Britestream Networks and AVCON Partner to Deliver Secure IP Video Conferencing Solution

April 25, 2005

Austin, Texas and Beijing, China - Britestream Networks, a provider of network security solutions, announced today a cooperative agreement with AVCON, a leading provider of video conferencing systems and service in China. AVCON will integrate Britestream's SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Internet security solution into its AVCON IP Video Conferencing system and service.

Britestream's instream security processing architecture will enable the commercial video conferencing over public Internet to incorporate full TCP/IP termination and SSL/TLS processing in all Web-based conferencing sessions to ensure secure communication environments between users of the video conferencing solution. AVCON's customers include government agencies, manufacturers and large corporations that rely on secure, fast and reliable communication among the organizations' various locations. "Performance has been a concern when adding encryption protection to the public video conferencing data stream," said Zhou Xiao Chuan, Vice President of Technology at AVCON. "Britestream offers a powerfully smart solution for secure transactions. In our testing, we found the performance of their SSL offering does not slow our system; it is extremely easy to deploy and meets a critical security need for our customers."

"China is already the second largest market after the U.S. for videoconferencing equipment," said Bob Weinschenk, president and CEO of Britestream. "Because the country's rapid market growth is expected to outpace the global market, it is an important focus for Britestream. Partnering with leading companies like AVCON to deliver top performance in a security solution makes sense to help us expand our presence in Asia."

Available on a plug-and-play Network Interface Card (NIC), Britestream's solution has no special software stacks or device drivers and therefore can be deployed quickly and easily. By offloading all SSL traffic and processing while it is in the network stream, it processes secure data-completely, autonomously and transparently- without impacting or slowing systems. Built-in security features, including key storage in hardware and tamper protection, further protect the network against hackers and operating system attacks.

Wainhouse Research, an independent market research firm that focuses on rich media conferencing and communications, estimates that 2004 vendor revenues for videoconferencing equipment in China totaled just under $140 million and they expect 2005 to show an annual growth rate around 30 percent. "Government and corporate customers have tended to restrict videoconferencing to internal communications," said Stacy Austin-Li, Beijing-based senior analyst for Wainhouse Research. "Ensuring quality and security over IP networks are key considerations for any expansion of videoconferencing outside the local network."

"AVCON is one of the most trusted and well-known video conferencing solution providers in China," said Nadia Mansour, VP of Worldwide Sales for Britestream. "We're extremely pleased to participate in this partnership that will allow both AVCON and Britestream to expand our services offering and our customer base in Asia."

About AVCON

AVCON develops and manufactures IP Video Conferencing System, which is based on WEB design with intuitionist graphic user interface provides perfect Web-based conference collaborative products and services in China. Shanghai Huaping and Guangzhou Aiwei are the two sales channels of AVCON with branch offices all over China, in Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Central China, Shandong, Chengdu, Nanjing and Harbin. The major customer groups covering government, enterprises and manufacturing. For more details, please prefer to: www.avcon.com.cn.

About Britestream

Britestream Networks provides plug-and-play SSL security NICs or ASICs that deliver a unique combination of powerful simplicity, un-compromised performance, and fortified security. Delivered in an industry-standard Ethernet NIC, Britestream's patented in-stream TCP/IP processing engines eliminate the need for network integration and provide 100% CPU offload. With sensitive information stored in hardware, Britestream solutions are tamper-proof. From existing applications such as servers, load balancers, firewalls, and content switches to fast-growing emerging applications such as SSL VPNs, XML/Web Services, and secure e-mail gateways, Britestream's board and chip solutions remove all barriers and penalties of ubiquitously deploying security. This is Internet security as it is meant to be. Automatic. Easy. Everywhere. For more information, visit: www.britestream.com.

Media contact:  
 Sarah Lambie
 slambie@blancandotus.com
 512-335-8771 x17