Enterasys Joins Microsoft Active Protections Program

ANDOVER, MA--(Marketwire - October 20, 2008) - Enterasys Networks Inc., the Secure Networks Company™, today announced that it has joined the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP). MAPP is a new program from the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) that provides vulnerability information to security software providers in advance of Microsoft's monthly security update release. Through this program, Enterasys will receive vulnerability information early, enabling the company to provide customers with advanced, updated protections during the window of time between the release of Microsoft security updates and customers applying them to their system.

"Our partners share our passion for industry collaboration to protect a world full of Internet users," said Mark Miller, Director of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing product management. "No one company can accomplish this by itself. That is why we are partnering with Enterasys to advance and improve security."

The Enterasys Dragon® network- and host-based intrusion prevention system (IPS) leverages signature adaptive pattern matching, protocol analysis and behavioral analysis to automatically sense and respond to threats in real-time across multi-vendor wired and wireless networks. Dragon is unique in its ability to extend IPS to every LAN edge access port to detect threats, mitigate or stop any attack and, most importantly, automatically contain and/or remove the source of the threat from the network. The operational advantage is that Dragon delivers network security protections everywhere, not just somewhere, for unified communications environments.

The amount of time between the release of a Microsoft security update and the release of exploit code for that update continues to shorten. Through the efforts of MAPP, Enterasys and other security software providers have early access to vulnerability information and can pass this knowledge along to customers. This information is shared in a secure and confidential manner to prevent it from being used maliciously. Before this program, security software providers would have to wait until the public release of the Microsoft security bulletin to deploy protections. The early release enables Enterasys and Microsoft to protect mutual customers more quickly.

"Enterasys is pleased to be selected by Microsoft to join MAPP based on a stringent list of eligibility criteria for security software providers," said Trent Waterhouse, VP of Marketing for Enterasys. "This collaboration framework with Microsoft at both the application and network layers delivers improved defense-in-depth and diversity-of-defense protections while testing and deploying Microsoft security updates. It's another tangible example of Enterasys delivering on our promises to proactively protect customer and partner information assets without sacrificing the performance of voice, video or data applications."

About Enterasys Networks

Enterasys is part of a joint venture with Siemens Enterprise Communications led by The Gores Group, LLC. The joint venture is a multi-billion dollar provider of hardware, software, and services to deliver service-oriented networks that enable service-oriented applications in a mobile and secure manner. Enterasys delivers Secure Networks™ that ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of IT services and the business users that rely on them -- without sacrificing performance. Thousands of enterprises, government agencies and educational institutions in more than 70 countries worldwide rely on our convergence, compliance and connectivity solutions to deliver business-oriented, identity-based visibility and control of individual user and application priority and security. The company's culture is centered on the principle, "There is nothing more important than our customers." Enterasys' standards-based, open-architecture approach to network security offers a long technology lifecycle and significant operational and business benefits, while reducing total cost of ownership. Information about Enterasys' award winning, policy-enabled switches, routers, wireless products, security software and services is available at www.enterasys.com.

About The Gores Group

The Gores Group, LLC, founded in 1987, is a private equity firm focused on acquiring controlling interests in mature and growing businesses which can benefit from the firm's operating experience and flexible capital base. The firm combines the operational expertise and detailed due diligence capabilities of a strategic buyer with the seasoned M&A team of a traditional financial buyer.

The Gores Group maintains offices in Los Angeles, Boulder and London. For more information, please visit www.gores.com.

About Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC

Tennenbaum Capital Partners is a Santa Monica, California-based private investment firm managing over $7 billion in committed capital in private funds. The firm's investment strategy is grounded in a long-term, value approach, and it assists -- both financially and operationally -- transitional middle market companies in such industries as technology, healthcare, energy, aerospace, business services, retail and general manufacturing. Tennenbaum's core strengths include in-depth knowledge of equity and debt financing vehicles in the public and private markets, as well as a thorough understanding of special situations. For more information, please visit www.tennenbaumcapital.com.

Contact Information: Contact: Trent Waterhouse Enterasys Networks +1 978 684 1506 trent@enterasys.com Michelle Barry BridgeView Marketing +1 603 809 2748 michelle@bridgeviewmarketing.com