SAN JOSE, Calif. — Oct. 27, 2003 — NetIQ Corp. (Nasdaq: NTIQ), a leading provider of Systems & Security Management and Web Analytics solutions, today announced that it is the worldwide market leader for Windows server platform in 2002 in both network and systems management (NSM) and availability and performance management.

According to Gartner Dataquest’s October 2003 report 2002 NSM Market Statistics and Vendor Shares , NetIQ leads with 11.3 percent share in NSM for Windows environments and 25.3 percent share in availability and performance management for Windows environments. NSM represents all of the tools needed to manage the provisioning, capacity, performance and availability of the computing, networking and application environment. Availability and performance management products, which include enterprise-wide event consoles, are used to monitor and manage the performance and availability of systems, networks (and increasingly storage) mainly beneath the database management system and application layers.

“We are very pleased with our leadership position and the continued growth we are experiencing in the Windows management space,” said David Pann, vice president of product management in the Systems Management Group at NetIQ. “With AppManagerÒ Suite, NetIQ will continue to deliver the industry’s most comprehensive systems management solution for assuring performance and availability across Windows environments and the distributed IT infrastructure.”

About NetIQ AppManager Suite NetIQ AppManager Suite assures the performance and availability of mission-critical servers and applications across Windows, Linux and UNIX platforms through proactive monitoring and quick diagnostics and recovery. It also helps optimize the utilization and productivity of IT resources through advanced reporting, analysis and automation. In addition to delivering the broadest and deepest management view into the distributed IT infrastructure, AppManager provides a robust architecture that is easy to use, quick to deploy and capable of scaling to thousands of servers.

About NetIQ Founded in 1995, NetIQ Corp. (Nasdaq: NTIQ) is a leading provider of Systems & Security Management and Web Analytics solutions. Historically focused on the Windows management market, NetIQ now delivers cross-platform solutions that enhance business performance resulting in higher returns on infrastructure and Web investments. NetIQ products are sold across all continents directly and through a network of authorized NetIQ partners and resellers. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with development and operational personnel in Houston, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; Bellevue, Wash.; Auckland, New Zealand and Portland, Ore. For more information, please visit NetIQ’s Web site at http://www.netiq.com or call (02) 9959-2317. # # #

NetIQ and AppManager are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetIQ Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

Contacts:

Dani Lombard, Weber Shandwick, (02) 9994-4457, dlombard@webershandwick.com Elizabeth Marchant, Weber Shandwick, (02) 9994-4452, emarchant@webershandwick.com