Dulles, VA. September 22, 2003 – Encore Networks, a leading developer of integrated IP+Legacy Virtual Private Network (VPN) security solutions, today announced that it has recently joined the Virtual Private Networking Consortium (VPNC), and has obtained both Conformance and Interoperability VPNC certifications. The VPNC is an association for manufacturers in the VPN market, both enterprise and carrier, whose primary focus is on conformance testing and interoperability. To obtain certification Encore’s VPN security appliance, the BANDIT?, had to demonstrate interoperability with the VPNC’s member company’s including Nortel, Cisco, NetScreen and others.

The VPNC is an independent organization chartered with defining and conducting multi-vendor product interoperability tests, and issuing IPSec conformance certification to products that pass authentication, encryption and re-keying tests. The VPNC also acts as an unbiased forum for VPN manufacturers throughout the world that helps customers and the press to understand VPN technologies, which take advantage of the Internet to reduce communications costs while providing security and privacy through the use of tunneling protocols.

As a member of the VPNC, Encore Networks has been supporting and promoting the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards, participating in IPSec conformance testing, and maintaining product interoperability with all other VPNC members.

“Interoperability is key to the implementation and the roll-out of VPN solutions which significantly reduce the cost of communications for an increasingly mobile work force,” stated Abir Hnidi, Chief Technology Officer of Encore Networks. “Encore’s membership in the VPNC reinforces our dedication to the fast growing VPN market and our support for the universally accepted standards which enable carriers and enterprise companies to deploy best-of-breed multi-vendor VPN services.”

“VPNC certification of conformance and interoperability shows Encore’s commitment to standards based security network solutions,” stated Paul Hoffman, Director of the VPN Consortium. “VPNC certification enhances their ability to accelerate time-to-market and demonstrates how suitable Encore’s products are for mainstream deployments.”