Ipswitch, Inc.'s WS_FTP Pro Named One of the Top Five Downloads of the Millennium by ZDNet; One in a series of recent accolades for world's most popular file transfer product

Business Wire, Feb 1, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 1, 2000

Ipswitch, Inc., a leading supplier of Internet productivity software, today announced WS_FTP, its award winning file transfer product, has been named one of the top five downloads of the millennium by San Francisco-based ZDNet (NYSE:ZDZ), which operates the leading Web destination (www.zdnet.com) for people who want to buy, use and learn about technology.

Ipswitch's WS_FTP has won several awards in the past for ease of use, speed, power and superior functionality and is considered the world's most popular FTP product with more than 11 million users. Most recently, PC Magazine named the product &uot;Best of 1999&uot; for Internet software and sites. In addition, Ipswitch was recently named one of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. by Inc. magazine, and was named to the Deloitte &Touche &uot;Fast 500,&uot; a ranking of the 500 fastest growing U.S. technology companies.

The &uot;Download of the Millennium&uot; contest, which ran December 15, 1999 until January 15, 2000, invited visitors to the ZDNet Downloads site (http://www.zdnet.com/downloads) to vote on their favorite software title from a list of the most popular downloads, compiled by ZDNet editors. The ZDNet Downloads site houses more than 40,000 free, virus-tested, rated, and reviewed software downloads. The top five downloads of all time were Nico Mak Computing's Winzip, Aureate Media's Go!Zilla, ICQ's ICQ for Windows NT, Ipswitch's WS_FTP Pro 6.0 and Ferret Soft LLC's Webferret.

&uot;Ipswitch offers a great product with WS_FTP and our downloaders proved that to be true by voting it in as the number four download of the millennium,&uot; said Preston Gralla, executive editor, ZDNet Downloads. &uot;Overall, this was a fun way for ZDNet to show our users that we value their opinions and preferences for what we provide on the ZDNet Downloads site each day.&uot;

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the swift, bandwidth-efficient protocol for transferring files over the Internet or corporate intranets. It adds no overhead for encoding and decoding data--unlike e-mail programs, in which graphics and files must be &uot;attached&uot;--and enables users to easily upload and download files as well as list directories.

&uot;We are very pleased with this honor,&uot; said Ipswitch President Roger C. Greene. &uot;The ability to transfer, share and manage files over the Internet is essential for both home and corporate users. We would like to thank WS_FTP's fans for their votes, which clearly establish WS_FTP as the world's favorite FTP client. The voting results are also further evidence that FTP is the third `must-have' Internet application, after e-mail and the browser.&uot;

While e-mail can move small documents adequately and the World Wide Web or corporate intranets allow for viewing files, FTP is the best way to download large files or graphics. FTP is also the most convenient way to upload such files (e.g., posting HTML pages onto a company Web site or sharing graphics-heavy CAD files) that task browsers are not designed to perform. Plus, FTP allows an individual to easily manage a Web site and edit files directly off a server. In corporate settings, users purchase site licenses of WS_FTP Pro to share large files and to update Web sites.

Home office workers and the self-employed also use WS_FTP Pro to maintain their own Web sites, which typically are hosted on a remote server. Individuals can also transfer files to and from work via the Internet. Whether in the home or office setting, users are able to perform all of these tasks in a faster and more secure manner than other ways of sharing information such as e-mail, fax or delivery service such as Fed Ex or UPS.

Ipswitch develops Windows-based software products for the Internet and corporate intranets. Its product family includes WS_FTP Pro, the world's most popular FTP client; WS_FTP Server, the first industrial-strength, full-featured FTP server for Windows NT; WhatsUp Gold, a network mapping, monitoring and notification tool; IMail Server, a Windows NT-based Internet messaging server for small to medium-size companies and ISPs; and WS_Ping ProPack, a utility suite for the Internet and intranets - all designed for today's mission-critical business communications. Ipswitch products set new standards for functionality, performance, reliability and interoperability, while providing the foundation for corporate internetworking solutions, and are available directly from Ipswitch and through distributors, resellers and OEMs. Founded in 1991, the company recently was named one of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. by Inc. magazine, and was named to the Deloitte &Touche &uot;Fast 500,&uot; a ranking of the 500 fastest growing U.S. technology companies.

For product and sales information, contact Ipswitch, Inc. at 81 Hartwell Avenue, Lexington, Massachusetts, via telephone at (781) 676-5700, by fax at (781) 676-5710, or e-mail at info@ipswitch.com; or visit the Ipswitch Web site at http://www.ipswitch.com.