The Tie That Binds: Rapid Logic Provides Privacy Through Open SSL; Rapid Logic's RapidControl Product Line Has A New Advantage.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 8, 2000

Rapid Logic Inc. announced today that they have developed the software to utilize Open SSL while launching RapidControl(TM) 3.1, the latest version of Rapid Logic's unified device management suite. Rapid Logic can provide privacy and reliability between two communicating applications for those companies with Open SSL.

Open SSL provides a revolutionized security for communication by establishing a secure connection between two parties. Engineers can develop applications utilizing Open SSL that will then be able to successfully exchange cryptographic parameters without the knowledge of either one's code.

Michael Edison, Rapid Logic's Product Manager states, "Security is always a concern for our customer's devices. Rapid Control and Open SSL take the high security usually reserved for banking and e-commerce, and brings it to any embedded device."

Rapid Logic's RapidControl(TM) product line includes RapidControl for Web, RapidControl for Applets, RapidControl for CLI, MIBway(TM) for RapidControl and MIBway for Wind(R) Web Server. All of these products use the company's RapidControl Backplane (RCB), a powerful management architecture that serves as a bi-directional gateway for tying device-level objects to higher-level management objects, for comprehensive access and control. The RCB exposes objects in a standardized fashion and provides easy extensibility to a myriad of management protocols. By maintaining a separation between device-level objects and management-level objects, the RCB facilitates changes to a device's user interface without making changes to internal code. This allows Rapid Logic's customers to outsource their user interface design for product upgrades and customization. The RCB is the only device management framework that unifies critical management functions around a common architecture.

Rapid Logic's product line is in part a result of the company listening and staying in tune with their customers and believing in their mission to be the standard in the industry. With Open SSL companies can now feel more comfortable about their security.

Rapid Logic is headquartered in Alameda, Calif., with offices in Chicago and Boston. The company's investors include Intel Corporation, Wind River, Needham Capital, and Sterling Payot. For more information, call 510/749-0900, send e-mail to [e-mail], or visit the company's Web site at www.rapidlogic.com.

About Open SSL

The SSL Protocol is composed of two layers. At the lowest level, layered on top of some reliable transport protocol (e.g., TCP [TCP]), is the SSL Record Protocol. The SSL Record Protocol is used for encapsulation of various higher-level protocols. One such encapsulated protocol, the SSL Handshake Protocol, allows the server and client to authenticate each other and to negotiate an encryption algorithm and cryptographic keys before the application protocol transmits or receives its first byte of data. One advantage of SSL is that it is application protocol independent. A higher-level protocol can layer on top of the SSL Protocol transparently. Open Source means programmers on the Internet can read, redistribute, and modify the source for a piece of software and in turn improve it, by adapting it and fixing the bugs. Therefore Open SSL becomes accessible and manageable from any point of view.

About Rapid Logic Inc.

Rapid Logic is the leading provider of intelligent device management software that enables manufacturers of network devices to incorporate remote management capabilities into their products via the Internet. Its RapidControl(TM) product suite unifies all device management functions within a single, robust and integrated framework. This provides vendors the ability to build a variety of management layers quickly and to systematically upgrade and customize management interfaces across multiple product releases and product lines. [pilcrow (paragraph sign)] The top 10 device manufacturers in the datacom, telecom and office automation industries currently deploy RapidControl products. More than 100 intelligent device manufacturers have deployed RapidControl products on more than 200 platforms. With RapidControl products, device vendors can easily create their own powerful Internet-based configuration, access and control applications in a fraction of the time and cost it took previously.

Rapid Logic's customers include established leaders such as International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) (NYSE:IBM), Alcatel (NYSE:ALA), Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT/TSE:NTL), Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU), Hitachi (NYSE:HIT), 3Com (Nasdaq:COMS), Nokia (NYSE:NOK), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HWP), and Cisco Systems (Nasdaq:CSCO) as well as robust upstarts such as Redback Networks (Nasdaq:RBAK) and Tut Systems (Nasdaq:TUTS). Rapid Logic's partners include Broadcom (Nasdaq:BRCM), Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:SUNW), Intel (Nasdaq:INTC) and Wind River (Nasdaq:WIND).