Messaging Expert Mirapoint Sharpens Its Email Security Appliance Product Line with RazorGate.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 26, 2004

Cutting-Edge RazorGate 100 & RazorGate 300 Appliances

Provide Industrial-Strength Security Protection at the

Network Edge to Stop Spam, Viruses, Hacker Attacks & More

Building on its reputation as a customer-proven provider of airtight email security solutions, Mirapoint today announced the RazorGate(TM) appliances -- a new suite of email security solutions optimized to stop spam, viruses, hacker attacks, and other security threats that jeopardize today's mission-critical message networks. Deployed at the edge of a customer's network, the purpose-built RazorGate 100 and RazorGate 300 appliances are ideal email security solutions for small- to medium-sized businesses or for highly distributed organizations, and are designed to work with any existing email server. Oriented for sale through Mirapoint's reseller partners, the RazorGate solutions are faster to deploy, provide more complete protection, and offer lower total cost of ownership (TCO) when compared with competitive security products; including non-integrated "piece-meal" alternatives sourced from multiple vendors or inflexible filtering services provided by a hosting provider with limited customization and poor return on investment (ROI).

Mirapoint's RazorGate appliances offer the industry's best and most complete email security protection available in convenient, easy-to-deploy form factors. Both RazorGate appliances employ Mirapoint's industry-recognized Full-Spectrum(TM) technology, which boasts the industry's "best accuracy for spam catch-rates with zero false positives" based on independent analysis by a leading trade magazine. Powerful, industry-leading anti-virus technology is also available pre-integrated with all RazorGate appliances, as well as additional security capabilities for advanced content filtering, policy enforcement, intrusion detection, and SMTP connection management.

To meet the strong market demand for email security solutions, Mirapoint has partnered with over 50 worldwide resellers, including Paragon Systems, Secure Content Solutions, Newman Group, Intrinsic Networks, EZ Web Communications, Care Factor, KERNEL Networks, Drachenfels GmbH, and Inuit. Mirapoint will work with these and other channel partners to promote the RazorGate product family.

"Spam, viruses, and other email-based attacks will all help to propel the email security market to strong growth over the next five years," said Robert Mahowald, research manager at IDC. "Mirapoint's new RazorGate solution joins the company's Message Server and Message Director products to form a comprehensive lineup of email security solutions for enterprise and service provider customers. Mirapoint's expertise in security for routing, storing, accessing, and managing email gives it insight into the security needs of customers of all sizes."

The new RazorGate products complement Mirapoint's existing family of email security solutions. With high-end products like the Mirapoint Message Director, to the new cost-optimized RazorGate family, Mirapoint has the right solution to address the full range of needs for enterprise, service provider, education, or government customers.

RazorGate 100 -- Fully Integrated Protection Against Spam, Virus, and Hacker Attacks

The RazorGate 100 is a compact, 1U appliance designed for rapid deployment alongside any existing email server to provide protection against spam, viruses, and hacker attacks. Targeted at organizations with less than 1,500 users, the RazorGate 100 provides a more cost-effective, easy-to-manage solution than competitive software-only or service-based offerings. The RazorGate 100 includes the following key features:

-- Mirapoint's Full-Spectrum email security technology --

Combines powerful spam analysis, identification, filtering,

and management features, delivering industry's best

catch-rates with zero false positives.

-- DirectPath(TM) real-time scanning technology -- Provides

in-line scanning of message traffic without the complexity of

managing and backing-up the message queue. With DirectPath, no

messages are ever stored in queues; and in the unlikely event

of a system failure, there is no chance that mission-critical

email messages get lost or deleted.

-- Advanced content filtering -- Enables the filtering of

messages based on keywords in message body, header, or

attachments, including HTML, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files.

Administrators can also configure policies for managing

incoming and outgoing email traffic to protect against

harassment or other types of email abuse.

"Small and mid-sized businesses are actively searching for highly effective yet affordable protection at the gateway against spam, viruses, and hacker attacks," said Vartan Ouzanian, president of Secure Content Solutions. "Mirapoint's new RazorGate appliances offer a customer-proven solution that addresses customers' end-to-end security needs. SCS is excited to offer the new RazorGate appliances to its customers and help boost the security and reliability of their message networks."

RazorGate 300 -- Network-Hardened Multi-Layer Email Security for Larger Enterprises

Designed for larger organizations of up to 5,000 users, the RazorGate 300 provides all of the features of the RazorGate 100, plus additional higher-end capabilities. The RazorGate 300 includes the following key features:

-- Integrated LDAP routing and queue management capabilities --

Enables complex routing of email within an organization's

message network or between multiple email servers. Integrated

queue management tools provide granular control over incoming

and outgoing message traffic, as well as quarantine queue

capabilities for examining messages in transit.

-- Wiretap capability -- Addresses emerging corporate liability,

regulatory, or vertical industry requirements. Wiretap allows

administrators to selectively and transparently monitor

individual email. For example, if a message gets bounced, the

end-user will not be notified in any way and the wiretap will

not be compromised.

-- Secure email access -- Provides a secure access proxy for

existing web-based email applications, such as Microsoft

Outlook Web Access, Lotus iNotes, or Mirapoint Webmail.

-- Carrier-grade reliability -- Ensures 99.999% availability with

redundant hardware components and battery backed-up redundant

array of inexpensive disks (RAID) controllers.

"Our government and business customers desire solutions that increase the reliability and security of their message networks, while driving down administrative overhead and TCO," said Gary Newgaard, president of Paragon Systems. "With Mirapoint's solutions, including the new RazorGate email security appliances, Paragon has a complete product offering to address any size organization -- from a few hundred users to tens of thousands -- to secure incoming and outgoing email against hackers, spam, and virus threats, or deliver more reliable, manageable email services."

"With the addition of RazorGate, Mirapoint can offer protection against security threats to business of all sizes and requirements," said Johannes von Drachenfels, director of Drachenfels GmbH. "The RazorGate appliance is an ideal product for the channel because it is price optimized, can be deployed within minutes, and because its an appliance that companies don't have to worry about in dealing with multiple versions of software and integration."

Go-to-Market Kit Empowers Channel Partners

To simplify the sales and marketing of its new RazorGate appliances, Mirapoint will provide channel partners with a complete go-to-market kit. The kit includes data sheets, brochures, sales tools, customizable direct marketing and advertising materials, and comprehensive competitive information. Mirapoint will also provide funding of joint marketing efforts for the RazorGate appliances for qualified partners and programs.

Pricing & Availability

The RazorGate appliances are aggressively priced with a RazorGate 100 configuration for 300 users priced at $12,500 suggested U.S. list price. The RazorGate 100 is immediately available and the RazorGate 300 will be available in the first quarter of 2004. For more information or to purchase RazorGate appliances, please contact an authorized RazorGate reseller or Mirapoint directly at 1-800-937-8118 or [e-mail].

About Mirapoint

Mirapoint(R) is a leader in solutions for message networks used by service provider, enterprise, education and government institutions. Customers use Mirapoint solutions to build message networks that intelligently and securely route, store, access and manage Internet messages, including email. Mirapoint is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., with offices throughout North America, Europe For more information on Mirapoint, visit its Web site at www.mirapoint.com.