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Interphase Demonstrates Performance of Network Security Accelerator Cards at San Francisco LinuxWorld Conference

Posted on: Tuesday, 5 August 2003, 06:00 CDT

PLANO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 5, 2003--Interphase Corporation (Nasdaq:INPH), an international supplier of next-generation networking technologies, demonstrated the performance today of its newly launched Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) security acceleration cards at the LinuxWorld Conference in San Francisco (Booth #1343).

Recent performance testing on the Interphase security acceleration cards demonstrated a three times system improvement on TCP throughput rates and a 63% decrease in host CPU utilization when IPSec protocols are accelerated on a Linux platform using the FreeS/WAN IPSec stack software. In summary, adding software encryption to a server can slow it almost to a halt. Adding Interphase network security acceleration adapters enables processor performance to return, thereby saving processor resources for applications, not just for encryption.

The 45NS (PMC) and 55NS (PCI) network security acceleration adapters are designed to eliminate the bottleneck on network traffic caused by today's VPNs, gateways, secure routers and firewalls. Integrating the Interphase security accelerator cards into these applications will increase network efficiency and response times by offloading bandwidth-intensive IPSec security protocol processing from the host CPU in systems. By providing intelligent packet processing, the 45NS and 55NS modules can perform a variety of functions for addressing the complex security needs of today's enterprise and carrier grade systems, including header analysis, payload extraction, compression, encryption, authentication and packet assembly.

Based on the Hifn 7854 security processor, the 45NS and 55NS adapters accelerate basic security algorithms including DES, 3DES, MD5, SHA-1, RC4 and AES. Other product features include a 64-bit, 66MHz PCI bus with universal signaling, 64 Mbytes of private memory for security session data and parameter storage, and support for full-duplex OC-3 (155Mbps) rates and 512K simultaneous sessions. Based on PMC and PCI specifications, the 45NS and 55NS have the flexibility to operate in a variety of environments, including CompactPCI, PCI, VME and proprietary systems.

"Hifn's HIPP 7854 performs all the packet and protocol processing that is required to turn clear text into encrypted data, thus freeing network processors to conduct other routing and control functions," said Doug Makishima, Vice President of Marketing at Hifn. "Interphase's 45NS and 55NS are premium IPSec acceleration products featuring high-performance security acceleration and system offload at attractive prices."

During the three-day LinuxWorld Conference, Interphase will demonstrate the performance of a system running FreeS/WAN without the Interphase security accelerator card versus a system incorporating the Interphase 55NS accelerator card. The demonstration will feature a server with a 55NS installed and two workstations, one of which has a security acceleration adapter installed. The other workstation has no offload adapter installed. Each workstation will run version 2.4 of the Linux kernel and version 1.99 of the open source FreeS/WAN IPSec software stack. TCP/IP traffic will be transmitted from each of the two workstations to the server while measuring throughput. MPEG video files residing on the server hard drive will be transmitted from the server to each workstation and played. The demo will show the throughput gained while minimizing CPU utilization.

"Exhibition of our network security accelerator cards at the LinuxWorld Conference and other venues will demonstrate the degree of improvement in system performance that the 55NS and 45NS provides," said Randall McComas, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Interphase. "These security co-processors will enable developers to significantly increase system throughput and decrease host CPU utilization -- an improvement that will benefit network administrators and ultimately end users by reducing network bottlenecks. Enhancements to network services such as these are the foundation of the Interphase value proposition of enabling our OEM customers to better serve their carrier and network administrator customers."

The 45NS and 55NS are currently shipping with standard software support for RedHat Linux 7.3 and greater running on an Intel processor, with integration into the FreeS/WAN IPSec stack v1.99.

About Interphase Corporation

Interphase enables rapid platform design and integration for the global voice and data communications markets through custom and off-the-shelf communications equipment, embedded software development suites, and systems integration and consulting services for telecom and enterprise networks. The company's products connect computer and telecommunication servers to Wide Area Networks (WANs), Local Area Networks (LANs) and Storage Area Networks (SANs) using Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Ethernet, Signaling System 7 (SS7), IP, Fibre Channel, HDLC, Frame Relay, and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) technologies. Headquartered in Plano, Texas with offices across the United States, Paris, Munich, Helsinki, and Bangkok, Interphase 2002 revenues were $25.1 million. Clients include Lucent Technologies, Nortel Networks, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, Alcatel, IBM, Compaq, Motorola, Fujitsu, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Additional information about Interphase and its products is available through the company's web site at www.interphase.com.

Safe Harbor

This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to financial results and certain other matters. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, fluctuations in demand, the quality and price of similar or comparable networking products, access to sources of capital, general economic conditions in the company's market areas, and that future sales and growth rates for the industry and the company could be lower than anticipated.

The Interphase logo is a registered trademark of Interphase Corporation.

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