Welcome to AEP Networker, the first edition of our newsletter since AEP Systems and Netilla Networks merged to form AEP Networks. Last December we announced the merger and since then have been hard at work on the transition - from designing a new logo and corporate website to coordinating product plans. AEP Networker will give you an update on our progress over the past couple of months and keep you apprised of some of the company's exciting news.We are pleased to announce that AEP Networks' website went live mid-February during the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco, where we announced a new addition to our Secure Gateway Appliance SSL VPN family and conducted back-to-back meetings with partners, press and analysts. The website introduces the company's new logo and brand identity and marks the formal integration of AEP Systems and Netilla Networks. Along with updated branding the website offers an overview of the combined line of AEP Networks products. I invite you to take a spin through the website and to let us know what you think. You can email your comments to editor@aepnetworks.com.Happy reading,
Pat Donnellan, CEO

Last month at the RSA Security Conference, AEP Networks released the AEP Netilla® Secure Gateway Appliance-M (SGA-M), an SSL VPN solution that simplifies and provides additional levels of security for Microsoft® Outlook® Web Access deployments. Designed for quick setup and installation, SGA-M provides a full complement of security safeguards for the growing number of businesses who need to provide employees with secure access to corporate email accounts via the Web."Our new SGA-M is designed to solve a growing challenge facing CIOs: how to meet employee demands for Web-based access to their Outlook email accounts while ensuring that their infrastructure remains secure," said Reggie Best, executive vice president and general manager of AEP's Secure Application Access Business Unit. "By broadening our successful SGA lineup we extend our commitment to address specific high-growth segments of the secure application access marketplace." The AEP Netilla SGA-M is available through AEP Networks' authorized reseller network. SGA-M will be offered at a very competitive price point, and the product includes the hardware platform as well as 25 concurrent user licenses (with no limit on the number of named users). The SGA-M joins the SGA-C, introduced last fall to provide simple, secure access to Citrix® MetaFrame® applications.

AEP Networks congratulates Stephen Lewis on his new position as vice president of product management for the AEP Net product family. We are also very pleased to welcome Oliver Tonge to the company as AEP Net product manager.During his tenure with AEP, Lewis has demonstrated leadership and commitment to the AEP Net team. In his new role, Lewis will put considerable knowledge and expertise towards developing future AEP Net product strategies. Tonge, who has come to AEP from Radianz, will manage the full lifecycle of AEP Net and will provide training and technical support for Net customers.Lewis and Tonge's new positions on the Net team demonstrate the growing interest in AEP Net in the UK and Europe. AEP Net is a high-security, high-assurance and high- performance VPN encryptor that protects IP traffic across networks. AEP Net has been widely deployed to protect sensitive data on national and international criminal justice networks, national government systems and pan-European infrastructures.

Those familiar with Netilla Networks know that the company built a solid reputation in healthcare, which has long been Netilla's largest vertical market segment. The Netilla Security Platform (NSP)'s broad application access, V-Realms Client Identity Engine and strong policy enforcement provide an excellent match for healthcare and have resulted in successful deployments in a variety of healthcare scenarios, from smaller hospitals to large, multi-facility regional health centers. While the merger creates new opportunities in the public sector, AEP Networks remains firmly committed to healthcare as one of our core vertical markets. The AEP Netilla Security Platform will continue to offer key benefits to healthcare organizations including:

• Native support to virtually any healthcare application, server or Web-basedMeeting HIPAA security and privacy mandatesAccess to medical information regardless of location
• Fast, easy installation

A recent customer meeting in Philadelphia provided an especially vivid example of the unique value the NSP provides to healthcare users. A leading children's hospital in the Northeast recounted how a youngster was admitted to the ER after swallowing a household object. The resident on duty concluded that a button had been swallowed, and was ready to send the child home. But another ER physician recommended a more seasoned, off-site radiologist take a look at the film.Because the hospital used the NSP, that radiologist was able to read the patient's film from his home PC - using just his Internet browser - while fully complying with HIPAA privacy rules. The radiologist diagnosed that a battery had been swallowed, not a button, and the child received the necessary care. Thus a potentially serious situation was averted, in many ways thanks to the hospital's NSP.Look for a healthcare-specific edition of our popular AEP Netilla Secure Gateway Appliance later this year - another example of our ongoing focus on meeting the needs of healthcare customers.

The AEP Netilla Security Platform (NSP) took home the prestigious "Best VPN Solution Award" at the SC Magazine 2005 Product of the Year Awards ceremony at the RSA Security Conference last month.The influential Readers Trust Awards are voted on by the readers of the USA, UK/Europe and Asia Pacific editions of SC Magazine and are awarded to those products that have won the most votes from the people who use them every day and know them well - our customers and channel partners.This coveted award is formal recognition of the NSP's excellence in providing secure remote application access to the broadest range of applications, combined with the most advanced policy enforcement and authorization features in the marketplace. The NSP came out on top of VPNs from prominent vendors including Check Point, Juniper, Smoothwall and Whale.Thanks to everyone who voted for the AEP Netilla Security Platform. The award validates our VPN product line as the best choice for simple, secure remote application access.

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