SonicWALL Enhances Network Security and Secure Remote Access for Marshall School District

Illinois School District Deploys E-Class NSA E5500 and SSL-VPN 200 Solutions From SonicWALL to Improve Security, Performance and Productivity

SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – SonicWALL, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNWL), a leading secure network infrastructure company, today announced that Marshall Community Unit School District 2C has deployed SonicWALL(R) E-Class NSA E5500 and SonicWALL(R) SSL-VPN 200 appliances to deliver enterprise-class network security and secure remote access in each of its five campuses, including a high school, junior high school and two elementary schools.

In its efforts to maintain compliance with regulations such as the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), the Marshall School District had encountered limitations in its previous firewall solution’s capacity, configurability and security.

“Our old firewall couldn’t keep up with our current Internet connectivity demands. My IT staff had to correct issues that we wouldn’t have faced with a more dedicated firewall solution,” said Darin Hostetter, Technology Coordinator. “Our security concerns became serious, forcing us to have teachers monitor their students more closely, which subsequently took them away from their teaching.”

The enterprise-class security of the SonicWALL NSA E5500 has alleviated those concerns. “Now that we’ve got everything behind the E5500, I no longer worry about platform vulnerabilities affecting our Internet security,” said Hostetter. “Our Internet connection is now much more stable and consistent. We haven’t had to reboot since deployment.”

The NSA E5500 is a high-performance, multi-service network security platform engineered to accommodate enterprise-scale academic network environments, enabling the Marshall School District to provide content that is safe, secure, and free from offensive material.

Hostetter investigated alternative network security vendors, including Cisco, before choosing SonicWALL. “I didn’t want to pay extra for a Cisco logo,” said Hostetter. “Unlike Cisco, SonicWALL offered the same security features without being overpriced. SonicWALL gave us comparable high-performance security features for everything we needed, and was still much less expensive than all the other products we looked at.”

For assistance in the deployment, Hostetter turned to Sikich LLC. “Sikich sent out a consultant to help us set up and it was a breeze,” said Hostetter. “In just one day, we had the E5500 up and protecting all of our teacher and student computers.”

By deploying the E5500, the Marshall School District has lowered total cost of ownership (TCO) by reducing IT staff hours spent on configuring firewall rules and policies to meet regulatory compliance mandates, and by eliminating the need for an additional server license. “The management utility is easy, straightforward and logical,” said Hostetter. “We’ve gained approximately 50% better download speeds and much better Web performance.”

The SSL-VPN 200 provides Marshall School District with a powerful, easy-to-use and cost-effective secure remote access solution that, unlike its previous IPSec-based VPN, does not require the pre-installation of client software.

“We’ve seen phenomenal success with the SSL-VPN 200,” said Hostetter. “It’s made remote access much easier and more pleasant for the teachers.” With the success of the deployment, Hostetter now plans to extend secure remote access to all teachers and staff over SSL VPN by the start of the upcoming school year.

About SonicWALL, Inc.

SonicWALL is committed to improving the performance and productivity of businesses of all sizes by engineering the cost and complexity out of running a secure network. Over one million SonicWALL appliances have been shipped through its global network of ten thousand channel partners to keep tens of millions of worldwide business computer users safe and in control of their data. SonicWALL’s award-winning solutions include network security, secure remote access, content security, backup and recovery, and policy and management technology. For more information, visit the company web site at http://www.sonicwall.com/.

Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding the benefits associated with the deployment of the SonicWALL E-Class NSA E5500 and SSL-VPN 200 appliances and the reduction in the total cost of ownership experienced by the end user. These forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the time the statements are made and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. In addition, please see the “Risk Factors” described in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, for a more detailed description of the risks facing our business. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to SonicWALL as of the date of the release, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement.

NOTE: SonicWALL is a registered trademark of SonicWALL, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

SOURCE SonicWALL, Inc.