Southampton Solent University Leverages Enterasys to Enable Wireless and VoIP

ANDOVER, MA--(Marketwire - October 21, 2008) - Enterasys Networks Inc., the Secure Networks Company™, today announced that Southampton Solent University, one of the U.K.'s newest universities located in southern England, has selected Enterasys to provide solutions to securely connect more than 3,500 network devices which service more than 16,000 students and 1,000 University staff across multiple campus buildings. Through its partnership with Enterasys, Southampton Solent University now has the foundation necessary to implement next-generation applications such as IP video multicasting and Voice over IP (VoIP), while network users enjoy secure, "always-on" availability for both wired and wireless applications.

Southampton Solent University officially expanded from a college to university status in 2005. With the rapid growth of the University, the desire to roll out next-generation connectivity services that enhance the curriculum and allow students and staff to work more safely and with greater efficiency became a priority. The University also required a solution that was compatible with its multi-vendor infrastructure environment, which includes Checkpoint firewalls and Dell servers.

"For more than 10 years, Enterasys and their partner NetConnection Systems have supported us as our University and our network have expanded and modernised," said John Carling, Head of IT at Southampton Solent University. "We selected Enterasys solutions because they were proven to be compatible with our existing IT infrastructure at a price point with technologies that other leading vendors couldn't offer at the time. We were also greatly impressed with the responsiveness and knowledge of Enterasys' sales, service and support staff."

Today, Southampton Solent University's network connects three separate locations within a 10-mile area, consisting of multiple buildings including classrooms, administration offices and student residences. Connected endpoints are secured through unified wired/wireless policy privileges that distinguish between staff and student roles while proactively protecting against unauthorized behavior by rogue devices or unauthenticated users. Applications for campus-wide wireless access, next-generation multimedia communications and a VoIP system are prioritized and secured. Carling has plans to implement an Enterasys intrusion prevention system, and is exploring the option of installing Enterasys' Enterprise Notification System as well.

"The built-in security and self-healing redundancy provided by Enterasys products have proven its value through service-oriented, identity-based access to online resources depending on who you are and where you're located. In short, the solution does exactly what Enterasys promises it does, the company is easy to work with and the performance is very reliable," Carling said. "As an IT professional, we understand that we rarely get calls from users congratulating us when the network is running well, but we do get calls when there's a problem. With Enterasys equipment, we don't receive many of those calls. The network is transparent to our users, highly visible to us, and if we want to make future enhancements, it won't require a forklift upgrade."

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