Apogee Networks' NetScope Delivers The Industry's Newest Network Management Application Which Simplifies Management of Even the Largest, Most Complex Global Networks.

ROCHELLE PARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 4, 1999--

Apogee Networks, global leaders in Business Aware Networking solutions for managing and leveraging information network resources, today introduced NetScope, a real-time network monitoring and performance analysis application that greatly simplifies the management of today's highly complex, and multi-application environments. NetScope is the industry's first solution that delivers comprehensive, easy-to-use network monitoring for anywhere, anytime management. Its highly intuitive context-sensitive user interface enables network managers to immediately locate the specific network information needed, and - unlike other network management tools- delivers key real-time as well as historical information to simplify the identification and correction of Network problems. In addition, its intelligent "elastic" caching, access control and context-sensitive technologies are unique in the network management space, and are brought together in a manner that provides organizations with enormous flexibility in managing the complexity of today's distributed Networks.

The Yankee Group's Eric Hinden noted: "Today's enterprise is plagued by the shortage of experienced networking professionals who can manage the many complex, diverse resources that run today's enterprise, from routers to user applications. This talent shortage has been compounded by the fact that, until now, the only management packages available were complex `point solutions' that monitored only narrow portions of the overall network. NetScope is an important breakthrough that gives even relatively inexperienced network managers the easily-accessed `world view' they need to keep complex global networks running at peak performance, and gives seasoned network managers rich new insight to optimize network operations and manage growth."

Netscope user Michael Rosenthal, president of Walrus Internet, a leading regional Internet Service Provider, noted: "In addition to greatly improving the management of our network, Netscope provides valuable real-time data not readily available in other products. Netscope gives our network management team comprehensive information on what is flowing across our network, both in real-time and historically, and allows us to identify and correctly potential problems before network performance is affected. The Elastic Caching functionality allows us to study the exact conditions that can trigger potential problems, even hours after their occurrence, with complete packet-by-packet information, not just canned reports. NetScope has significantly improved the day-to-day performance and manageability of our network, and ranks among the most productive and cost-effective Network Management investments we've made."

Industry's First Elastic Caching of Network Data for Easy Problem Resolution

NetScope's administrator-defined, flexible caching and historical data retrieval provides unprecedented real-time and after-the-fact analysis of problems in the network, making it easy for even relatively inexperienced network professionals to analyze the causes and resolutions to network problems. NetScope enables the server on which it resides to cache traffic based both on the manager's request for network data and on traps received triggered by a specific event. Network managers can determine the conditions of the other applications and hosts, or the other network vital signs, when the problem occurred. This powerful capability lets you see exactly what was happening on your network during a performance problem - even if that problem no longer exists - even if it occurred several hours prior.

Full Integration With Industry-Standard Data Sources

NetScope delivers full integration with all key existing industry-standard sources of network data, including RMON, RMON2, SMON and Cisco's NetFlow, to provide the first comprehensive, correlated and transparent view of the network and its diverse components and applications. NetScope is fully compatible with data sources from an impressive list of vendors such as: Cisco, HP, NetScout, 3Com, Nortel, Shomiti, Solcom, and Apptitude. In addition, NetScope self-discovers all protocols and applications running on the network. And it sets up every screen to display the relevant statistics. If a new protocol or application shows up, NetScope lets network administrators know right away, without requiring configuration by the user.

Unprecedented Ease-of-Configuration, Ease-of-Use and Access Control

NetScope is also the industry's first `context-sensitive ' solution that lets network engineers or managers view exactly the information they need with a few simple mouse clicks, making it easy for even relatively inexperienced users to quickly pinpoint problems and anomalies. It lets network administrators customize access privileges to each team member's job functions and needs, simplifying information presentation and ensuring that the right information is easily and immediately available to the right people. This rich access control functionality extends right-to- use of critical network information beyond Network Engineers to System Administrators, Help Desk support or other IS groups.

NetScope Delivers extensive richness while leveraging JAVA

NetScope is built around a fully distributed, client/server architecture. Each NetScope server can be configured to manage a specific domain of the network for maximum scalability. Its user interface is 100% Java, allowing browser based client access, which provides for anywhere, anytime management. If the engineer you need is off-site, all they need to do is get to a browser, and they have the power of the entire application at their fingertips. The entire has made significant process on leveraging Java - NetScope is one of the first to deliver.

Apogee Networks President and CEO Pablo Tapia summarized: "Heading up Goldman Sachs' global network, I recognized that the complexities of today's networks, coupled with the industry-wide shortage of experienced network management staff, can affect even the best-run organizations and most carefully designed networks. NetScope represents an important new class of network management solution that simplifies the management and ongoing operation of today's networks, and makes every networking professional an expert. We need to eliminate the `black magic' that's currently required to manage networks, in order to succeed in delivering Service Levels that meet business needs."

About Apogee

Apogee Networks, Inc., headquartered in Rochelle Park, New Jersey, is a privately-held company founded to develop a new class of `Business Aware Solutions' that will provide large enterprises and ISPs with new visibility into the usage patterns and consumption of network resources, enabling them to better manage and leverage their information network investments, and control growth patterns and escalating costs. Apogee's NetCountant is used by Fortune 500 corporations and other leading information-driven organizations to substantially improve the efficiency and economics of their WAN networks. NetCountant was recently awarded the prestigious "Best of Show" award from Networld + Interop. Additional information is available at www.apogeenet.com.