Top Layer Networks Secures $8.3 Million Additional Capital; Investors Back Product Development, Overseas Expansion and Partnership Development.

Business Editors

WESTBORO, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 2001

Top Layer Networks Inc., a privately held company specializing in high speed, high performance network security, today announced that it has received strategic and venture capital investment funding totaling $8.3 million.

New investors are LSI Logic of Milpitas, CA (NYSE:LSI); ITOCHU Finance, a subsidiary of ITOCHU Corporation of Tokyo, Japan; Banc of America Securities LLC of San Francisco, CA; and Raza Ventures, a venture fund affiliated with Raza Foundries of San Jose, CA. Other members of the syndicate include previous Top Layer backers Egan-Managed Capital, Fidelity Ventures, Granite Ventures, MSD Capital, Brad Peery Capital, Technology Crossover Ventures, TI Ventures, and Van Wagoner Capital Management.

This latest round brings the total institutional investment in Top Layer to $66 million. On March 15, Top Layer received the Investors' Choice Award as one of ten private networking companies "most likely to succeed" from publishing firm Technologic Partners.

Industry Expertise Characterizes New Investors

LSI Logic, a long-time Top Layer supplier, is a pioneer in the Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) industry. TopFire(R) ASICs are the foundation of Top Layer's security product architecture. Raza Ventures, established in 1999 by former AMD president and COO S. Atiq Raza, specializes in investing in leading-edge companies in broadband networking and infrastructure. ITOCHU Corporation is a globally integrated trading company with operations in over 80 countries.

"This is a time when all investments in the technology sector are subject to intense scrutiny. Your products, your plans and your people must all be top-notch. We think that's the case at Top Layer, and we're extremely pleased that these knowledgeable investors agree with us," said Top Layer president and CEO Bruce Cohen. "And because we're a global organization with over half of our revenues now originating outside North America, we're very happy to welcome ITOCHU, our first institutional investor located outside the United States."

Kimitake Nakagawa, general manager of ITOCHU Finance Venture Capital Department, commented, "ITOCHU Finance is excited about its investment in Top Layer Networks. We look forward to the growing adoption of its technology in Japan as well as to the continued expansion of Top Layer's presence in the network security market in the US and Europe."

Alliances with Security Industry Leaders Seen as Keys to Growth

"This capital round will fund continued development and marketing of several superb additional products in the high speed security and the network forensics arenas. We will also use it to strengthen our alliance ties with key strategic partners including Check Point, Internet Security Systems, and VeriSign. Companies in network security have a common enemy, the professional hacker. We're all in the business of defeating that hacker and eliminating the destruction and havoc he causes," added Cohen.

Founded in 1997, Top Layer shipped its initial revenue products in July 1999. The company has since grown from 65 to over 165 employees and now has offices in eight countries. Offices in Paris, France and Duesseldorf, Germany opened in January and February, respectively. Top Layer also established a security interoperability and testing laboratory in Shah Alam, Malaysia, this month. Similar to the lab at Top Layer's headquarters, the facility will serve the company's growing partnership and client base in the Pacific Rim.

About Top Layer Networks, Inc.

A privately held company founded in January 1997, Top Layer develops networking devices that deliver unmatched protection against attacks and intrusions and powerful methods of detecting hackers and analyzing the effectiveness of the network security architecture. Top Layer developed the first Layer 7 application architecture and manufactures the award-winning AppSwitch(TM). With protective security features including extensive Denial-of-Service Attack Mitigation and Secure Balance(TM) Redundant Firewall Load Balancing, as well as investigative and analytical capabilities such as Flow Mirror(TM) Intrusion Detection Enhancement and SecureWatch(TM) data gathering for network analysis and forensics, the AppSwitch is the nerve center for high speed, high bandwidth network security solutions.

Top Layer and the AppSwitch family of products have earned many industry awards and accolades, including the Investors Choice award as "One of ten networking companies most likely to succeed" from Technologic Partners; "Network Hardware Product of the Year" in the Traffic Manager category from Network Computing Asia edition; "Best of Show" at Networld + InterOp; the VARVision Award for Best Hardware Product; Network World's "Best of Tests" Award; Network Magazine's Traffic Manager Product of the Year; and identification by Network World as one of the "Top Ten Companies to Watch." Top Layer world headquarters is in Westboro, Massachusetts. The company has offices in Australia, Belgium, Germany, France, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom. For further information, visit www.TopLayer.com or email [e-mail]

AppSwitch, Top Fire, Flow Mirror, Adaptive Security, SecureWatch and Secure Balance are trademarks of Top Layer Networks, Inc. Contact: Top Layer Networks, Inc. Edelman Worldwide Tom Burke Jennifer Cosenza 508 870 1300 x231 617 904 3010 [e-mail] [e-mail]