Sipera Secures $13.2 Million From Sequoia Capital, Austin Ventures And Star Ventures

Series B Funding Will Be Used To Scale Operations And Extend Product Line

Richardson, TX, March 15, 2006 -- Sipera Systems, the leader in pure security for VoIP, mobile and multimedia communications, today announced it has secured $13.2M in series B round funding.  The round was led by Sequoia Capital, and includes prior investors Austin Ventures and STAR Ventures.  This latest funding brings Sipera’s total to $19.5M and will help the company expand operations and extend its Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) security solution to wireless operators.

“The increase in VoIP deployments is driving both awareness of and demand for comprehensive VoIP security, which is reflected by Sipera’s growth and expanding market opportunity,” said Mike Goguen, a Sequoia Capital General Partner. “Comprehensive VoIP security is emerging as a new product category and Sipera has established clear leadership in this segment.” Mr. Goguen, who has successfully guided numerous VoIP and security firms such as NetScreen, Redback and Spatial Wireless, will join the Board of Directors for Sipera Systems.

“The recent launch of the Sipera IPCS 310 product was a tremendous success, validating our approach to VoIP security and demonstrating the escalating demand for our solutions,” said Seshu Madhavapeddy, Sipera President and CEO.  “This new investment, will allow us to expand our operations to support the growing demand for our products and extend our product line into the wireless VoIP market.  We look forward to drawing on Mike’s deep expertise in VoIP and security.”

“Sipera was founded with the mission to build comprehensive security solutions for real-time IP communications applications when VoIP security was barely a concept to most,” said Krishna Kurapati, Sipera’s Founder and CTO. “Over the last 2 years, the Sipera VIPER lab has done exhaustive analysis of IETF and 3GPP specs and built a catalogue of thousands of vulnerabilities that exist within SIP, UMA and IMS protocols. This research forms the basis of the most comprehensive VoIP security product on the market to proactively address these vulnerabilities. This new round of funding is a testament to our leadership in this space.”

Recently launched at VoiceCon Spring 2006, Sipera IPCS products represent the most comprehensive pure security solution for protecting real-time IP communications applications such as VoIP, instant messaging (IM), video and multimedia. The Sipera IPCS 310 is deployed within the network to protect both the infrastructure and end-users from a number of malicious, application-specific attacks and service abuse.

Sipera IPCS products can be deployed in any existing VoIP infrastructure with no need for on-site interoperability testing, due to Sipera’s close development and integration work with leading VoIP infrastructure manufacturers.  The Sipera IPCS 310 product is not a point-of-failure in the network and is not subject to attack, as it is deployed without an IP address with no network configuration changes -- preserving network integrity and user uptime, for fast ROI.

About Sequoia Capital
Since 1972, Sequoia Capital has provided startup venture capital for very smart people who want to turn ideas into companies. As the “Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs”, Sequoia Capital’s Partners have worked with innovators such as Sandy Lerner and Len Bozack of Cisco Systems, Jerry Yang and David Filo of Yahoo!, Gaurav Garg of Redback Networks, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Dan Warmenhoven of Network Appliance, T.J. Rodgers of Cypress Semiconductor, Lou Tomasetta of Vitesse Semiconductor, Steve Jobs of Apple Computer and Larry Ellison of Oracle. The companies organized by Sequoia Capital now account for about 10% of the value of NASDAQ. To learn more about Sequoia Capital visit www.sequoiacap.com.

About Austin Ventures
With $3 billion under management across nine funds, Austin Ventures has provided startup and growth capital to emerging companies for over twenty years. We partner with exceptionally talented entrepreneurs and operating executives to build valuable businesses in a variety of technology and service industries. We invest nationally but maintain a particular focus on Texas and the Southwest, where we are the region's most active investor. Our team of investment professionals works with companies at every stage of the funding lifecycle, from initial seed investments, through startup and growth capital, to management-led buyouts and recapitalizations. Austin Ventures brings a long-term investment perspective, broad experience in building high-growth companies, and access to an unparalleled network of entrepreneurs and executives. Visit www.austinventures.com for more information.

About Star Ventures
STAR Ventures is a global venture capital company that invests in early-stage, high-tech companies in Israel, Germany, and the United States. STAR (www.star-ventures.com) focuses on companies that are already active internationally or are preparing to establish international business activities. STAR currently holds close to $1 billion (U.S.) under management, and has invested in more than 150 companies, 33 of which are traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York, and the Neuer Markt in Frankfurt. The focus of STAR's investment interest is information technologies, with an emphasis on communications. Additional investment areas include medical devices, enterprise software, Internet infrastructure, and industrial technologies. STAR is headquartered in Munich, Germany, with offices in Herzliya, Israel, and Dallas, USA.

About Sipera Systems
Sipera Systems, Inc., the leader in pure security for VoIP, mobile and multimedia communications, enables enterprises and operators to protect end users and network infrastructures from potentially catastrophic attacks, misuse, and abuse of real-time, session-based protocols.  Comprised of top vulnerability research experts, the Sipera VIPER™ lab concentrates all of its efforts towards identifying SIP, UMA and IMS vulnerabilities.  This expertise forms the foundation of Sipera IPCS™ products, which protect IP communications applications, and the Sipera LAVA™ tools, which verify networks’ readiness to resist attacks.  Founded in 2003, Sipera is headquartered in Richardson, TX. Visit http://www.sipera.com.

Sipera, Sipera logo, Sipera IPCS and related products, Sipera LAVA and Sipera VIPER are trademarks of Sipera Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts:

Larry Bouchie, KMC Partners Public Relations, 617-758-4192, larry@kmcpartners.com

Brendan Ziolo, Sipera Systems, 214-606-1080, bziolo@sipera.com