Corporate Networks Become Employee Playgrounds as Growth, Complexity of Online Games Skyrockets, Cautions Websense Inc.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 29, 2002

Game Web Sites Spike 85 Percent in Last Year, Include Engaging,

Bandwidth-Intensive Features

It's all fun and games -- until the bandwidth is gone.

Websense Inc. (Nasdaq:WBSN), the world's leading employee Internet management (EIM) software company, reports that the number of Web sites devoted to video and interactive games jumped nearly 85 percent in the last year, to more than 46,000 Web sites, representing more than 8.3 million Web pages. According to WordSpot, numerous online game terms consistently appear in the top 100 most commonly typed phrases in search engines.

But for corporate America, the popularity of online games is overshadowed by the industry's reliance on broadband Internet access. Online gaming and high-speed Web access are tightly linked, according to both IDC and Gartner G2. And with only 6.5 percent of videogame households maintaining broadband connections, according to IDC, gaming employees often take advantage of the high-speed access found in most corporate environments.

"Most managers simply don't think about employees playing online games during office hours," said Andy Meyer, vice president of marketing for Websense Inc. "But when you consider the explosive growth of the online gaming industry -- expected to grow 59 percent to 101.3 million individuals by 2006 -- combined with its reliance on broadband connections, work-related Web activity may be losing out to bandwidth-intensive gaming."

The gaming diversion isn't going away. According to Jupiter, total online games' revenue will increase sevenfold to $2.6 billion by 2006. Additionally, enhanced features, such as Web surfing, e-mail and Web-based competition, will be critical to the videogame market's future growth, according to the Yankee Group. For example, EA.com's popular interactive Majestic game requires software downloads and utilizes instant messaging, e-mail and Webcam conversations to provide users with a lifelike suspense thriller experience.

American users visit game sites for an average of 37.9 minutes, according to CyberAtlas. And according to PC Data, 35 percent of gamers play games more than five hours per week. For IT managers, this could mean valuable network bandwidth is being consumed by interactive online games, slowing -- or worse, halting -- work-related Web activity.

"The best way for corporations to prevent online game playing is to establish and communicate written e-policies regarding employee use of business Web and e-mail access," said Nancy Flynn, executive director of the ePolicy Institute and author of "The ePolicy Handbook." "Another effective measure is to install a flexible employee Internet management (EIM) software product that permits a reasonable amount of diversion, while eliminating abuses of the Internet at work."

Websense Enterprise EIM software helps corporations enforce existing Internet access policies, while enabling flexible and adaptive employee Web use. For example, the product's "time of day" feature allows employers to prevent online game playing during work hours -- when bandwidth is most needed -- but permit games at lunch, before or after work, when work-related Web activity is at a minimum.

About Websense Inc.

Websense Inc. (Nasdaq:WBSN) is the worldwide leader of employee Internet management (EIM) solutions. Websense Enterprise software enables businesses to manage how their employees use the Internet, improving productivity, conserving network bandwidth and storage costs, and mitigating legal liability. Recently named the top-ranked database among leading EIM vendors by eTesting Labs (http://www.etestinglabs.com/main/reports/websense.asp), Websense delivers the most effective and comprehensive solution in the industry to help companies avoid legal and productivity exposures.

Founded in 1994, Websense serves more than 17,000 worldwide customers, ranging in size from 100-person firms to global corporations. These include more than half of the Fortune 500, approximately one-third of Japan's Nikkei 225 and half of the U.K.'s FTSE 100, encompassing more than 12 million customer seats, pre-paid on a subscription basis. Websense has strategic technology relationships with CacheFlow (Nasdaq:CFLO), Check Point (Nasdaq:CHKP), Cisco (Nasdaq:CSCO), Inktomi, Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), NetScreen (Nasdaq:NSCN), Network Appliance (Nasdaq:NTAP), SonicWALL (Nasdaq:SNWL) and others. For more information, visit www.websense.com.

Except for the historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements containing the words "planned," "expects," "believes," "strategy," "opportunity," "anticipates" and similar words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors that may cause the company's actual results to be materially different from historical results or any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date hereof. The potential risks and uncertainties which could cause actual growth and results to differ materially include but are not limited to, customer acceptance of the company's services, products and fee structures, the success of the company's brand development efforts, the volatile and competitive nature of the Internet industry, and changes in domestic and international market conditions, and foreign exchange rates. Further information on the factors and risks that could affect Websense's business, financial condition and results of operations are included under the headings "Risk Factors," "Risks and Uncertainties" or "Factors Affecting our Operating Results" contained in Websense's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available at (http://www.sec.gov).