SonicWall Pro 2040 Named by IDG's InfoWorld as One of Top Technologies Impacting It in 2005

SonicWall Pro 2040 Named by IDG's InfoWorld as One of Top Technologies Impacting It in 2005

Company Celebrates 12 Months of Achievements and Recognition

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SonicWALL, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNWL), a leading provider of integrated security, productivity and mobility solutions, announced today that its PRO 2040 firewall is a recipient of InfoWorld's 2005 Technology of the Year honors, winning the award for Best Firewall in the Security category.

The InfoWorld awards recognize significant technologies of the past year that promise to make the greatest impact on enterprise IT strategies as well as the products that best exemplify the implementation of those technologies. The InfoWorld Technology of the Year awards are not open to outside nominations; only products reviewed by InfoWorld's Test Center during the previous year are eligible. The final selections are made by InfoWorld's Test Center analysts and editors. Winners were formally announced in the January 3, 2005 edition of InfoWorld and are available online at http://www.infoworld.com/ .

"Innovation trumps consolidation," said Steve Fox, InfoWorld's editor-in-chief. "InfoWorld's annual Technology of the Year awards highlight the value of more powerful systems, more flexible storage, richer networks, more elegant applications, smoother integration, automated management, and granular security. The real winners are the organizations implementing these technologies."

"Although this award focuses on a single product, in many ways it symbolizes the tremendous overall achievement of the company last year," said Matthew Medeiros, president and chief executive officer of SonicWALL. "I am very proud of our many innovations, which culminated with the introduction of gateway anti-virus and intrusion prevention across our entire 2004 product set. During 2005 we look forward to continuing our winning formula of delivering innovative security solutions that are powerful, affordable, and easy to use."

Product introductions last year included expansions to the PRO and TZ 170 series product lines, a new distributed wireless solution based on SonicPoint intelligent access points, the Content Security Manager 2100 content filtering appliance, the PRO 1260 combined LAN switch and security appliance, and Gateway Anti-Virus/Intrusion Prevention Service.

During 2004, SonicWALL was the recipient of multiple awards, recognitions and certifications, highlighting the company's achievements:

-- Winner, Security Appliances, VARBusiness ARC AWARD program:
SonicWALL was recognized by its own solution providers for the
outstanding satisfaction levels that it provides to them and has been
acclaimed in the VARBusiness Annual Report Card (ARC) award program.
The company received the top award in the Security Appliances category.
-- Winner, Best Business Turnaround, American Business Awards:
SonicWALL was named winner in the Best Business Turnaround category at
the annual American Business Awards (TM), also nick-named 'Stevies'.
-- VARBusiness Five-Star Partner Rating: SonicWALL was recognized by
VARBusiness magazine as one of North America's top IT vendors.
SonicWALL received a Five-Star Rating, reflecting the strength of its
channel partner program supporting IT value-added resellers, solution
providers and consultants.
-- Training Program named "Best in Class": VARBusiness highlighted the
company's Medallion Partner Program in its annual guide, and named
SonicWALL's training program "Best in Class".
-- Mobile Star Award, Best Access Point: the SonicPoint intelligent
access points, which enable SonicWALL's Distributed Wireless Solution,
were named winner of a Mobile Star Silver Award in September, 2004

About InfoWorld Media Group


For 25 years, InfoWorld Media Group has provided cutting-edge coverage and evaluation of IT products and services for technology experts in senior management. Through integrated channels including print, online, events, and demand generation, InfoWorld reaches the most influential senior-level information technologists -- those who drive their enterprises' strategies and technology purchases. Powered by a continued investment in an independent Test Center, InfoWorld analysts and editors provide both hands-on analysis and evaluation, as well as expert commentary on issues surrounding emerging technologies and products. Visit InfoWorld at http://www.infoworld.com/ .

About IDG

Info World Media Group is a division of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and event company. IDG publishes more than 300 magazines and newspapers and offers online users the largest network of technology-specific sites around the world through IDG.net (www.idg.net ), which comprises more than 300 targeted Web sites in 70 countries. IDG is also a leading producer of 168 computer-related expositions worldwide, and provides IT market analysis through 51 offices in 43 countries worldwide. Company information is available at www.idg.com.

About SonicWALL, Inc.

SonicWALL, Inc. is a leading provider of integrated network security, mobility, and productivity solutions for the SMB, enterprise, e-commerce, education, healthcare, retail/point-of-sale, and government markets. Core technologies include firewall, VPN, wireless, gateway anti-virus, intrusion detection and prevention, desktop anti-virus, and content filtering, along with award-winning security management solutions. Together, these products and technologies provide the most comprehensive distributed enforcement architecture available. SonicWALL, Inc. is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA. SonicWALL trades on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol SNWL. For more information, contact SonicWALL at +1-408-745-9600 or visit the company web site at http://www.sonicwall.com/ .

Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding the company's continued ability to deliver innovative security solutions that are powerful, affordable and easy to use. These forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the time the statements are made and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. In addition, please see the "Risk Factors" described in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 and Form 10-Q for subsequent periods, for a more detailed description of the risks facing our business. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to SonicWALL as of the date of the release, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement.

NOTE: SonicWALL is a registered trademark of SonicWALL, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.


Source: SonicWALL, Inc.

CONTACT: Mary McEvoy of SonicWALL, Inc., +1-408-962-7110, or
mmcevoy@sonicwall.com; or Paul Calentom, Vice President of Marketing, of
InfoWorld Media Group, +1-415-978-3212, or paul_calento@infoworld.com

Web site: http://www.infoworld.com/

Web site: http://www.idg.net/

Web site: http://www.sonicwall.com/


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