Pure Network Press Releases

SupportSoft Announces New HomeAssist™ Software to Automate Setup and Management of Home Networks

Solution is Designed to Enhance Network Reliability and Provide for Delivery of Value-Added Services in Future

CONNECTIONS™ The Digital Home Conference & Showcase, Santa Clara, CA, May 2, 2006 - SupportSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRT), a leading provider of Real-Time Service Management (RTSM™) software, today announced SupportSoft HomeAssist™, a new solution for the installation and management of home networks. HomeAssist is designed to help digital service providers deliver a comprehensive customer care solution to simplify the set-up and maintenance of a home network while providing a platform for the delivery of value-added services such as enhanced security, file and print sharing and remote access via the Internet. In conjunction with today's HomeAssist introduction, SupportSoft also announced its collaboration with Network Magic, a leading provider of home networking software, to enable delivery of value-added home networking products and services.

According to industry analyst firm Parks Associates, the CONNECTIONS conference organizer, broadband carriers will spur the home networking market, helping to increase the number of broadband households with a residential gateway to 69% by 2009.*

SupportSoft HomeAssist functionality is designed to help service providers and their customers gain the most from home networking in three significant ways:

Self-healing proactively detects and automatically repairs issues associated with the set-up and ongoing use of a home network before the customer knows they exist. As a result, costly service calls can be avoided and subscribers are apt to be more satisfied with the use of their network.
Assisted service capabilities enable customer service representatives (CSRs) to answer questions and resolve issues specific to the customer's computing environment, helping to eliminate guess-work or time-consuming qualifying questions. SupportSoft software provides a 360-degree view of critical data from the service provider's network and premises-based diagnostic information from devices in the customer's home, enabling CSRs to more quickly and precisely resolve problems, as well as prevent the same issues from recurring.
Value-added services platform to manage and support a subscriber's home network. SupportSoft is collaborating with Network Magic to enable service providers to deliver innovative home networking services such as printer sharing, remote access and network security functionality. HomeAssist provides a software delivery platform to ensure that value-added services can be successfully deployed, helping service providers increase their average revenue per user (ARPU).

"HomeAssist is the newest addition to the SupportSoft comprehensive support automation software portfolio, which includes self-healing, self-service and assisted-service solutions. It benefits from patented technology that can help service provider customers realize more value from their home networks and related services," said James Morehead, vice president of product management and marketing at SupportSoft. "Moreover, SupportSoft HomeAssist gives digital service providers a platform for generating incremental service revenue, while also avoiding resource intensive and costly support costs that can come with launching new services."

SupportSoft HomeAssist is expected to be generally available in the second quarter of 2006.

About SupportSoft
SupportSoft is a leading provider of Real-Time Service Management (RTSM™) software designed to automatically resolve IT technical problems for enterprises and enable triple play service automation for VoIP, IPTV or broadband delivery by service providers to their customers. Digital service providers benefiting from SupportSoft solutions include Belgacom, BellSouth, Bharti, Charter Communications, Comcast Communications, Cox Communications, The Carphone Warehouse, Time Warner, TeliaSonera, UPC and Verizon. Enterprises that have licensed SupportSoft software for IT requirements include ADP, Bank of America, BT, Kimberly-Clark, Procter & Gamble, Sony, Symantec and Thomson Financial. Managed service providers that utilize the Company's solutions to provide outsourced services to their enterprise customers include CGI, CompuCom, CSC and IBM Global Services. For more information visit www.supportsoft.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that relate to future events including, but are not limited to, the expected benefits and availability of the solution and the continued collaboration with Network Magic. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: our ability to achieve broad adoption and acceptance of the new product, the effectiveness of the product offering to resolve customer problems, the continued cooperation between the two companies, the compatibility of our software with hardware and software platforms that are used by our customers now or in the future, and system failures that may cause an interruption in our customers' ability to access or use our new product offering, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in our SEC filings. Statements included in this release are based upon information known to SupportSoft as of the date of this release, and SupportSoft assumes no obligation to update information contained in this press release.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Massaro
SupportSoft, Inc.
(650) 556-8596
jennifer.massaro@supportsoft.com

* Parks Associates, Broadband Carriers to Spur Home Networking Market beyond Retail Sales, June 2005