SurfControl Enters Into E-Mail Filtering Market Through Acquisition Of EmU Tech Pty Ltd and Lanvision Pty Ltd

Business Wire, Dec 4, 2000

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 2000

SurfControl, a leading provider of Internet access control software, today announced the acquisition of the Sydney-based E-mail filtering company, EmU Tech Pty Ltd, and its primary sales partner, Lanvision Pty Ltd, to form SurfControl Australia.

The purchase of EmU Tech and Lanvision will enable SurfControl to compete in the Corporate Web Filtering and E-mail filtering market that is estimated to have a combined market size of almost $4 billion between 2000-2004.

By creating a unified product marketing and channel sales team located in Sydney, SurfControl will be able to better penetrate the emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region. It is expected that Asia-Pacific will grow with an estimated CAGR of 85% in the Web and E-mail filtering market.

Additionally, SurfControl's regional presence will further enhance its ability to extend its foreign list database, specifically for unique Asian languages.

"The move into E-mail filtering is a natural progression for SurfControl and, given EmU Tech's leading-edge technologies, will assist us in providing the next-generation of filtering products," according to SurfControl's CEO Steve Purdham. "This replicates our strategy of launching our web filtering products as next-generation solutions into the U.S. market two years ago."

The acquisitions accelerate SurfControl's global expansion by adding: complementary products and technology that address the rapidly growing E-mail filtering market; a sales presence and market penetration into the very high-growth Asia-Pacific market; a highly valued sales team with a leading reseller network in the region; and a high-calibre, local management team and engineering resources.

"We are excited about joining forces with SurfControl's global organization," said David Jones, managing director of EmU Tech. "The combination of our E-mail filtering products and technologies, and our localized sales and marketing skills, with SurfControl's world leading Internet filtering solutions, allows us to offer our customers a total content-management and policy-based solution to their filtering needs."

EmU Tech has been acquired for a total consideration of $4,150,000 and Lanvision has been acquired for a total consideration of $1,200,000. The acquisitions follow two other recent SurfControl purchases: CyberPatrol in the US and CSM Security Management AG in Austria.

About EmU Tech and Lanvision

EmU Tech is one of the leading providers of E-mail filtering software in the Asia-Pacific region. EmU Tech currently employs 10 people and has its office in Sydney, Australia.

Since its foundation, EmU Tech has had a long term and very successful relationship with Lanvision, its primary sales partner in the Australian and New Zealand markets. Lanvision currently sells web and E-mail filtering software in the region. Lanvision currently employs four people and is also based in Sydney, Australia.

EmU Tech has 86 customers worldwide with most being located in Australia and New Zealand. The majority of its customers are corporations, with 9% being in education and 16% being in government. Customers include Panasonic, Thorn, NSW Workcover, the Australian Human Rights Commission, GHD, FAI and Glasgow Education Networks.

To date the number of users within each organization ranges from 40 to 9,000, with more than 50% of seats from sites with more than 1500 users.

About SurfControl

SurfControl plc (EASDAQ:SRFC/London:SRF), is a world leader in Responsible Internet Usage, offering a complete line of Internet filtering solutions for use in the home, education and the corporation.

The SurfControl family of products employs expert filtering, Pass-Through and Pass-By technologies to create a productive Internet environment in the workplace and a child safe room on the Internet at home and at school.

This comprehensive line of Internet monitoring and policy management solutions includes SuperScout - the market leader in Internet productivity in the corporation; CyberPatrol - the market leader in responsible Internet Usage in the home and at school; and the SurfControl Content Filtering Sdk - the proven filtering solution for ISPs, Search Engines, Internet Appliances and ASPs.

SurfControl works with a variety of partners such as AltaVista, CheckPoint Software (NASDAQ:CHKP), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), Google, Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HWP), IBM (NYSE:IBM), ICSA, Microsoft's Web TV (NASDAQ:MSFT), Netscape, WorldGate (NASDAQ:WGAT), and YAHOO! (NASDAQ:YHOO).

SurfControl employs over 300 people worldwide and has offices in the USA in California and Massachusetts; in the UK in Manchester and London; Rotterdam, Holland; Vienna, Austria; Frankfurt, Germany.

For further information and news on SurfControl, please visit http:// www.surfcontrol.com