Top Layer Networks Selected for Industry's Leading IPS Consortium.

WESTBORO, Mass. -- Top Layer Networks (www.TopLayer.com), the global leader for high performance intrusion prevention solutions, today announced its selection as a charter member in ICSA Labs' new Network Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) Product Developers consortium. The consortium includes a group of security industry market leaders and will benefit the IPS user community by developing a standard set of functional and assurance criteria for certifying network intrusion prevention technology.

"We are excited to assist the IT community in understanding intrusion prevention solutions and why selecting the right solution is critical for protecting critical IT assets," said Mike Paquette, vice president of technology for Top Layer Networks. "Intrusion prevention is no longer seen as a luxury for network administrators, and there has been a lot of confusion on what makes up the best intrusion prevention systems and how to evaluate them. A collaborative effort to establish fair yet rigid methodologies for testing and deploying these technologies will give customers a benchmark from which to properly measure them. The assurance that competing products are being compared accurately can only benefit customers and leading vendors alike."

The primary goals of the consortium are:

--The education of end users about network IPS products and their relevance for layered network security defenses;

--To increase the adoption of IPS technology;

--The creation of publicly-vetted, objective, fair and credible security criteria against which all IPS products can be tested and certified.

"Our goal is to provide the purchaser and end user of security products a credible and objective source they can go to for network IPS information," said George Japak, vice president of ICSA Labs. "ICSA Labs, with the NIPD product consortium, is in a unique position to meet these needs."

The Network IPS Product Developers (NIPD) consortium will hold its charter meeting in Las Vegas during the first week of May at the Networld + Interop conference. At that meeting, the charter members will finalize the draft set of criteria discussed during the stakeholders meeting in February. Once completed, ICSA Labs will begin testing network IPS products using these criteria. ICSA Labs will publicize the criteria on its web site as a means to further solicit input. The final version of the criteria will be posted immediately following the completion of the initial round of product testing, the completion of which is expected in the fourth quarter.

In addition to criteria development and a testing program, the NIPD will develop user guides, white papers, and tools to educate end users and enable them to better understand and select products that meet their functionality and security needs.

About Top Layer Networks, Inc.

Founded in 1997, Top Layer Networks (www.TopLayer.com) is the global leader in developing network security solutions, such as Intrusion Prevention Systems, that enable enterprises worldwide to protect their infrastructure and critical online assets from cyber-threats. The Company's patented, ASIC-based products are engineered to deliver accurate and reliable protection mechanisms while operating as robust in-line network security devices. Top Layer Networks is headquartered in Westboro, Massachusetts with sales and support presence in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

About ICSA Labs

ICSA Labs, an independent division of Cybertrust, Inc. offers vendor-neutral testing and certification of security products. Hundreds of the world's top security vendor products are submitted for testing and certification at ICSA Labs. The end-users of security technologies rely on ICSA Labs to authoritatively set and apply objective testing and certification criteria for measuring product compliance and reliability. The organization tests products in key technology categories such as anti-virus, firewall, IPsec VPN, cryptography, intrusion detection and prevention, PC firewall, content security, SSL-VPN and Wireless LAN. For more information about ICSA Labs, please visit: http://www.icsalabs.com.

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