three benefits expected from compliance initiatives such as Sarbanes-Oxley and the International Accounting Standard; and, -- Compliance initiatives such as Sarbanes-Oxley and the International Accounting Standard create the need for stronger IT governance. Mercury also announced that the Mercury IT governance guide titled "Running IT Like a Business" has exceeded 3,300 downloads, with more than 50 percent of downloads occurring outside of the United States. The popular thought-leadership guide provides detailed company case studies on IT governance excellence and implementation strategies, including: -- Top business drivers for IT governance; -- How to avoid common IT governance pitfalls; and, -- How effective IT governance balances strategic IT initiatives and tactical operational activities. More information on the Mercury Rapid Replacement program can be found by contacting Mercury at 888-727-5858 or 650-603-4801. The Economist Intelligence Unit report is available to the press upon request. The ITG guide on "How to Run IT Like a Business" can be found by visiting http://www.mercury.com/it-governance. About Mercury it governance center Mercury IT Governance Center(TM) is an enterprise offering that helps customers automate IT business processes from demand management to portfolio, program and resource management, to change management. Mercury IT Governance Center is comprised of integrated applications, a real-time dashboard and an enterprise foundation. Mercury IT governance products and services help customers with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, and it supports quality programs and process control frameworks such as Six-Sigma, CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration), ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library), ISO-9000, and COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technologies). About Mercury Mercury Interactive, the global leader in business technology optimization (BTO), is committed to helping customers optimize the business value of information technology. Founded in 1989, Mercury conducts business worldwide and is one of the fastest growing enterprise software companies today. Mercury provides software and services to govern the priorities, people, and processes of IT; deliver and manage applications; and integrate IT strategy and execution. Customers worldwide rely on Mercury offerings to improve quality and performance of applications and manage IT costs, risks and compliance. Mercury BTO offerings are complemented by technologies and services from global business partners. For more information, please visit http://www.mercury.com/. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains "forward-looking statements" under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involves risks and uncertainties concerning Mercury's future business prospects and product and service offerings. Mercury's actual results may differ materially from the results predicted or from any other forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, Mercury and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among other things: 1) the dependence of Mercury's financial growth on the continued success and acceptance of this program, its existing and new software products and services, and the success of its BTO strategy; 2) intense competition for Mercury's products and services; 3) uncertainties related to the closing of acquisitions and the integration of products and services, employees and operations as a result of acquisitions; 4) the mix of perpetual and term licenses and the effect of the timing of the recognition of revenue from products sold under term licenses; 5) Mercury has historically received a substantial portion of its orders at the end of the quarter and if an order shortfall occurs at the end of a quarter it could negatively impact the company's operating results for that quarter; 6) the ability to attract and retain key personnel; and 7) the additional risks and important factors described in Mercury's SEC reports, including the Annual Report to Stockholders on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2003 and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2004, which are available at the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov/. Mercury undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances. NOTE: Mercury, Mercury IT Governance Center, Mercury Interactive and the Mercury logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Mercury Interactive Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. All other company, brand and product names are marks of their respective holders. DATASOURCE: Mercury Interactive Corporation CONTACT: Erica Petersen of Mercury Interactive, +1-650-603-5865, or ; or Amy Swanson of OutCast Communications, +1-415-392-8282, or , for Mercury Interactive Web site: http://www.mercuryinteractive.com/

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