SPUTNIK LAUNCHES SECURE WIRELESS BROADBAND GATEWAY AND SERVICE

Free Sputnik Gateway Software in Wide Release; Sputnik Enterprise Gateway To Offer Provisioning, Manageability, Security for 802.11 Networks

SAN FRANCISCO, March 25, 2002-Sputnik, Inc. today announced the availability of a free WiFi gateway that will help accelerate the deployment of secure high-speed wireless access. The Sputnik Gateway software transforms any Intel PC with broadband access and a wireless card into a WiFi gateway. The Sputnik Gateway promotes managed sharing of broadband wireless networks, increasing the number of available access points for the 10 million 802.11b-enabled devices on currently on the market.

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"People want access to the Internet and company networks on the go. WiFi is a great way to do this, but there are serious drawbacks-lack of security, lack of hot spots and lack of roaming access across gateways," said David LaDuke, CEO of Sputnik, Inc. "The Sputnik Gateway and upcoming Sputnik Enterprise Gateway will help wireless broadband become ubiquitous by making it easy, secure, inexpensive and available."

A free download from www.sputnik.com, Sputnik Gateway software is designed for breakthrough ease-of-use-at first boot, it auto-discovers the network and configures itself in minutes. Sputnik Gateway software also contains a number of high-end security features: a built-in router, firewall, and an SSL-based user authentication system.

People who set up a Sputnik Gateway are called Sputnik Affiliates. With their username and password, Sputnik Affiliates can roam across all Sputnik Gateways for free. Sputnik Affiliates always have priority access to bandwidth on their own gateways, letting them share bandwidth without any noticeable decrease in their local network's performance. The Sputnik Gateway's security features automatically firewall off Affiliates' internal networks from public access. For a limited time, people without a Sputnik Gateway can sign up as Subscribers and also enjoy high-speed wireless networking for free.

The company is currently investigating pricing plans designed to share revenues with Sputnik Affiliates and upstream ISPs based on the amount of bandwidth they provide. While a strong advocate for wide availability of wireless broadband, Sputnik prohibits Affiliates from violating their wired ISP's acceptable use policy (AUP).

"We've already seen hundreds of Sputnik Gateway software downloads. Sputnik powered access points are appearing not just in North America, but in Japan, Europe, South America and Australia," said David L. Sifry, CTO at Sputnik, Inc. "We have also seen tremendous developer interest in extending the platform in areas like virtual private networking (VPN) applications, voice-over-IP (VoIP), mesh routing, and enterprise wireless applications. We released the core Sputnik Gateway code as open-source software under the GPL because we view the open-source development community as the world's most dynamic, creative development lab. Sputnik is working with developers to build the 'Apache' of wireless access."

Sputnik Enterprise Gateway Sputnik is currently focusing its own development resources on solving the problems of security and manageability for wireless networking in the enterprise. "In the enterprise, the reality is that access points are already being brought in under the radar of corporate IT," says LaDuke. "Just like when people used to put modems in their office cubicles for dial-up access to their corporate network, uncontrolled access points expose the corporate network to massive security risks. The Sputnik Enterprise Gateway will bring a whole new level of provisioning, manageability and security to corporate wireless networking."

Sputnik Enterprise Gateways consist of proprietary extensions to the base Sputnik Gateway platform and are designed to bring automated provisioning, powerful security and manageability to wireless networking. Sputnik Enterprise Gateways can be remotely configured and managed with existing network management solutions such as HP OpenView, IBM Tivoli and CA Unicenter. They integrate with existing single sign-on systems such as RADIUS, LDAP, Novell NDS, and Microsoft Active Directory, and support security protocols like EAP and 802.1x. Enterprise Gateways are capable of running VPN servers, intrusion detection software, and more.

The Sputnik Enterprise Gateway will be available in multiple configurations, including a Chokepoint Server that adds security and manageability to existing networks of wireless access points. Sputnik is actively working with OEM hardware partners to ensure a wide range of Sputnik powered devices in the market. The product is currently in testing and will be available in Q2 2002.

About Sputnik, Inc.

Sputnik Inc., the wireless broadband innovator, provides secure, manageable and easy-to-provision WiFi solutions to the enterprise. It is the only company to leverage the open-source development model to create a standard, extensible WiFi platform. The Sputnik Enterprise Gateway is Sputnik's flagship wireless product, designed to meet the demanding security, manageability and provisioning requirements of the enterprise. Sputnik was founded in May 2001 and is headquartered in San Francisco. The company also provides a free version of its gateway software for home users and developers. For more information about Sputnik, to download the free Sputnik Gateway software, or join the Sputnik Developer Program, visit www.sputnik.com.