IPOLICY NETWORKS PROVEN THE MOST SCALABLE FOR NETWORK-WIDE ADAPTIVE THREAT PREVENTION IN INDEPENDENT LAB TESTING

Trends in Security Management and Enforcement Seen in Miercom’s Analysis

Gartner IT Security Summit, Washington, D.C., June 5, 2006 – iPolicy Networks, provider of integrated network security solutions, today announced that Miercom, a leading network consultancy specializing in networking product testing and analysis, has rated the iPolicy product PerformanceVerified and CertifiedSecure, the highest certifications from the organization. Miercom recently concluded a wide-ranging evaluation which proved the iPolicy Security Manager 2.5 to be a carrier-grade security solution for managed security service providers and large multi-location and/or multi-department enterprise deployments.

“Our engineers put iPolicy’s security enforcement and management products through rigorous, hands-on scalability and reliability testing, and the products proved to be the most scalable network security solution we have seen,” said Rob Smithers, CEO of Miercom. “Realizing that the issue is bigger than stopping a specific malware (or protecting a specific vulnerability), the iPolicy solution enables consistent security enforcement across the complete network – a requirement for adaptive threat prevention and corporate security policy compliance. The iPolicy solution also provides an infrastructure that can swiftly adapt to address new emerging threats and vulnerabilities in the future.”

Several prevalent industry trends were also brought into clear focus through these tests. In order to achieve consistent security enforcement, organizations require comprehensive network security solutions that deliver:

• Centralized management - with distributed control – Chief Security Officers (CSOs) need to ensure baseline security enforcement for corporate compliance and global security posture against network threats across all locations and departments. At the same time, large organizations have many departments or locations that need to manage their local security settings to adapt to local needs and for routine administration. This requires support for hierarchical administration, wherein each department or location inherits the global security profile set by the CSO but also has delegated rights to make local changes without violating (or overriding) corporate baseline policies.

• Network-wide virtualization - across all security functions – When large organizations have several departments spread across multiple locations and need to manage security at each of these, they require ‘network-wide virtualization.’ Network-wide virtualization combines security across several locations into a single virtual domain – called a ‘security domain.’ This enables the corporation and each department to manage their security network-wide in a consistent manner without requiring a per-site administrator.

• High level of management scalability - adaptive for large network security – Service providers and large, distributed organizations require a security solution that can be managed across hundreds of locations and departments in their network; to enforce a wide variety of real-time security processes without impacting performance; and to rapidly respond to threats through adaptive control across the complete network.  

Miercom’s testing verified that iPolicy Network’s Intrusion Prevention Firewall solution meets and exceeds each of these critical requirements for consistent security enforcement. iPolicy Security Manager was proven to manage 600 Intrusion Prevention Firewalls with over 100 concurrent active Administrator sessions, indicative of a large managed CPE service or multi-location enterprise network. Another large-scale scenario validated by Miercom’s testing was 1,800 Security Domains, indicative of a large in-the-cloud managed security or multi-department enterprise deployment.  Also, iPolicy Security Manager was proven fault tolerant, and achieved the highest reliability rating for intrusion prevention systems Miercom has tested to date. As a result, Miercom rated the iPolicy products as PerformanceVerified, and as an approved component in any CertifiedSecure Network.

“As threats have evolved over time, organizations have added multiple point-security solutions spread across multiple locations and multiple departments in large networks, resulting in management complexity and high cost,” said Arun Chandra, president and CEO of iPolicy Networks. “Similar to the trend in other areas in IT, we see simplification and ease of management becoming a key requirement in network security.  Our sophisticated and scalable management capabilities allow service providers and enterprises to achieve consistent security enforcement across a wide range of large-scale deployments. The test results and analysis from Miercom give further validation and certification of iPolicy Network’s ability to deliver on this critical security requirement.” 

About Miercom’s Product Testing Services
With hundreds of its product-comparison analyses published over the years in such leading network trade periodicals as Business Communications Review, Network World and VoIP Magazine, Miercom’s reputation as the leading, independent product test center is unquestioned. Founded in 1988, the company has pioneered the comparative assessment of networking hardware and software, having developed methodologies for testing products from enterprise class VoIP gateways and IP PBX’s to carrier grade switching equipment and gateway products. Miercom’s private test services include competitive product analyses, as well as individual product evaluations. Miercom features comprehensive certification and test programs for VoIP, Security and Reliability:  Certified SIP™, CertifiedReliable™ and CertifiedSecure™.  Products may also be evaluated under the NetWORKS As Advertised™ program, in which networking-related products must endure a comprehensive, independent assessment of the products’ usability and performance. 

About iPolicy Networks
iPolicy Networks, an integrated network security product company, empowers customers to dynamically adapt their security to optimally address constantly emerging threats. iPolicy Networks’ Intrusion Prevention Firewall appliances are the only ones to utilize a deep-packet inspection based Single Pass Architecture™ that enables organizations to enforce a wide variety of real-time security processes at extremely high speeds without impacting performance. Its scalable management solution provides consistent security enforcement across the network, through a large number of geographically dispersed iPolicy Networks appliances and advanced multi-security virtualization. Headquartered in Fremont, California, iPolicy Networks’ customers include some of the world's largest network service providers and leading government, financial services and educational organizations. For more information, please visit www.ipolicynetworks.com or call 1.510.687.3000.