BNX Receives $9 Million in Funding to Fuel Growth Within Surging Identity Management Market; BNX Attracts New Lead Investor During Year of Record Growth, New Management and Key Customer Deployment

Vienna, VA - BNX Systems(TM), a leading provider of Controlled Access Management solutions, announced today that it has closed on a total of $9 million of funding led by Grotech Capital Group. Also participating were current investors that include The Carlyle Group, Columbia Capital and Steve Walker & Associates.

The round of funding follows on the heels of several significant milestones for the company. BNX recently reported record revenue growth of more than 490 percent for 2003, significantly expanded its management team and has completed deployment of a large authenticated sign-on deployment for a global top 10 bank.

"BNX is well-positioned with unique, proprietary technology that is fast becoming mission-critical to large enterprises, and is already being widely adopted within the finance, healthcare and government sectors," said Joseph Zell, General Partner of Grotech. "Our investment reflects Grotech's confidence in BNX and our commitment to helping them succeed in this very exciting market."

Grotech Capital Group is the largest private equity firm focusing exclusively on the Mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States and has originated and created some of the most successful companies in America. With nearly $1 billion in capital under management and offices in Maryland and Northern Virginia, Grotech originates and leads investments in emerging and traditional industries, including communications, technology, healthcare, and business products and services.

"This investment will provide further momentum for our successes in the past year, allowing us to expand our channels of distribution, continue to invest in R&D and increase awareness of our BNX Authenticated Sign-On solution," said Mike Harper, President and Chief Executive Officer of BNX.

Karl Khoury, partner at Columbia Capital, added that "beginning with the recruitment of Mike Harper as Chief Executive Officer a year ago, BNX has undergone an impressive management building program of added talent. Additions have included respected executives in worldwide sales, marketing, client services and new cost-effective outsourcing capabilities in R&D. Today, experience levels within the executive group include prior work with IBM, EDS, Sterling (acquired by Computer Associates), Cyveillance, Motorola, USinternetworking and other recognized names."

During this past year, BNX has expanded its presence in the government marketplace as authentication needs within the federal government have grown with heightened security and multiple agency identity management initiatives. BNX is currently in the process of common criteria evaluation.

Brooke Coburn, Managing Director at The Carlyle Group, stated that "BNX Systems is in an advantageous market position with authenticated sign-on solutions that support any variety of authentication devices, to include smart cards, tokens, a wide range of biometrics and more."

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