Business IM Management and Security to be Offered By Messaging Security Services Leader

MessageLabs, the leading provider of messaging security and management services to businesses announced today that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Omnipod Inc., a privately held, leading provider of enterprise instant messaging services based in New York. The move expands MessageLabs portfolio to now provide a comprehensive suite of managed email, web and instant message services for customers to help ensure the security, compliance and availability of all electronic communications over the Internet. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced and completion remains subject to shareholder consents.

Omnipod currently provides a secure, fully managed instant messaging and communication platform to hundreds of leading enterprises worldwide. MessageLabs will integrate Omnipod’s enterprise IM service into its wide-ranging portfolio of “in the cloud” security and management services for email and web that it currently delivers to more than 12,000 businesses around the world. MessageLabs will work closely with Omnipod’s clients and partners to provide complete continuity of services and channel programs, as well as gain their insight and collaboration on future services to meet customer needs. In addition, MessageLabs 800 channel partners will now be able to offer these services to meet customers’ growing messaging security needs.

The acquisition represents an important milestone for MessageLabs as it further extends the company’s product strategy to bring certainty to the exchange of all business information, regardless of the protocol on which it travels. Having steadily increased its service offerings, global reach and leadership position, MessageLabs reported revenue of $67 million (£36 million) for its financial year ending in July 2005, having experienced its fifth consecutive year of annual growth in excess of fifty percent.

“Increasingly our clients are looking to us to manage all of their messaging security needs. Today, we are now able to manage and secure all business critical internet traffic - Email, Web and IM. We will continue to develop technologies and services to not only keep pace with evolving security threats, but also to stay ahead of the expanding messaging needs of today’s businesses,” said Ben White, CEO of MessageLabs. “MessageLabs can now extend the level of trust and certainty that clients already enjoy with their email and Web traffic to their IM systems. This allows us to provide unrivalled protection for enterprises from increasingly convergent threats and demanding information management requirements.”

Omnipod’s service is a fully managed hosted service requiring only minutes to set up. Omnipod's Professional Online Desktop (POD) is designed for enterprise use and seamlessly integrates collaboration features such as persistent chat, global SMS, WebEx online conferencing, Salesforce.com, file sharing and transfer capabilities, as well as numerous other communications functions into a secure presence-based messaging infrastructure.

“Our communications platform is trusted by many top businesses around the world to secure their instant messaging and file sharing,” said Gideon Stein, CEO of Omnipod. “We are delighted that MessageLabs and its channel partners will now be able to extend our reach further and that, together with MessageLabs product development team, we will be able to build on our platform to rapidly introduce new IM services and technologies.”

MessageLabs managed service approach provides organisations with a complete managed security solution, without the hassle, inconvenience or additional cost of traditional software or hardware solutions. These services ensure the integrity of electronic communications, helping businesses to manage and reduce risk while securing their critical infrastructure and business information.

About Omnipod Founded in 1999, Omnipod is a leading provider of On-Demand secure instant messaging. Hundreds of Fortune 500 companies, healthcare organisations, state and local governments and small-to-midsize firms rely on Omnipod for secure IM. Omnipod's investors include Lexington Ventures, Mapleton Investments and private individuals. Omnipod offers a risk free 30-day trial of its services at http://www.omnipod.com/html/test_drive.html.

About MessageLabs MessageLabs is the world's leading provider of messaging security and management services with more than 12,000 clients and offices in eight countries. For more information, please visit www.messagelabs.com.

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Media Contacts: APAC: Claire Hosegood, MessageLabs, +61 (0)2 8208 7111, chosegood@messagelabs.com