SafeNet Announces First Intrusion Prevention IP for Network Semiconductor Market

SafeXcel IP Content Inspection Engine is the first Intrusion Prevention hardware acceleration core for network security processors and communications processors

Baltimore, Maryland - September 7, 2004 – SafeNet, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFNT), setting the standard for information security, today announced the release of SafeXcel IP Content Inspection Engine, the market's first hardware acceleration IP solution that is designed to address the unique needs of chip manufacturers looking to implement high-performance intrusion prevention systems (IPS) into NPU's and communication processors.

"In an environment of rising security threats and perimeter vulnerabilities, customers are looking for new approaches to protect networks against attacks," said David Potts, Senior Vice President and General Manager of SafeNet's Embedded Division. "OEM security appliance vendors are designing product lines that combine VPN, firewall, and intrusion prevention in a single high-performance appliance. The SafeXcel IP Content Inspection Engine opens this market to NPU and communication processor manufacturers by enabling them to integrate a hardware accelerator for intrusion prevention into silicon."

The SafeXcel IP Content Inspection Engine provides network and communication processor vendors with a silicon-proven content inspection core that enables fully integrated, high-performance intrusion prevention systems that meet vendor requirements for fast integration, low gate count, cost-effectiveness, and maximum network protection.

"We expect substantial increases in demand for high performance hardware appliance-based IPS solutions among Medium and Large Enterprise markets in the short term," said Jason Wright, Industry Analyst for Security Technologies at Frost & Sullivan. "SafeNet's new IP offering is uniquely positioned to provide high value to networking semiconductor manufacturers looking to add advanced IPS capabilities to NPUs and communications processors."

Performance and Scalability
Intrusion detection and prevention is a computation-intensive task, continuously growing with the number of threat patterns and the amount of data traffic passing through the network. SafeXcel IP Content Inspection Engine is specially optimized to handle IPS processing tasks - enabling network security gateways to improve content inspection performance significantly over software-only solutions.

"By dramatically accelerating the performance of intrusion prevention algorithms, our SafeXcel IP Content Inspection Engine hardware core ensures that the IPS system can manage highest speed and performance requirements with ease, while protecting against the broadest possible array of network threats," adds Henk Pruim, Vice President and General Manager Networking at SafeNet.

Complete IPS Solution for Large Enterprise, SMB, and SOHO Markets
Security appliance manufacturers are asking for a single cost-effective, IPS solution that is designed to scale to meet the performance expectations of SOHO, SMB and Large Enterprise market segments. SafeNet enables network and communication processor manufacturers and network appliance vendors to provide an advanced IPS solution that precisely meets the price, feature, and performance requirements of this market.

SafeXcel IP Content Inspection Engine combined with SafeNet's best-of-breed intrusion prevention software, QuickSec IPS, provides SafeNet customers with a complete IPS solution.

Best-of-Breed Security IP
SafeNet is the first vendor in the industry to release intellectual property of silicon-proven IPS acceleration cores that have been successfully deployed in SafeNet's industry-leading SafeXcel-4850 content inspection processor. SafeXcel IP Content Inspection Engine adds to SafeNet's unique portfolio of hardware cores and software toolkits, designed to implement IPSec and SSL protocols for embedded network security.

For more information, please contact SafeNet's Embedded Security Division at 443-327-1200 or visit www.safenet-inc.com/networkoem.

About SafeNet, Inc.
SafeNet is a global leader in information security. Founded more than 20 years ago, the company provides complete security utilizing its encryption technologies to protect communications, intellectual property and digital identities, and offers a full spectrum of products including hardware, software, and chips. ARM, Bank of America, NetGear, the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, Adobe, Samsung, Texas Instruments, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and scores of other customers entrust their security needs to SafeNet. For more information, visit www.safenet-inc.com.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
The statements contained in this release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are subject to uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in or implied by forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are included but are not limited to those listed in SafeNet's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update information concerning its expectations.

Editor's Note: SafeNet is a registered trademark and SafeXcel is a trademark of SafeNet, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.