OSLO, January 2 /PRNewswire/ --     Following 5 years of research and development under the technical
direction of its long time author Mark Burgess (a professor of Network and
System Administration at Oslo University College), the recently formed
support company Cfengine AS today released a major upgrade of the Open
Source, self-repairing software cfengine based on its innovative Promise
Theory technology.

Unlike would-be alternatives, cfengine is not about producing alarms and
reports to notify about errors and misalignments in the Data Center: it is a
fully self-repairing maintenance engine capable of fixing them without human
intervention. Cfengine users know that systems are compliant and maintained
even when humans are unavailable, because they have made all the important
decisions in advance.

With probably a million existing cfengine installations already
worldwide, this major upgrade will have a big impact in improving data center
operations at some of the largest data centers in the world, says CEO Thomas
Ryd.

Cfengine has always been at the leading edge of research in its field and
one of the important innovations in the new release is integrated knowledge
management. As a tool that separates human decisions from machine
implementation, cfengine historically freed humans from manual labour to
indulge in proactive decision-making and strategic planning - something that
relies on clear enterprise knowledge. Cfengine 3 now integrates a knowledge
engine based on ISO standard Topic Maps making it easier than ever to follow
the strategic intentions behind data centers operations. Cfengine ties IT and
business-processes together in a way many companies and compliance-auditors
will find powerful and appealing, CEO Thomas Ryd continues.

Cfengine is not a quaint dashboard for users - it is a powerful engine
for datacenter engineers. Version 3 introduces an innovative new language to
the trusted technology, with a simpler syntax and sophisticated pattern
description features. It brings technology to manage the essential large
scale infrastructure and resource clouds of the next decade.

Cfengine 3 will work side-by-side with existing versions of cfengine to
provide a minimum-disruption, incremental upgrade path to existing users.
Gradual adoption has always been the cornerstone of cfengine's success,
setting it apart from alternative disruptive roll-out systems. While other
solutions require weeks or months of training with downtime and a major
impact on existing infrastructure and applications, Cfengine works
unobtrusively behind the scenes, according to Mark Burgess.

Cfengine AS added support and consulting services to the mix this year,
with a strong business management team to complement Burgess's well known
research credentials. CEO Thomas Ryd summarizes the main reasons for using
cfengine 3 in Data Center Automation:

1) It is the only truly scalable self-repairing solution.

2) Its open source code base is broadly tested by a community of expert
users.

3) Its state of the art technology for voluntary cooperation delivers
scalability and security and users set their own pace for change.

About Cfengine AS

Cfengine was founded June 2008 in Oslo, Norway. Its software solution,
Cfengine, is the standalone, open-source datacenter management platform
run by leading enterprises since 1993. The company is committed to
reducing costs for its customers, improving efficiency and delivering
higher return on investment for the lowest cost of adoption in the industry.

Contact: Thomas Ryd, +47-22-95-85-00, contact@cfengine.com