MessageLabs Positioned in "Leaders" Quadrant in E-mail Security Boundary Magic Quadrant by Leading Industry Research Firm

Business Wire, Sept 28, 2006

- Evaluation Based on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute -

NEW YORK -- MessageLabs, a leading provider of integrated messaging and web security services to businesses worldwide, today announced that Gartner, Inc. has positioned the company in the "Leaders" quadrant in the just-issued Magic Quadrant for E-mail Security Boundary, 2006* report. Developed as a guide for businesses the report evaluated eighteen providers of enterprise email security solutions.

"Leaders" are vendors that are performing well today, have a clear vision of market direction and are actively seeking competencies to sustain their leadership position in the market, according to Gartner, the leading provider of research and analysis on the global information technology industry.

"We consider our position in the 'Leaders' quadrant further confirmation of MessageLabs mission to deliver industry-leading integrated protection for messaging threats across email, web and IM," said Adrian Chamberlain, Chief Executive Officer of MessageLabs. "As more organizations worldwide continue to embrace 'software as a service' security solutions to reduce management and administration requirements while delivering greater performance, we believe MessageLabs is well positioned to maintain and grow its market share."

The Gartner Magic Quadrant is a valuable tool for enterprises looking to select the best email security solutions out of the myriad offerings that are available from the hundreds of companies that have entered the market.

The offerings from service providers, as opposed to software or appliances, is an area that Gartner specifically cites as increasing in favor and it continues to see broad interest in service provider offerings by all of its clients, predicting a 40% market share by 2009. The Magic Quadrant E-mail Security Boundary Magic Quadrant, 2006 report states, "while software products dominate the installed base, we see a rapid decline in interest in software products in favor of appliances and service provider offerings." Moreover Gartner goes on to say "we anticipate an explosion of service provider resellers in 2007 as telcos re-brand existing service provider offerings or buy their own infrastructure." This move will be welcomed by MessageLabs with its well established, global base of telco partners.

The Gartner report recommends that prescient organizations should be looking for integration of IM and other Web-based communications modalities on the front end and intelligent archiving integration on the back end and the pending converged communications market represents a huge opportunity for email vendors to elevate their status in the organization by providing policy and protection services across multiple communications media.

Key 'vision' criteria determined as important by Gartner include market understanding and quality and functional completeness of product offering. 'Ability to execute' criteria considered most significant in Gartner's evaluation include vendor viability, market responsiveness and sales execution. Gartner also gave significant weight to customer experience.

"Over the past year, MessageLabs has continued to innovate and has extended its product portfolio to include services for Web and IM protection and is the first company to offer Converged Threat Analysis(TM) across these communication platforms giving businesses unparalleled levels of integration and protection," added Chamberlain. "We believe MessageLabs has a clear vision and execution plan for the future to deliver certainty in the exchange of all business information that will see us continuing to innovate and entering new markets over the next twelve months."

MessageLabs range of security and management services provides thousands of enterprise organizations around the world with a fully managed security solution, without the hassle, inconvenience or additional cost of traditional software or hardware solutions. These services ensure the integrity of electronic communications, helping businesses to manage and reduce risk while securing their critical infrastructure and business information.

To obtain a copy of the Gartner Magic Quadrant for E-mail Security Boundary, 2006 Report, please visit www.messagelabs.com/gartner

About MessageLabs

MessageLabs is a leading provider of integrated messaging and web security services, with over 14,000 clients ranging from small business to the Fortune 500 located in more than 80 countries. MessageLabs provides a range of managed security services to protect, control, encrypt and archive communications across Email, Web and Instant Messaging.

These services are delivered by MessageLabs globally distributed infrastructure and supported 24/7 by security experts. This provides a convenient and cost-effective solution for managing and reducing risk and providing certainty in the exchange of business information. For more information, please visit www.messagelabs.com.

About the Magic Quadrant

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted September 25, 2006 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.