MERS Partners with Stonesoft to Ensure Complete Network Security, Always-On Capabilities and Reduced It Expences

StoneGate™ Platform Implemented to Manage and Protect System Containing Over 60 Percent of all U.S. Home Mortgages

HELSINKI, Finland and ATLANTA - June 27, 2005 -- Stonesoft Corp. (HEX: SFT1V), an innovative provider of integrated network security and business continuity solutions, today announced that MERS, the electronic loan registry for the mortgage industry, has implemented Stonesoft's scalable StoneGate solution to increase network security, improve uptime and reduce administration costs.

"MERS evaluated several vendors to meet the company's stringent requirements - StoneGate was the only solution that was able to go above and beyond those needs with a single appliance," said Howard Scott, IS Director for MERS. "Stonesoft was the ideal partner for this project and the organization's ongoing customer support is second-to-none."

Prior to tapping Stonesoft's expertise, the MERS network was flat and unsegmented. Due to policies outlined by a previous technology partner, the company was forced to use public IP address for all devices on the network. As the company expanded, they began to run out of IP addresses, lose control over network security and faced expensive and time-consuming upgrades. Although the corporate office had two existing T-1 lines, they had no load balancing capabilities and the lines were not being used to their fullest capacity. MERS turned to Stonesoft to increase network security and logging; provide redundant, automatic, load-balanced fail-over, and reduce administration time and costs with a single, scalable solution that did not require special certification to administer.

"StoneGate enables MERS' IT department to secure and manage an extensive network containing sensitive information for over 30 million loans," said Juha Harkonen, chief executive officer for Stonesoft Americas. "We look forward to working and growing with the company as they achieve their mission to register every mortgage loan in the U.S. on the MERS System."

MERS' end-to-end implementation was completed and activated in less than one week. The company is now able to show management reports on network utilization and discarded Internet traffic trying to access the company's environment. They can also spontaneously test different policies, and switch back to the old policy with minimal interference to end-users. With the installation complete, MERS is able utilize both T-1 circuits in an active/active mode and fully employ their technology investment.
About Stonesoft Corporation

Stonesoft is a global company focused on enterprise level customers requiring advanced network security and always-on business connectivity with low TCO, best price-to-performance ratio, and highest ROI. StoneGate™ Security Platform unifies firewall, VPN and IPS, blending network security and end-to-end availability into a centrally managed system for distributed enterprises. StoneGate incorporates the award-winning load-balancing technology of StoneBeat®.

Founded in 1990, Stonesoft Corporation has corporate headquarters in Helsinki, Finland; Americas headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia; and Asia Pacific regional headquarters in Singapore.

For more information, go to www.stonesoft.com.
About MERS

MERS is an electronic loan registry created by the real estate finance industry to eliminate assignments when trading mortgage loans. Borrowers name MERS as mortgagee and nominee for the lender on deeds of trust and mortgages that are recorded in the county land records. Lenders then register the loans on the MERS® System and electronically track changes in servicing and beneficial ownership rights over the life of the loan.

Loans registered with MERS are inoculated against future assignments because MERS remains the mortgagee of record no matter how often servicing is traded between MERS members. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, VA, FHA, Ginnie Mae, the Federal Home Loan Bank MPF®, California and New York housing authorities, and all major Wall Street rating agencies have approved MERS.