Web Filtering Companies Bloxx And NetSTAR Partner

PRESS RELEASE

Bloxx, the innovator in Web and Email filtering, and NetSTAR, Inc., the largest provider of Web filtering technology in Japan, today announced that the two companies have signed a technology partnership agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, NetSTAR and Bloxx will collaborate on developing enhanced Web filtering technologies to provide new content filtering solutions for the global security market.

NetSTAR, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alps System Integration Co., Ltd and Trend Micro Incorporated, is the leading corporate Web content filtering provider in Japan. In addition to NetSTAR's leadership position in Japan, the company has extensive market-share throughout Asia. In addition to the home and enterprise market, NetSTAR is the only company to provide content filtering technology to all five of the major mobile phone operators in Japan, including NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, Softbank Mobile, Wilcom, and e-Mobile.

"As a Web and content filtering company that provides a wide range of products and services to the home, enterprise, and mobile market, we are very familiar with a number of different Web filtering technologies," said Noboru Ogahara, CEO at NetSTAR. "We concluded that in partnership our two companies can provide some very unique technologies that will complement and enhance our existing and future products for the global market."

"We are pleased to have concluded this agreement with one of the world's leading web filtering companies," said Eamonn Doyle, Bloxx Chief Executive Officer. "The fact that NetSTAR have chosen to work with Bloxx is a strong endorsement of the advanced technology we are developing".

About NetSTAR

NetSTAR Inc is one of the few companies, which hold the technology for database compilation and classification of URLs, as well as a means of updating and delivering the latest URL database to the customers. NetSTAR's URL lists are automatically acquired through an advanced algorithm, and our dedicated staff of 30 people, which is the largest scale in Japan, visually confirms each website, and then classifies and registers them. Since the company establishment in 2001, NetSTAR's URL database is being updated everyday, and as of July 2004, NetSTAR's database contains approximately more than 23 million web pages.

Within the database, the most covered language is Japanese, which is approximately 70%, and the other languages are mainly English, Chinese, Spanish and Korean.

Nowadays, since the Internet use is not only major through the personal computer, but also through mobile phones, NetSTAR is also working on compilation and classification for mobile phone sites in full scale. The company is headquartered in Tokyo Japan, and has the URL database acquisition center in Sendai (Miyagi Prefecture) Japan.

For more information, visit http://www.netstar-inc.com/

About Bloxx

Headquartered in the UK with sales offices in Holland, the USA and Australia, Bloxx offers appliance-based web and email filtering for medium and large organisations in both the business and public sectors. Bloxx has achieved unrivalled sales growth year-on-year to become a leading web-filtering provider with an estimated 2.5 million+ users worldwide. Leading UK investment groups Archangel Investments Ltd and Braveheart Investment Group Plc have invested in Bloxx. For more information, visit http://www.bloxx.com

Editorial Contacts

Interviews, photography and further information are available from Carol Brennan at Bloxx.

Tel: +44 (0)1506 426976

Email: [email protected]