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ZyXEL Announces ZyWALL IDP, the Layer 7 Intrusion Detection Prevention Firewall

Hsinchu, March 16, 2004 -- ZyXEL Communications (TSE:2391), world's leading broadband access solutions provider, announces the forthcoming of the brand-new ZyWALL IDP (Intrusion Detection Prevention ) product series. When the corporate network undergo application layer exploits such as hacker or worm assaults, the ZyWALL IDP can block the unusual network activities and attacks according to the corporate security policy for better protection. In addition, its seventh-layer barricade capability will help the administrator to fully utilize network bandwidth.

"Although firewalls are capable of providing basic protection, it had been limited to examine the packets within only the 4th layer," said Felix Chang, Product Marketing Director of ZyXEL's Network Security & Appliance Division. "As a result, a firewall-protected network is still vulnerable to hacker or worm attacks. "As a complete security solution, corporates should deploy an application-layer firewall, also known as Intrusion Detection Prevention , outside the networking firewall to equip administrators with effective countermeasures well before the attacks."

Chang also mentioned that the Intrusion Detect System (IDS), another common solution offered by the industry, can only provide warnings for suspicious attacks but not the countermeasures against them. IDS is also prone to display too many False Positives, which may mislead the staff in causing unnecessary management costs.

"While traditional antivirus software handles file-based viruses successfully, they are ineffective when dealing with network worms such as 'Blaster' or 'SoBig'. Compared to the IDP's preemptive in-line mode, the software only performs remedy afterwards, resulting in slower response and higher management cost." Chang says. "Worse yet, neither antivirus software nor IDS is capable of blockading the exhaustive seventh-layer network applications such as Peer-to-Peer exchange and Instant Messaging. Being able to handle all these situations is the obvious advantage ZyXEL IDP has over the other IDS or antivirus solutions."

Many solutions from other vendors boast built-in detection or defense against attacks. However, these features are mostly half-baked instead of complete, real-time protections. Furthermore, chances are these incapable features would plummet due to clogs caused by activating too many functions simultaneously, or become a single failure point while choked by exploding network traffics caused by attacks. In contrast, ZyXEL's standalone IDP system provides more substantial protection while maintaining better performance.

Availability
The ZyWALL IDP will make its debut at ZyXEL's booth (Hall 15 D05) in Hannover CeBIT taking place in March 2004; and it has been scheduled to deliver by the end of the second quarter through ZyXEL's global authorized distributors.

About ZyXEL Communications
ZyXEL Communications Co. (TSE: 2391), located in Hsinchu, Taiwan, is one of the world's leading broadband access solution vendors. ZyXEL's broad line of Internet Protocol-based (IP) networking solutions includes access multiplexors, customer premise equipment, Internet security and Wireless LAN equipment, enabling high-performance network services for SOHO, small to mid-sized businesses and service providers. ZyXEL works closely with worldwide network equipment vendors, telecommunications companies, ISPs, and other major businesses. For more information, visit the company's Website at http://www.zyxel.com.