Monday, February 28, 2005

Sandvine selected by Hughes Network systems for improved network security on DirecWay service

Effectiveness & flexibility of Sandvine worm, DoS and zombie PC solution were key to the selection

Waterloo, Ontario, February 28, 2005 — Sandvine Incorporated today announced that Hughes Network Systems, Inc. (HNS), the world’s leading provider of broadband satellite solutions, has selected the Sandvine Attack Traffic Mitigation solution for operation on its U.S.-wide DIRECWAY® broadband satellite network.

Malware attacks, such as worm outbreaks and their associated denial-of-service (DoS) to customers, can consume significant bandwidth on a service provider’s network in a matter of hours. And beyond the impact of "event-level" attacks by superworms like MyDoom and Netsky, research has shown that malicious traffic caused by remnants of old attacks account for between 4 and 12 percent of all the data moving across broadband networks on any given day.

The HNS DIRECWAY service will deploy Sandvine’s multi-layer Worm/DoS solution to build self-defending capability into its network.

“Sandvine’s approach allows us to mitigate attack traffic from a central point in the network to protect the broadband experience for our subscribers,” said Dave Zatloukal, vice president of North American Network Services at Hughes Network Systems. “The solution has proven to be very flexible, integrating easily with our existing security infrastructure.”

In addition to mitigating malicious data traffic, Sandvine’s technology will be used to identify infected subscribers and contact them via email with recommendations on how best to disinfect their PCs.

ABOUT SANDVINE ATTACK TRAFFIC MITIGATION
Sandvine Attack Traffic Mitigation, with application-level awareness, arms service providers with a multi-layer strategy to mitigate all forms of malicious traffic. Extremely adaptive dual behavior-based and signature-based detection capabilities accurately identify today’s complex protocols, applications and network phenomena like spam, DoS attacks, trojans and zombie PCs that escape traditional packet-based technology.

ABOUT HUGHES NETWORK SYSTEMS
Hughes Network Systems, Inc. (HNS), a wholly owned subsidiary of The DIRECTV Group, Inc., is the world's leading provider of broadband satellite network solutions for businesses and consumers, with more than 800,000 systems ordered or shipped to customers in 85 countries. HNS pioneered the development of high-speed satellite Internet access services, which it markets globally under the DIRECWAY brand.

Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland, USA, HNS maintains sales and support offices worldwide. The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (NYSE:DTV), is 34 percent owned by Fox Entertainment Group, which is approximately 82 percent owned by News Corporation Ltd. For additional information, please visit www.hns.com.

ABOUT SANDVINE
Sandvine’s award-winning network equipment products are protecting the Internet experience for millions of broadband subscribers worldwide. We help broadband service providers characterize what really happens on their networks, enabling policies that improve customer satisfaction, reduce operational costs and improve profitability. Sandvine’s application-aware solutions help service providers take control of P2P traffic; stop the proliferation of destructive worm, DoS and spam traffic; and achieve new operational efficiencies. To find out more, visit Sandvine online at www.sandvine.com.

* HUGHES, Hughes Network Systems, and DIRECWAY are trademarks of The DIRECTV Group, Inc. *

linkback: http://www.sandvine.com/news/pr_detail.asp?ID=70