World's Leading Analyst Firm Lists Datastream in "Leaders" Quadrant for Enterprise Asset Management

 Datastream Moves Into the Leaders Quadrant

GREENVILLE, S.C., – March 21, 2003 – Datastream Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: DSTM) today announced that it has been listed in the Leaders Quadrant in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Asset-Intensive Business Applications. *

According to Gartner, vendors evaluated in magic quadrant reports can be grouped into one of four categories: Leaders, Challengers, Visionaries and Niche Players. Gartner assesses companies based on "completeness of vision" and "ability to execute" and defines Leaders as vendors who are performing well today, have a clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the market.

“Companies in this quadrant serve a diverse market of global customers,” wrote Kristian Steenstrup, research director, Business Applications, in the report “Asset-Intensive ERPII and EAM/CMMS Magic Quadrant Criteria 1Q 03.”  “From late 2001 to mid-2002, these vendors went through a cycle of product updates in functionality and technology that has provided users with more up-to-date software and expanded functional scope.”

Datastream’s success is based on Datastream 7i^™, the company’s flagship enterprise asset management solution. Datastream 7i has registered 328 customer wins and 214 live sites since it was first introduced in October 2001, making it the most widely deployed Web-architected enterprise asset management system in the world today.

”Datastream clearly demonstrated positive year-over-year momentum in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant report, and we are pleased that the world’s leading analyst firm listed our company in the Leaders Quadrant,” said Larry Blackwell, president and CEO of Datastream Systems, Inc. “This momentum is driven by our ability to consistently deliver an effective combination of product and services, which translates directly into successful customer deployments. We plan to build on this success throughout the year with new product features and services that support our Asset Performance Management strategy.”

About Datastream Systems, Inc.
Datastream Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: DSTM) provides Asset Performance Management software and services to enterprises worldwide, including more than 60 percent of the Fortune 500. Datastream’s solutions combine world-class asset management functionality with advanced analytics to deliver a powerful platform for optimizing enterprise asset performance.

By using Datastream’s solutions, customers can maintain and manage capital assets – such as manufacturing equipment, vehicle fleets and buildings – and create analyses and forecasts so they can take action to improve future performance. Datastream’s flagship product, Datastream 7i, delivers a complete Asset Performance Management infrastructure by combining an Internet architecture with broad enterprise asset management functionality, integrated procurement, advanced analytics and multi-site capability.

Datastream was founded in 1986 and has customers in more than 140 countries. For more information, visit http://www.datastream.net/.

* Gartner report referenced is March 12, 2003, Asset-Intensive EERPII and EAM/CMMS Magic Quadrant Criteria 1Q 03. The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted March 2003 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission, which permission should not be deemed to be an endorsement of any company or product depicted in the quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is Gartner, Inc.’s opinion and is an analytical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It measures vendors against Gartner defined criteria for a marketplace. The positioning of vendors within a Magic Quadrant is based on the complex interplay of many factors. Gartner does not advise enterprises to select only those firms in the “Leaders” quadrant. In some situations, firms in the Visionary, Challenger, or Niche Player quadrants may be the right matches for an enterprise's requirements. Well-informed vendor selection decisions should rely on more than a Magic Quadrant. Gartner research is intended to be one of many information sources including other published information and direct analyst interaction. Gartner, Inc. expressly disclaims all warranties, express or implied, of fitness of this research for a particular purpose.