DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / MAY 26, 2003: VOL. 2 NO. 21    ( Table of Contents )

Breaking News - Security:

CipherOptics Secures $9.6M Series B Financing

CipherOptics, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of leading-edge, high- performance information protection solutions, announced that it has closed a Series B round of venture funding totaling $9.6 million. The financing, led by Kodiak Venture Partners, was supported by Origin Partners L.P., Axiom Venture Partners L.P. and New Tampa Technologies, L.L.C.

CipherOptics will use the funding to broaden its sales and marketing activities, continue to build its partner distribution network, and expand development of its family of next generation information protection products.

"We believe this is a strong vote of confidence in our people and our technology, and we look forward to the opportunity it provides to grow and expand our business and customer base," said CipherOptics CEO Ron Willis. "CipherOptics has a unique value proposition to offer the security market -- industry-leading performance, simplicity, and affordability -- something not offered by any competitor we've seen."

"CipherOptics has gained a strong foothold in the growing security market," said Ilan Carmi, partner at Kodiak Venture Partners, and CipherOptics chairman. "As an early investor in the company, we are pleased to support CipherOptics in this expansion phase as together we build it into the next market leader."

Concentrating on today's performance-demanding applications, CipherOptics information protection appliances give organizations concerned about data security the ability to cost-effectively and easily protect their data while it traverses the network. The company's products help a wide variety of industry and government customers secure their vital information assets. CipherOptics provides affordable security without compromising networking capabilities, allowing customers to reduce their security infrastructure costs while maintaining network performance and speed.

"CipherOptics delivers a differentiable and sustainable platform of technology in cost-effective products," said Scott Jones, founding managing director of Origin Partners. "The company has proven itself in tough field trials with some of the most demanding customers in the world. In a market cluttered with ineffective players, CipherOptics is the one to watch. This new funding reflects our confidence in a well-known, respected, and proven management team that has joined hands with a highly compatible, experienced, and effective investor group."