Consolidated Minerals Deploys Expand Accelerators to Boost Satellite Network Performance.

MELBOURNE, Australia & ROSELAND, N.J. -- Accelerators Guarantee Quick and Reliable Delivery of Purchasing, Email, Remote Desktop and Web Application over Satellite Links

Expand Networks, a leading provider of Application Traffic Management Systems for the branch office, announced today that Consolidated Minerals Limited (CSM) has deployed the Expand Accelerator 4800 Series throughout its satellite network to boost the performance of critical networked applications including a purchasing application, Microsoft Exchange email, remote desktop and web applications.

CSM is an independent West Australian public company whose principal operations are the exploration, mining, processing and exporting of high-grade manganese and chromite. The company's two main projects are the Woodie Manganese Project and the Coobina Chromite Project; both located in the remote, Pilbara region of Western Australia about 1,000km (622 miles) from CSM's headquarters in Perth Australia. Due to the remoteness of the project sites, CSM is not able to access ISDN or fibre infrastructure and is dependent on satellite communications to network the main project sites with the head office.

The CSM network supports up to 100 users and has to manage remote access for purchasing, desktop, e-mail and web applications through narrow satellite connections.

"Satellite networks are known for traffic collisions and repeat transmissions," commented Gabriel Van, IT Support Officer at Consolidated Minerals Limited. "We could not accept slow application response times, especially for our purchasing application which the staff uses to create, manage and track the acquisition of mining sites."

Increasing satellite bandwidth to improve the quality of data transfers and remote connections was both expensive and inefficient at improving response times. CSM was introduced to the Expand Accelerators and engaged in a proof of concept evaluation of the Expand Accelerator 4800 Series.

"We were blown away by the outcome of the tests," continued Mr. Van. "The Accelerators improved application response times by 300-400% and we immediately saw more available capacity on our existing satellite links. More importantly, when we stress tested the devices and flooded the satellite connection, the Accelerators understood how to optimize traffic streams by eliminating repeat transmissions and data. The ultimate deal-maker was the Accelerator's QoS and monitoring capabilities which gave us visibility into application performance with the ability to prioritize critical traffic streams."

"Expand's Accelerators have been widely deployed in satellite networks across oil, gas, government and mining industries," said Ariel Shulman, Vice President of Product Management at Expand Networks. "The Accelerator's combination of application acceleration, compression and QoS ensures that application performance over satellite links is as reliable and fast as terrestrial broadband connections."

About Expand Networks

Expand Networks is a leading provider of Application Traffic Management solutions for the branch office. The company's Accelerators take Application Traffic Management to the next level by employing a modular and intelligent application architecture that eliminates complexities associated with traditional traffic management solutions. The Accelerators automatically adapt to changes in traffic, remove WAN inefficiencies and maximize the performance of distributed enterprise applications. The Accelerators combine many unique features including next-generation WAN compression, application-specific acceleration, Layer 7 QoS and sophisticated monitoring and reporting. Expand has shipped over 20,000 Accelerator devices to more than 1,000 customers including Motorola, Continental Airlines and the United States Department of Defense. Expand Networks is headquartered in Roseland, New Jersey with offices in Australia, Dubai, Germany, Israel, Italy, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom and throughout the United States. To learn more, visit www.expand.com or call [phone].

Expand Networks, Accelerator System 9000, Accelerator Server, Accelerator 6800 Series, Accelerator 4800 Series, Accelerator 4000 Series, Accelerator 1800 Series, HTTPS Accelerator Series and ExpandView are trademarks of Expand Networks. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.