ROSELAND, N.J.--Dec. 9, 2002--Expand Networks, a leader in bandwidth optimization technology, today announced the availability of Instant QoS, a new simple-to-use WAN Quality of Service software module available in its ACCELERATOR product line. The new module makes the ACCELERATORs the first product in the market that combines WAN expansion capabilities with end-to-end QoS capabilities.

The new module responds to the growing need for a simple-to-use, yet robust solution that increases the overall size of the wide area pipe while dividing the pipe into priority segments. Instant QoS leverages the existence of ACCELERATORs at both ends of a link to provide end-to-end enforcement of prioritization policies.

Instant QoS relies on three of the following mechanisms:

-- Congestion control is provided through an easy-to-use series of user interfaces to rapidly prioritize applications and control packet flow at peak utilization.

-- Real-time congestion avoidance performed by intelligent self-learning algorithms and proactive packet loss recovery instantly eliminates surges of WAN application traffic.

-- Early congestion detection is carried out by automatic network and application monitoring at both ends of the link in conjunction with the recently introduced Expand AppView module.

"Network QoS only makes sense in the context of the business objectives and priorities of the customer, especially in today's economic conditions," said Peter Christy, co-founder of NetsEdge Research. "Expand's Instant QoS economic justification is straightforward first because it is a software-add-in module to an existing product, and even more so because of the end-to-end, traffic sensitive design and simple end-user configuration tools that make the business priorities of network traffic explicit."

Key features and capabilities of Expand's Instant QoS include:

-- Uniquely economical -- By instantly applying prioritization policies to the expanded WAN bandwidth, Expand Instant QoS represents a uniquely economical application performance solution.

-- Instant prioritization -- Out-of-the-box policy templates using easy-to-understand terms such as "real-time," "mission-critical," "important," and "best effort."

-- End-to-end flow control -- Monitoring at both ends of the link enables accurate end-to-end flow control.

-- Full QoS control -- Predictable results with standard queuing mechanisms -- FIFO, Weighted Fair Queuing, Priority Queuing and Custom Queuing.

-- Integration with existing QoS environments -- Full Type of Service (ToS) honoring and preservation according to IP Precedence or Diffserv Code Point for real-time flows like VoIP and Video.

-- Hundreds of pre-defined classes, user customizable -- Automatic traffic classification into application classes with over 100 pre-defined applications. Network managers can easily create or copy class definitions using well-known layer 2, layer 3 and layer 4 rules.

-- Policy scheduling -- One-time and recurring policy schedules accommodate work hour vs. non-work hour activities, e.g. backups, file transfers, etc.

-- Web Portal integrates with Expand AppView for Comprehensive Monitoring and Reporting -- All classes and policies can be viewed and configured from a Web portal interface with Expand AppView-like navigation.

-- Secure, Role-based Access to Control Policies -- Protects against unauthorized device and policy access via TACACS+ or RADIUS user-authentication and role-based management infrastructure.

"Instant QoS will deliver a lot of value to businesses like ours," said Morey Straus, Network Manager for GeoLogistics Corporation. "Instant QoS will ensure that a customer service agent will not have to wait for a CRM screen to launch while a client is on the phone because the WAN is bogged down with non-mission critical traffic."

"Our VARs are constantly challenging Expand to add more 'intelligence' into its WAN bandwidth optimization solutions," said Jamie Jalazo, vice president, of Sales and Marketing at Alternative Technology. "Therefore it comes as no surprise that many VARs and end-users have already expressed a keen interest in Expand's Instant QoS."

"ACCELERATORs are being increasingly adopted by the highly distributed enterprises in the retail, logistics and financial communities," said Talmon Marco, president and co-founder, Expand Networks. "Instant QoS responds to customer requests for an overall increase in WAN capacity with the flexibility to prioritize point-of-sale applications, CRM systems and financial transactions."

Expand Instant QoS is immediately available through Expand's worldwide distribution, reseller, service provider and strategic partner channels.

About Expand Networks

Expand Networks pioneered the development of bandwidth boosting appliances -- the ACCELERATORs -- which increase network capacity by 100 -400+%. The ACCELERATORs eliminate the need for costly WAN link upgrades, enabling quicker deployments of new applications to remote offices. Networked applications such as CRM, e-mail, ERP, Thin Client and XML increase the strain on scarce WAN resources, often hindering productivity. By removing repeat data patterns found in any type of traffic, the ACCELERATORs provide important bandwidth savings. The end-result is the decrease in network congestion, which in turn speeds up data transfers. Expand Networks allows enterprises to support more networked users, applications and services with fewer resources delivering a typical ROI of 3 to 9 months.

Clients include: Motorola, Texas Instruments, Hitachi Capital and the United States Department of Defense. Expand Networks is headquartered in Roseland, New Jersey and Tel Aviv, Israel with offices throughout the United States, United Kingdom and Italy. To learn more, visit http://www.expand.com/ or call 888/892-1250.

Note to Editors: Expand Networks, ACCELERATOR 6800, ACCELERATOR 4800, ACCELERATOR 4000, ACCELERATOR 2800, ACCELERATOR 2750 and ACCELERATOR 1800 are trademarks of Expand Networks, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Contact:
Expand Networks, Inc., Roseland
Susan Peter, 973/287-1103
speter@expand.com