Fortinet Enables Thailand’s Largest Online Game Provider to Boost Security and Performance of “Ragnarok” Game Network

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 26, 2004 -- Fortinet – the only provider of ASIC-powered, network-based antivirus firewall systems for real-time network protection – today announced that it was chosen by Thailand’s largest online game provider, AsiaSoft
International Co. Ltd., to supply a network-wide security system for its hugely popular Ragnarok Online game network. AsiaSoft has successfully deployed Fortinet’s FortiGateTM-3000 Antivirus Firewalls across its entire network, enabling a fully-protected
playing environment and real-time performance for its more than one million subscribers.

AsiaSoft is the Thai host of the massively popular Korean online role-playing game “Ragnarok”. AsiaSoft provides facilities for game players to purchase virtual game items, in the same way that items in the real world are bought over eBay. Subscribers
can also play “Ragnarok” in real time on AsiaSoft’s servers.

Online game applications have quickly grown in popularity, but have also become a target for attack by gamers thrilled by the challenge of hacking into these virtual worlds. With thousands of subscribers online at any one time, any server downtime or
performance degradation resulting from hacking or other unauthorized access attempts can cause financial losses for the online entertainment hosting company and spoil the game experience for users.

“Before the installation of Fortinet’s products, game players were experiencing high levels of interrupted game play due to hacking attempts on AsiaSoft’s servers,” said Mr. Pramoth Sudjitporn, AsiaSoft’s Managing Director. “After carefully considering and testing a number of different solutions on the market, we chose Fortinet for the unmatched security and performance their FortiGate-3000 systems delivered and the superior support we were given. Thanks to Fortinet, previous problems have been eradicated and over one million subscribers are now enjoying high levels of real-time game play in a highly stable and secure environment.”

Fortinet’s FortiGate-3000 Antivirus Firewalls are dedicated, hardware platforms that deliver complete real-time network protection services at the network edge, providing three gigabit-per-second interfaces and offering a complete array of antivirus, firewall, content filtering, virtual private networking (VPN), network-based intrusion detection/prevention and traffic shaping capabilities. All FortiGate products are kept upto-date against the latest threats via Fortinet’s FortiProtect Distribution Network, which automatically delivers updated antivirus and intrusion detection signature databases to FortiGate systems worldwide.

“Entertainment hosting companies must maintain optimal network performance and ensure a secure online game environment that prevents viruses and attacks that can cripple data center services, spoil the game experience for subscribers, and cause
financial loss for the company,” said Matthew Young, Fortinet’s vice president of sales and general manager for Asia-Pacific. “Fortinet’s FortiGate solutions are the only systems on the market that can detect and protect against content and network-based attacks, while delivering the real-time performance and reliability required in the online entertainment environments.”

About AsiaSoft
AsiaSoft International Co. Ltd. is the largest online game provider in Thailand – they also develop and localize desktop and online games for the Thai market. AsiaSoft started by operating “Ragnarok,” a popular online RPG (Role-Playing Game) where gamers can locate other players online, and purchase or trade virtual weapons, items or money, just like real items on eBay. Currently, AsiaSoft has over one million subscribers who pay for online games.

About Fortinet (www.fortinet.com)
Fortinet's award-winning FortiGate™ series of ASIC-accelerated antivirus firewalls, winner of the 2004 Security Product of the Year Award from Network Computing Magazine and the 2003 Networking Industry Awards Firewall Product of the Year, are the new generation of real-time network protection systems. They detect and eliminate the most damaging, content-based threats from e-mail and Web traffic such as viruses, worms, intrusions, inappropriate Web content and more in real time - without degrading network performance. FortiGate systems are the only security products that are quadruple-certified by the ICSA (antivirus, firewall, IPSec, NIDS), and deliver a full range of network-level and application-level services in integrated, easily managed platforms. Named to the Red Herring Top 100 Private Companies, Fortinet is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.