Effnet to Add Integrated Firewall to the ROC -Router on a Card-; Gigabit Router/Firewall Combo will Turn PC Servers into Low Cost, High Performance Network Devices.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 1999--

Effnet announced at the Networld+Interop show today that they are adding sophisticated firewall capabilities to the Effnet ROC(TM) (Router On a Card). When the router/firewall combo ships early next year Effnet will have completed a major step in Avalanche, the rollout initiative they unveiled in May. By adding firewall security Effnet will expand the repertoire of the ROC, a platform that will also eventually include VPN (virtual private network), QoS (Quality of Service), and bandwidth management functions.

The ROC is Effnet's solution to the persistent problems of network congestion (caused in part by computation intensive components such as routers and firewalls) and growing network complexity (spurred on by the proliferation of specialized, proprietary boxes needed to manage traffic). By bundling a sophisticated set of communications features onto a single add-in card Effnet is striving to simplify networks, ease management, reduce costs, and give server vendors another way to compete in the increasingly contentious networking arena.

ROC-equipped servers can function as sophisticated network edge devices that manage traffic and optimize security for enterprise networks, and for branch office connectivity and SOHO applications.

Effnet Introduces "Selective Inspection" for Smart and Fast

Firewall Filtering

Effnet engineers have devised a way to bring high performance firewall filtering to the ROC platform using a method that is an outgrowth of their proprietary algorithms. The Effnet ROC architecture combined with a new technique called "selective inspection" makes it possible to simultaneously route and filter IP traffic at Gigabit speeds.

Effnet's "selective filtering" improves on established stateful inspection methods in a number of important ways. Stateful inspection reduces the delays inherent in filtering by tracking active connections in a database. By automatically applying decisions based on the first packet to all subsequent packets that are part of the same open connection, firewalls that use stateful inspection eliminate the need to make filtering decisions on each and every packet.

As a direct consequence of the efficiency of Effnet's filtering engine there is no need to avoid performing filtering decisions. Each packet is processed by the filtering engine, which is tightly integrated with the stateful inspection engine. Effnet's firewall selectively applies stateful inspection only to the packet where it is necessary.

Even for high security needs, resulting in complex configurations of thousands of filtering rules, the ROC will perform more than 250K filtering decisions per second, and support up to 16,000 concurrent outbound connections.

Product Specifications

The Effnet ROC is a PCI "blade" that is equipped with single or dual StrongARM processors. It has a peripheral mezzanine connector (PMC) for popular network interface boards. Two and four-port Fast Ethernet network interface cards are part of the initial product offering. In the future Effnet will provide a wide variety of LAN/WAN interface cards as dictated by customer demand.

The Effnet ROC works with popular IP routing protocols such as RIP, OSPF and BGP-4, DVMRP, and will soon include advanced firewall technology such as:

- Selective inspection

- Network Address Translation

- Secure fragment filtering

- Management of all known attacks

- Dynamic filtering

About Effnet

Effnet was established in the spring of 1997 based on the revolutionary results of a research project at Lulea University of Technology in Sweden. These results are the foundation of the Effnet algorithms, now in their third generation.

Effnet now has 45 employees and is expanding rapidly. Research and development are based in Lulea. In 1998, the company opened sales and marketing offices in Boston, Massachusetts and an additional office in Stockholm, Sweden. The company's technology has been field tested and proven via a line of firewall products initially marketed exclusively in Sweden. Server-based, PCI add-on products based on Effnet's algorithm will become available in the coming months.

Effnet's mission is to develop and market multifunction networking products that deliver outstanding performance at affordable prices. By using highly efficient algorithms and data structures, Effnet technology breaks conventional performance barriers for table-lookups and filtering operations delivering low cost but high performance networking and telecommunications "accelerators" for PC and web servers, and turn-key routing and security solutions.

Effnet Group AB shares are publicly traded on Stockholm Stock Exchange's New Market (EFFN). Additional information about Effnet is available through the Web at www.effnet.com and by calling [phone].