Aladdin HASP Beats SafeNet Sentinel In Head-to-Head Comparison Conducted By Independent Lab

Performance analysis leader AppLabs reveals that HASP HL outperforms Sentinel UltraPro in nearly every category, including security, ease-of-use, flexibility of tools and functionality, and compatibility across platforms and environments...

CHICAGO, August 22, 2005, – Aladdin Knowledge Systems (NASDAQ: ALDN), the worldwide leader in Software Digital Rights Management (DRM) and USB-based authentication solutions, and a leading innovator in enterprise secure content management, today announced that its HASP® HL software protection and licensing solution was named the “markedly superior” hardware-based protection solution in a head-to-head comparative analysis conducted by AppLabs, a leader in performance analysis. The resulting report directly compared Aladdin HASP HL to SafeNet’s Sentinel™ UltraPro.

“AppLabs performed a comprehensive and objective comparative analysis of Aladdin Knowledge Systems' HASP HL and SafeNet's Sentinel UltraPro software protection solutions,” said Sashi Reddi, CEO of AppLabs Technologies, which recently acquired the KeyLabs organization that conducted the testing. “Both products were evaluated in a detailed functional review process, after which they were subjected to sophisticated hacking/cracking attacks to assess the respective level of anti-piracy protection provided. Weighted scores for individual points of comparison were aggregated along five comparison dimensions: security, ease-of-use, licensing, flexibility of tools and functionality, and compatibility across platforms and environments. After final tabulation of results, the Aladdin HASP HL outscored the SafeNet Sentinel UltraPro in all dimensions other than licensing, where both products received identical scores. Thus, at the conclusion of the evaluation process, the HASP HL emerged as the superior hardware-based protection solution of the two tested.”

Reddi continued, “AppLabs' groundbreaking testing regimen served not only to evaluate both products across functional areas, but also to empirically assess the level of protection provided by each competing solution. We are pleased to be a trusted testing provider of modern rights management solutions.”

In the security category, the report states, “AppLabs found that the HASP HL facilitates the provision of a higher overall level of protection than the SafeNet Sentinel UltraPro.” For the Ease of Use category, AppLabs engineers assumed the role of development staff utilizing each product to protect and license proprietary software. The report states, “After the conclusion of testing, AppLabs found the HASP HL to be easier to use than the SafeNet Sentinel UltraPro. Strong documentation, intuitive vendor tools with clear separation of responsibilities, a simpler granular licensing model, streamlined key memory access, intuitive protection APIs, and clear decoupling of licensing from protection all contribute to a less complex and more productive end-user integration experience.”

“This is a clear victory over the competition for Aladdin HASP HL,” said Avi Barir, vice president of Software Digital Rights Management at Aladdin Knowledge Systems. “Aladdin HASP’s high level of security and convenience for both the software publisher/developer and end user shines throughout this competitive analysis. We welcomed this review, as it confirmed HASP’s long-time superiority over the competition.”

About Aladdin HASP
The Aladdin HASP family provides software publishers hardware and software tools to ensure their intellectual property is protected and easy to distribute. Aladdin HASP prevents copying and unauthorized use of software, enables creating innovative software licensing and pricing models, brings software to market with confidence and increases sales and revenue:

HASP for Single-User: A hardware-based (HASP HL) or software-based (HASP SL) solution for protecting and licensing software running on stand-alone computers.

-HASP for Enterprise: A hardware-based (HASP HL Net) solution for protecting and licensing software used by multiple users in network environments and the enterprise.

-HASP for Trialware: A software-based solution (HASP TT) for creating secure, controlled software trialware.

-HASP for Documents: A hardware-based system (HASP DocSeal) for protecting intellectual property and sensitive information in HTML files.

About AppLabs
AppLabs Technologies is a global IT services company specializing in software testing and development, with an emphasis on quality assurance, performance, certification and hardware testing. Customers include American Airlines, InstallShield, HP, Novell and SAP. AppLabs is one of only a handful of software testing experts to have achieved SEI CMM Level 5, the highest quality standard attainable in software engineering. The company, backed by WestBridge Capital Partners, is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pa. and maintains state-of-the-art testing centers in Lindon, Utah and Hyderabad, India.

About Aladdin
Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd. is a global provider of security solutions that reduce software theft, authenticate network users and protect against unwanted Internet and e-mail content, including spam, viruses and spyware. Its security products are organized into two segments: Software Digital Rights Management (DRM) and Enterprise Security. Aladdin’s Software DRM products allow software publishers to protect their intellectual property and increase revenues by reducing losses from software theft and piracy. Its Enterprise Security solutions enable organizations to secure their information technology assets by controlling who has access to their networks (authentication) and what content their users can utilize (content security).