B&L Associates

B&L Associates Joins the VERITAS Vplus Partner Program

NEEDHAM, Mass. - March 12, 2001 - B&L Associates Inc. today announced that it has joined the VERITAS Vplus™ Partner Program as a Development Partner. As a VERITAS Software partner, B&L will be able to leverage its knowledge of tape/media management to satisfy the unique and demanding tape management needs of VERITAS NetBackup™ and VERITAS Backup Exec™ users.

Through the benefit-oriented program, B&L will receive the support, resources and tools needed to help enhance the interoperability between B&L and VERITAS Software products. Enhanced communication and increased interaction with VERITAS Software will allow B&L to receive additional marketing support to further its relationship with the data availability company.

Michael Kramer, B&L vice president of sales and marketing said, "We view the VERITAS Vplus Partner Program as an opportunity to closely collaborate with an industry leader. We've already seen this collaboration in our dealings with the VERITAS Software staff and look forward to addressing the removable-media management needs of their large customer base and working with them on future sales."

"We are pleased to have B&L Associates join the VERITAS Vplus Development Partner Program," said Melanie Netwal, manager of marketing programs, VERITAS Software. "VERITAS Software is committed to working with partners like B&L to deliver leading solutions that address the growing data protection and availability needs of our mutual customers."

About B&L Associates Inc.

B&L Associates, established in 1975, is a global leader in data center solutions. The company offers a full suite of data center operations automation products and storage management solutions for open and legacy environments. B&L, with installations in 26 countries, serves some of the world's leading organizations, including Arthur Andersen, Credit Suisse|First Boston, Qualcomm, and Weyerhauser Company. For further information, contact B&L at 877-VERTICES (877-837-8423), the corporate website at www.bandl.com, or the Vertices website located at www.vertices.net.

VERITAS, VERITAS Software and all VERITAS product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of VERITAS Software Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

B&L, the B&L Associates logo, the BBARS logos, BL/SCHED, BL/PACK, BL/SOURCE, BL/DIST, and BL/LIB are registered trademarks of B&L Associates, Inc. VERTICES®, the Vertices® logo, and THE POINT WHERE ALL MEDIA COME TOGETHER are registered trademarks and VERTICES AUTOMATION MODULE™, VERTICES AUTOMATION AGENT™, VERTICES BAR CODE SCANNING MODULE™, and VERTICES LABELWRITER MODULE™ are trademarks exclusively licensed to B&L Associates, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Editors - for further information contact:

L.J. DiCarlo
B&L Associates
781/444-1404
ljdicarlo@bandl.com

Sandy McLaughlin
Soucy Communications Group
978/266-1700
sandym@scg-pr.com