New Security Standard Gains Momentum; Corporate Network Users Gain New Security, Functionality.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 21, 1996--Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced broad industry support for the ISAKMP security architecture, which provides interoperable security over any network without consuming valuable bandwidth.

Cylink, RSA, Network Systems Corp., FTP Software, Inc., TimeStep and NetManage are among the companies supporting the ISAKMP standard.

ISAKMP (Internet Security Association Key Management Protocol) enables customers to use a single standard architecture to secure diverse transactions, including electronic commerce, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), telecommuting and multimedia applications. Mobile users will have transparent access to the same email, file and print services they would use at the office, without compromising corporate security.

"The prospect that ISAKMP offers a single key management point for all security models is a tremendous value to the industry," said Bob Moskowitz, technical specialist for the MIS Division at Chrysler Corporation and a member of the Internet Architecture Board and the Federal Network Council's Advisory Committee. "This technology is a vast simplification of security management. It offers unique scalability and secure privacy features. We expect to see this in products we will be using."

"With more customers moving their business applications to the Internet, there has been a pressing need for a single key management solution for the industry," said John Curran, chief technical officer at BBN Planet. "ISAKMP offers a solid solution to this difficult problem and as such can enable the type of transparent access that businesses demand."

"Most of our customers have multi-protocol networks. They need scalable, powerful security that works for all their applications, not just for IP. This solution addresses the whole enterprise, as well as the Internet," said Stephen DeWitt, vice president of enterprise marketing for Cisco Systems.

ISAKMP is the leading candidate key management standard in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Vendors throughout the industry are announcing their plans to develop fully interoperable implementations.

Industry support

Cylink

"We are very excited to be sponsoring this initiative with Cisco," said David M. Morris, vice president of Cylink. "ISAKMP comes at a critical time where the success of new applications depends, in large part, upon the open availability of strong public key cryptography."

RSA

"ISAKMP's algorithm independence allows developers and users to use the algorithms they prefer," said Jim Bidzos, president of RSA Technologies. "We fully support this standards effort, and will begin ISAKMP-Oakley (RSA) interoperability testing next month."

Network Systems Corporation

"Network Systems believes that the ISAKMP-Oakley drafts are the best technologies available, and we think that our customers and the Internet community will be well-served by their widespread adoption," said Ted Doty, security products program manager at Network Systems Corporation.

FTP Software, Inc.

"Users depending on mobile computing technology require security that extends from the user through the firewall to the corporate network," said John O'Hara, director of engineering for security and agent technology at FTP Software. "FTP sees the ISAKMP security architecture as a valuable component in the emerging secure network protocol space."

TimeStep

"ISAKMP is miles ahead. No other proposed standard offers corporate network users the same versatility. It is robust and totally secure. Our industry must run with it," said Tim Hember, president of TimeStep Corporation, a Newbridge Networks company.

NetManage

"We strongly endorse and support the ISAKMP effort. We are pleased to be working with Cisco and other partners to further this open industry standard," said Bob Williams, vice president of business development at intranet software developer NetManage, Inc. "The widespread adoption of effective Internet security is fundamentally an interoperability problem -- and this standard addresses the important question of key management in an open and interoperable manner."

To promote innovation on the Internet and private networks, Cisco Systems and Cylink are making a free reference implementation of ISAKMP software available at http://web.mit.edu/network/isakmp/ciscokmp.html.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the leading global supplier of internetworking solutions for corporate intranets and the global Internet. Cisco's products, including routers, LAN and ATM switches, dial-up access servers and network management software, are integrated by the Cisco IOS(tm) software to link geographically dispersed LANs, WANs and IBM networks. Company news and product/service information are available at World Wide Web site http://www.cisco.com. Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. -0-

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CONTACT: Cisco Systems, Inc.

Marcy Schrader, 408/527-2406

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