NetScreen Technologies Integrates Remote VPN Client Security With Firewall; Provides Secure, High-Speed NAT Access to Remote Users, Eliminates Need for Separate Remote VPN and Firewall.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 24, 1998--

Pre-Integrated Remote Security Solution Minimizes Network

Management, Speeds Remote Access and Reduces Telecommunications

Costs

NetScreen Technologies Inc. today announced a remote access Virtual Private Network (VPN) client pre-integrated with the corporate firewall, creating a unified security system that eliminates the barrier traditionally imposed by firewalls on encrypted data, while still implementing the highest level of IPSec-compliant security for remote access.

NetScreen's ASIC-based integrated firewall/VPN provides high-speed, IPSec-based encrypted remote access to Network Address Translation (NAT)-based networks for a large number of users, even while accessing heavily-trafficked servers. NetScreen's integrated approach avoids the performance bottleneck created by software-based security solutions that become burdened by the compute-intensive operation of encryption, which then often drop connections attempted to overloaded servers.

With the ability now to encrypt remote clients, the NetScreen-10 and NetScreen-100 ASIC-based security products, which already integrate VPN, firewall and traffic-shaping capabilities, eliminate the compromise to firewall integrity when separate remote access and firewall solutions need to be configured.

NetScreen's integrated remote client supports tunnel mode with NAT turned on, providing direct, secure access over IP to the internal network (or NAT) from the Internet or Extranet. With NetScreen's integrated remote VPN client and firewall, network administrators do not need to decide whether to locate the VPN inside or outside the firewall, authentication procedures for separate solutions do not need to be duplicated, and administration is vastly facilitated.

With support for IPSec-based remote access, NetScreen reduces equipment, management and telecommunications costs by eliminating the need for access through corporate modem banks. Next-generation operating systems integrating IPSEC, such as Microsoft NT5, (NASDAQ:MSFT), will be compatible with NetScreen's remote access support.

Richard Hanke, NetScreen's marketing director, said, "VPNs represent the next generation in remote access. Companies can significantly reduce administration, equipment and telecommunications expenses by outsourcing remote access to the ISP. NetScreen is able to deliver a very effective and fast approach to secure remote access because we integrate the VPN and firewall. Network administrators, therefore, do not need to decide how to pass data through their firewall, which compromises its integrity. Accelerator add-ons and so-called 'integrated' software suites still do not address this problem. NetScreen elegantly and simply takes care of access through the firewall barrier."

NetScreen's remote access client gives remote users, such as corporate road warriors, users working at home or from branch offices, and other mobile professionals the fastest possible secure connections to corporate data. This is possible because both the NetScreen-100 and NetScreen-10 dynamically encrypt, screen and prioritize traffic in real time, and are therefore able to support wire-speed performance.

NetScreen's remote access capability provides point-to-point support, connecting the user through a low-cost local dial-up ISP connection via software installed on the remote system and establishing a VPN tunnel to the corporate network secured by a NetScreen-10 or NetScreen-100 firewall. NetScreen supports high-performance access for large numbers of concurrent users, whether remote or inside the firewall.

The NetScreen-100 supports as many as 4370 connections per second (based on 32 clients), more than twice that of its closest competition, according to an independent test of firewalls conducted earlier this year by KeyLabs. The NetScreen-10 supports 16,000 concurrent user sessions; the NetScreen-100 supports 32,000 concurrent user sessions. Both support up to 4,000 advanced access policies, with an easy-to-use policy interface.

Both the NetScreen-100 and NetScreen-10 support industry standards for encryption, including Internet Key Exchange (IKE, previously ISAKMP) for secure key exchange over IP; Data Encryption Standard (DES) and Triple DES, as well as Message Digest 5 (MD5) header identification algorithm for data integrity. NetScreen will support X.509 certificates for Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), which automate and simplify key VPN functions. Both NetScreen products are IPSec-compatible.

Pricing and Availability of NetScreen Remote Access

NetScreen's remote VPN client will be available in September for Windows NT and 95 for $95 per client. A 10-user license is $695, a 25-user license is $1,295, and site licenses are available upon request.

The award-winning NetScreen-100 is the only product to combine firewall, VPN and traffic management with 100Mbps full wire-speed performance, making it the fastest product of its kind in each of these security categories. The NetScreen-10 puts data and Internet security, as well as traffic management within the financial reach of small business users or corporate branch offices.

How NetScreen Delivers Benchmark-Setting Performance

NetScreen is leading the move to offload network security functionality from a PC or workstation to a dedicated ASIC-based hardware platform, a development that similarly occurred with router technology. NetScreen's products are based on a secure packet processor -- an innovative ASIC design and multibus architecture with embedded high-speed CPU -- that delivers wire speed performance. This advanced system-level design allows for an increase in the number of features provided, while eliminating the performance gap that has existed between current network devices and firewall security systems.

NetScreen's firewall ASIC performs the tasks of firewall screening and the VPN DES encryption/decryption functions, with the access policy algorithms in hardware -- a significantly faster approach than in software, and one that frees the CPU to manage data flow. By bringing security functionality to the system level, NetScreen has removed the overhead of extra platform layers, floppy controllers and drivers found in PC-based solutions, all of which degrade performance. NetScreen uses fast RISC-based processors that outperform PC-based CPUs, and a dedicated, secure operating system.

NetScreen's performance advantages allow users to fully benefit from the higher speeds offered by multiple T-1 lines and ever-higher bandwidth solutions, such as T-3, as well as to secure individual sub-networks or departments within their organizations, without performance degradation.

Company Information

NetScreen Technologies provides a family of network/Internet security solutions that integrate firewall, VPN encryption, traffic management and remote access functionality all on a single, dedicated ASIC-based hardware platform that delivers record-breaking performance. NetScreen is located at 2860 San Tomas Expressway, Santa Clara, CA 95051, phone [phone]. More information on the company and its products can be found at http://www.netscreen.com or by calling toll free at 800/638-8296.

Note to Editors: NetScreen is a trademark of NetScreen Technologies Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: NetScreen Technologies Inc.

Richard Hanke, 408/970-8889

[e-mail]

or

Lindsay PR

Mary Lindsay, 408/984-7242

[e-mail]