Aventail Signs Agreement with NEC to Develop a New Class of Internet Products Based on the Socks v5 Standard.SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 26, 1996--Network managers now have a standards-based solution to maintain secure and managed Internet access See how to access the Internet. within their corporations. Aventail Corporation, the leading vendor of Internet Access Management and Security software, today announced it has reached an agreement to license NEC (NEC Corporation, Tokyo, www.nec.com, www.necus.com) An electronics conglomerate known in the U.S. for its monitors. In Japan, it had the lion's share of the PC market until the late 1990s (see PC 98). NEC was founded in Tokyo in 1899 as Nippon Electric Company, Ltd. USA Inc's., SOCKS5 proxy communication technology and SOCKS5Toolkit products. Under this agreement, Aventail will develop and market products utilizing NEC's advanced SOCKS5 technology to industry OEM's and corporations. In addition, the two companies will jointly promote and advance the SOCKS standard in the marketplace. "We're pleased to join with Aventail to further the enhancement and commercialization of products based upon the SOCKS v5 protocol," said Dr. Takeo Hoshi, NEC USA senior vice president. "SOCKS is gaining increasing momentum around the world as organizations attempt to more effectively manage and control their Internet usage. We have a strong corporate commitment to SOCKS and we will continue to develop additional supporting technology to advance the standard." "Our alliance with NEC will allow us the ability to complete a family of comprehensive SOCKS servers featuring network usage monitoring, auditing, accounting, logging, blocking, intrusion detection See IDS and IPS. , and database integration," said Evan Kaplan, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Aventail. "NEC has developed and nurtured the SOCKS standard almost since its inception. Their sophisticated technology combined with their commitment to open standards makes them the ideal ally." How SOCKS 5 Works SOCKS v5 is an open, IETF-approved security protocol (RFC (Request For Comments) A document that describes the specifications for a recommended technology. Although the word "request" is in the title, if the specification is ratified, it becomes a standards document. 1928) for Authenticated Firewall Traversal. While often used as a firewall because of its ability to act as a proxy server, SOCKS v5's capabilities extend far beyond ordinary firewall tasks. SOCKS v5 holds its greatest potential as a platform for Internet Access Management and Security applications. The SOCKS v5 protocol performs two basic operations. First, a SOCKS-enabled network client issues an Internet connection request to the SOCKS server, which authenticates the identity of the user. Next, the SOCKS server creates an application-independent proxy circuit, which manages the relay of information between the internal network client and the outside Internet host. Unlike traditional firewall proxy implementations which require application-specific agents on the firewall and are limited by their ability to monitor only application-specific traffic, SOCKS supports generalized proxies. As a generalized proxy, a SOCKS server acts as a central network access management hub for all incoming and outgoing network traffic. Generalized proxies provide superior network security and management, and are significantly easier to administer than traditional firewalls. The NEC SOCKS5 server technology and the SOCKS5Toolkit efficiently address various features which allow end-users to easily incorporate SOCKS functionality into their applications. A partial list of these functions include monitoring, alarming, and access control. The NEC SOCKS5 server technology provides robust expandability through its API suite. SOCKS Protocol Gaining Increasing Industry Support Several leading network security server vendors now support SOCKS in their products, including IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , Digital Equipment, NEC Technologies, and Sterling Software. Vendors supporting SOCKS in their client applications include Netscape (Nasdaq: NSCP NSCP National Schistosomiasis Control Program NSCP National Space Communications Program NSCP Native (Mode) Service Control Point (Tandem) ), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT MSFT Microsoft (stock symbol) MSFT Movimento Sociale Fiamma Tricolore (Italy) MSFT Multi-Stage Fitness Test MSFT Master of Science in Family Therapy MSFT Macalester Students for Fair Trade ), NetManage (Nasdaq: NETM), FTP Software (Nasdaq: FTPS (FTP Secure) Transferring files over the secure sockets layer (SSL) protocol. See SSL and FTP. ) and Pointcast. Independent of the NEC agreement, Aventail has developed and successfully marketed AutoSOCKS, a standards-based product that combines WinSock with the SOCKS protocol. By implementing AutoSOCKS into corporation's existing TCP/IP TCP/IP in full Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol Standard Internet communications protocols that allow digital computers to communicate over long distances. applications, clients can communicate with a SOCKS server and gain full authenticated traversal capabilities through SOCKS-enabled firewalls and Internet Access Managers. Prior to AutoSOCKS, corporations would be required to change their TCP/IP applications. Now, network managers can fully improve and utilize their past investments. Availability Aventail expects that products based upon NEC's SOCKS5 technology will be available to OEMs and corporate end-users in 4Q96. About Aventail Founded in 1996, privately held Aventail is the leading vendor of Internet Access Management products for Windows and UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). environments. Aventail's products, which are built around the IETF-approved SOCKS v5 protocol standard, allow network administrators to provide their organizations secure and managed Internet access. The company has offices in Seattle, Washington and can be contacted by phone (206) 524-0841, fax (206) 524-0374 or email at info@aventail.com. Aventail's Web address is www.aventail.com. About NEC NEC USA, Inc. was established in 1989 as a company to foster business and management strategies common to NEC U.S. companies. Its organizations include the Corporate Network Administration Division, C&C Research Laboratories, and Office of Multimedia Business Development, all chartered to fortify for·ti·fy v. for·ti·fied, for·ti·fy·ing, for·ti·fies v.tr. To make strong, as: a. To strengthen and secure (a position) with fortifications. b. To reinforce by adding material. global network integration, research and development, and multimedia activities of NEC in the United States. -0- Editor's note: SOCKS5 and SOCKS5Toolkit are trademarks of NEC USA, Inc. All other brands, products and service names mentioned are trademarks or registered service marks of their respective owners. CONTACT: Dovetail dovetail (dov´tāl), n a widened or fanned-out portion of a prepared cavity, usually established deliberately to increase the retention and resistance form. Public Relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most Mark Coker, 408/395-3600 dovetailpr@aol.com or Aventail Corporation Evan Kaplan, 206/524-0841 evank@aventail.com or NEC USA, Inc. Lourdes Cogswell, 516/753-7054 cogswell@ccgate.ml.nec.com |
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