Akonix to Support MSN Bot Developers Contest with Leading Development Platform for Instant Messaging; Akonix L7 Builder™ is Certified by MSN for the Windows Live Messenger Invasion of the Robots Contest

Business Wire, May 18, 2006

SAN DIEGO -- Akonix Systems, Inc., the premier provider of instant messaging (IM) management, development and security products, has announced that its Akonix L7 Builder, a development platform for creation of presence-enabled real-time communications applications and instant messaging robots or 'bots,' has been selected by Microsoft as a Software Developers Kit (SDK) certified for use in The Microsoft Windows Live Messenger Invasion of the Robots Contest. The L7 Builder platform is hosted by IM Interactive Corporation and provides contest entrants the simplest and quickest means of developing innovative bots for the contest.

The contest runs from May 15, 2006, to September 15, 2006, and can be entered by going to www.WintheMSNbotcontest.com. In addition to over $40,000 in prize value to be awarded by Microsoft, Akonix and its platform hosting partner IM Interactive will award cash bonuses to the winners if the winning bots are developed using Akonix L7 Builder. The first ten entrants of the contest with a bot developed with L7 Builder will also receive an iPod Shuffle. All entrants choosing to submit their bots on L7 Builder will receive various other gifts while supplies last.

IM Interactive's IMProv Center, a portal for creators of IM bots, provides developers with a central place from which they can download L7 Builder and submit their bots to be hosted by IMI. Developers may register for their L7 Builder SDK downloads and be eligible for the additional prizes by visiting www.WintheMSNbotcontest.com.

IM bots offer users real-time access to information and applications via MSN Messenger and other instant messaging networks. Applications include interactive weather, sports updates, local event information updates, shipping applications, games and other interactive real-time applications.

Akonix L7 Builder was used by Ecreation to develop a bot in the Netherlands called 'Alice.' Alice is Ecreation's first product to use 'person to application' technology that allows people to interact with a computer in natural language. Alice is available as an MSN Messenger buddy and can answer common questions, including inquiries about train trips, stock values, the weather, calculations and many other common items. Ecreation has also developed a virtual DJ bot for Radio 538, the most listened-to radio station in the Netherlands. Ecreation's bots are used by over 250,000 individuals in more than 20,000 interactions every day.

"There are many creative and productive uses for bots, from weather and traffic updates to customer service inquiries. We are excited to work with MSN on its development contest and look forward to the innovative creations that come from it," said Don Montgomery, vice president of marketing at Akonix. "We've made every effort to simplify the process of entering the Invasion of the Robots Contest, from our free evaluation SDK to the hosted version of L7 Builder at our partner IM Interactive."

Akonix will be demonstrating its L7 Builder product at Microsoft TechEd at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, June 11-16. The company will distribute free evaluation copies of the product to attendees who are interested in entering the contest or evaluating the platform for enterprise class application development. For more information on how to leverage presence and IM throughout an organization, contact Akonix at sales@akonix.com or visit www.akonix.com/L7Builder.> About Akonix

Akonix is the most deployed IM security product in the world, enabling Global 1000 companies to deploy productive, enterprise-wide IM that is secure, compliant and managed.

Over one million global users across hundreds of organizations in the Financial Services, Telecommunications, Energy, Technology, Healthcare and Entertainment industries use Akonix solutions. With more than 20 patent applications, Akonix's award-winning products provide the industry's only automatically-updated protection to block viruses and malware for both enterprise and public IM systems. Akonix has certified partnerships with all leading IM and presence providers including America Online(R), Microsoft, Yahoo!, Reuters, IBM, Parlano, Antepo and Bloomberg.

An IM industry first, the Akonix Security Center (www.imsecuritycenter.com) provides real-time information about worms, viruses and other vulnerabilities that target IM and P2P networks. The company issues monthly and quarterly IM threat watch reports to track key trends and vulnerabilities.

For further information on the company, please visit www.akonix.com.

About IM Interactive Corp.

IM Interactive Corp. is a privately held company headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut. The company specializes in the development of edge technologies including instant messaging related applications, interactive RSS, and other web socialization environments. For more information on IM Interactive Corp., please visit www.2imi.com.