Akonix L7 Named as Finalist for First-Ever American Business Awards -SM- — The Stevies; Akonix L7 Enterprise Receives Positive Reviews From eWeek, InfoWorld and SCMagazine

Business Wire, April 8, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 8, 2003

Akonix Systems, Inc., the first company to make public instant messaging safe, secure and manageable for use in enterprise networks, is proud to announce they have been selected as a finalist for the first-ever American Business Awards(SM) -- The Stevies. The Akonix L7 instant messaging (IM) gateway has been nominated in the Best New Product or Service Category for technology introduced in 2002. Further validating Akonix's unique features and functionality, the product has received several excellent reviews in national technology trades since its launch in mid-June.

The American Business Awards are the first national, all-encompassing business awards program honoring great performances in the workplace. Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word "crowned," the awards will be presented at a nationally broadcast show on Wednesday, April 30, at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers in New York City. Akonix, no stranger to award programs, has been previously honored as the Most Innovative Product by UCSD CONNECT in the software category, as a PC Magazine finalist for their Technical Excellence Award and as a finalist in the American Electronics Association (AeA) High Tech Awards.

Members of the Awards' Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors and their staffs will select Stevie winners from among the finalists. The Board includes business luminaries such as Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes, Bruce Nelson, chairman & CEO of Office Depot, marketing gurus Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Anthony Robbins, Chairman & CEO of The Anthony Robbins Companies, Drew Schutte, publisher of Wired Magazine, Jeffrey Tarr, chairman & CEO of Hoover's Inc., and Donald Trump, chairman, president and CEO of The Trump Organization.

"It is an honor and a privilege to be nominated in the same category with leading companies such as Xerox, Siemens Enterprise Networks and WebEx," said Peter Shaw, CEO, Akonix Systems, Inc. Unlike other finalists, Akonix's L7 Instant Messaging Gateway is the first product of a relatively new Venture Capital-backed high-technology company. "We value the American Business Award's recognition of our technological approach to safely maintaining the value of public Instant Messaging in the corporate workplace. Akonix L7 works to ensure that employees can reap the real-time benefits of public IM while eliminating the possibility for virus transfers, inappropriate distribution of valuable company information, compliance violations and network hacking."

Akonix L7 was also recently put to the test by leading technology publications including eWeek, InfoWorld and SCMagazine. The reviews all recognized Akonix L7 as offering powerful security features and enterprise messaging functionality. In its review of the Akonix solution, InfoWorld stated, "This instant-messaging management server addresses security, productivity and legal concerns about using public instant messaging in the enterprise, without reducing its business value."

Akonix L7 Gateway delivers powerful enterprise features, addresses additional security threats and adds advanced corporate messaging capabilities to enhance the usability of public instant messaging (IM) in corporate networks. The recent addition of the Compliance Manager module to Akonix's L7 Enterprise creates the most complete public instant messaging (IM) compliance solution in the market today. The offering assures total adherence to Federal, industry and corporate compliance regulations for public IM.

Akonix L7 Enterprise v2.0 review summaries:

"Akonix's IM monitoring and management tool does a good job of using corporate policies to ride herd over the once-wild use of IM ... Anti-virus and blocking tools that prevent unauthorized IM and P2P file sharing make this a full-featured IM management tool suitable for large enterprises." -- eWeek, March 24, 2003 http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,967670,00.asp

"Akonix L7 has created an excellent tool for harnessing the benefits of IM while minimizing its hazards. The L7 proxy server works with a firewall to authenticate IM users, apply access policies, block unauthorized instant messaging, and log all communications in SQL Server." -- InfoWorld, March 7, 2003 http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/03/07/10akonix_1.html?security

"Akonix L7 offers seamless integration into your existing network topology. If you have a problem with employees using messaging programs, L7 will prove a vital addition to your network security." -- SCMagazine, March, 2003 http://www.scmagazine.com/scmagazine/2003_03/test_02/01.html

About Akonix

Akonix Systems, Inc. is an award-winning provider of enterprise software that transforms public Instant Messaging into a safe, secure and manageable business-critical application. Backed by three premier venture capital firms, the company's offerings protect corporate networks from the dangers of unmanaged public IM and P2P file sharing.

Akonix L7 Enterprise enables corporations to secure, manage and report on IM usage, while satisfying Federal, industry and corporate compliance requirements. A free 30-day trial of Akonix L7 is available for download at www.akonix.com/freetrial.>