Cisco, Indus River and VPNet Collaborate With Inverse to Measure VPN Service Levels.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 28, 1999--

Inverse Network Technology Inc. today announced that it has formed the TunnelVision Initiative, a program to bring enterprise customers and service providers new levels of visibility and accoarticipate in the program.

Cisco, Indus Rsuring service level performance in the VPN envi.

"VPNs are crucial to making the Internet a safe place to do business," said Michael Watters, president and CEO of Inverse, Sunnyvale.

"Customers have concerns about VPN technologies impairing the end user application and access service levels as we move to working in a shared media environment. The TunnelVision Initiative is committed to providing customers with the technologies they need to guarantee the highest levels of network performance without compromising security."

VPNs are an increasingly popular networking solution used by corporations to cut communications costs and create secured communications to customers and partners. Enterprise customers, though, have been uncertain of the potential impact on their users, if any, from the deployment of dial and dedicated VPNs.

And service providers, looking to take advantage of a new revenue opportunity to provide managed VPN services, must be able to prove service quality. Both instances call for service-level measurements of network connections as well as secure tunnels.

The bundling of Inverse's service management technology will allow network-connection metrics -- such as call failure rates, network throughput and latency -- to be collected. To address VPN-specific tunnel measurement, the TunnelVision Initiative also will:

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     --   define the metrics required to measure service-level
          performance within secure VPN tunnels, initially in
          remote-access environments and then in dedicated
          environments;

     --   provide the methodology and solutions required for both
          enterprises and service providers to manage performance
          levels in real time and create verifiable service-level
          agreements using IP InSight, Inverse's service-level
          management system for IP network and application services;
          and

     --   define industry standards for remote-access and dedicated
          network VPN service performance measurement and
          verification.

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"Our service provider and enterprise customers told us that as they start to aggressively roll out VPNs, they needed the ability to measure VPN-specific performance characteristics," Watters said. "Inverse immediately recognized that alliances would be necessary to meet this requirement, leading us to team with Cisco, Indus River and VPNet, each leaders in the specific market segments they address."

VPN solutions from Cisco, Indus River and VPNet have already successfully passed interoperability testing with both the IP InSight Client and the IP InSight service-level reporting application suite. VPN products that include the IP InSight Client are expected to be available this summer or early in the fall.

Indus River and VPNet also will resell the Inverse IP InSight service-level management system to their enterprise and service provider customers.

During the second half of this year, Inverse will work with each of these vendors to measure service levels within secure VPN tunnels. The metrics to validate service levels will include availability, throughput, packet loss and latency experienced within a tunneling environment.

Richard Palmer, vice president of marketing in Cisco's Enterprise Wide Area Network Business Unit, praised the TunnelVision Initiative. "Virtual Private Networks are forming the backbone of the new Internet economy. Service level management is a key component of Cisco's multi-point strategy for delivering VPNs.

"IP InSight expands our existing service level management program -- providing customers with the detailed VPN service level performance they need as they deploy VPNs to remote access users."

"IP InSight adds best-in-class performance monitoring technology to the comprehensive policy management environment pioneered by Indus River in its RiverWorks Enterprise VPN solution," said Dave Zwicker, vice president of marketing for Indus River Networks. "Together they deliver the necessary management tools for network administrators to run large scale remote access VPNs."

"We're excited about the TunnelVision Initiative because we can utilize Inverse's IP InSight solutions to address the needs of our enterprise and service provider customers," said Jeff Barnell, vice president of service operations for VPNet Technologies.

"We'll be bundling the IP InSight Client with our industry-leading VPNware VPNremote Client, and we'll be offering the IP InSight service-level management system on a turnkey basis for enterprises and service providers as part of our VPNsure Program offerings. We're excited to be partnering with Inverse and taking a leading role in bringing comprehensive service level management to VPNs."

About Indus River Networks

Indus River Networks, headquartered in Acton, Mass., is a leading developer of intelligent remote networking solutions that address the ease-of-use, scalability, security, dependability and policy management requirements of large corporations worldwide.

Named one of "1999 Hot Products of the Year" by Data Communications, the company's premier RiverWorks Enterprise VPN product suite provides unparalleled performance and ease-of-use capabilities for large-scale deployment of policy-enabled virtual private networks.

For the latest information on Indus River's innovative technologies and products, visit our web site at http://www.indusriver.com.

About Inverse Network Technology Inc.

Inverse Network Technology is the leading provider of software solutions and measurement services that allow service providers and their business customers to measure service quality for applications such as remote access outsourcing, virtual private networks (VPNs) and electronic commerce.

Inverse helps ISPs and corporations enhance performance and reliability and improve customer satisfaction of their web sites and IP networks. Founded in 1996, the company is located in Sunnyvale. For more information, call 408/616-6200 or visit the Inverse web site at http://www.inversenet.com/.

About VPNet Technologies

VPNet Technologies Inc., the first company formed with a singular focus on VPNs, provides end users and service providers with a complete and flexible spectrum of VPN solutions. VPNet's award-winning VPNware(TM) Systems deliver the highest levels of security, performance, and manageability across a wide range of VPN applications.

VPNet's VPNsure(SM) Services enable enterprises and service providers to outsource VPN design, implementation, and management. Customers wanting more information about VPNet's products and services can contact the company at 408/445-6600 or visit its World Wide Web home page at http://www.vpnet.com.