Metavize Becomes “Untangle,” Announces New Executive Team And $10 Million In Series A Financing

Untangle Committed to Simplifying the Way Small Businesses Get the Technology They Need for Network Security and Control

SAN MATEO, Calif., Dec. 11, 2006 – Untangle, Inc. (formerly Metavize, Inc.), an emerging leader in simplifying the way small businesses get the information technology they need, today announced a new executive team and the close of a $10.5 million Series A round of financing.

Leading the new executive team for Untangle is President and CEO Bob Walters, former president and CEO of Teros, a market-share leader in the web application firewall market. The two major investors of the Series A round are CMEA Ventures and Rustic Canyon Partners. Also, Jim Watson of CMEA Ventures and Nate Redmond of Rustic Canyon Partners have joined the Untangle board of directors.

In a separate release today, Untangle announced its new free network security software bundle for businesses with 10 or fewer users (see release titled, “Untangle Offers Free Software to More Than Five Million Small Businesses,” dated Dec. 11).

“The two million small businesses in the U.S. with 10 to 100 employees represent a huge and wholly underserved market,” said Walters. “The Untangle name clearly reflects our mission to eliminate IT complexity for small businesses. We have assembled our go-to-market executive team, greatly strengthened our board of directors, and validated our unique product offering through hundreds of paying customers nationwide. These customers tell us that our ease-of-use, novel web-based store, and responsive customer support set us apart from their other IT vendors.”

Walters, a software industry veteran with more than 15 years of experience, grew Teros from six employees to an eight-digit-revenue market leader, and oversaw its acquisition by Citrix Systems in 2005. Prior to Teros, Walters was vice president and general manager of managed services at Securant Technologies (now part of RSA Security). Walters, a former officer and aircraft carrier pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps, graduated with honors from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and was a Guggenheim Fellow at Princeton University.

Also joining Untangle’s executive team are Vice President of Marketing Raul Mujica, Vice President of Sales Chris Sterbenc, and Vice President of Engineering Tamara Baker. Rounding out the management team are Untangle co-founders, CTO Dirk Morris and Chief Architect John Irwin. For background information on these executives, please visit www.edge.arista.com.

100 Percent Focus on the Small Business Market Starting with Network Security and Control

Untangle has made it dramatically simpler and affordable for small businesses to protect and control their networks. Untangle has developed a proven process for turning open source software into powerful yet usable solutions that install easily onto a single server and are pre-configured for a small business environment, thus reducing costs and eliminating complexity. Untangle’s technology has been designed for integration with partner environments, and the company has signed more than 100 VARs.

“No other company comes close to offering small businesses the choice, flexibility, and simplicity of Untangle,” said Co-Founder and CTO Dirk Morris. “With our new executive team in place and the support of the investment community, we are now poised to rapidly expand our VAR channel and begin developing new products and services.” “Small businesses have many of the same problems experienced by larger organizations but typically can’t afford the dedicated IT staff needed to manage it all,” said Nate Redmond, Partner at Rustic Canyon Partners. “We immediately saw the unique value in Untangle’s ability to leverage the web and an e-commerce model to deliver new technologies to small business.”

“Along with creating a new approach to solving a real problem, the Untangle team is bringing enterprise-class power to small businesses, affordably and with high usability,” added Jim Watson, Managing Director at CMEA Ventures. “We are particularly excited by Untangle’s unique and highly-leveraged use of open source software.”

About CMEA Ventures

CMEA Ventures invests in both early and late stage companies, and actively partners with its extended network of corporations, VC firms, institutional investors, strategic partners, and entrepreneurs. CMEA Ventures manages six funds and has $771 million of capital. The firm has been an early stage investor in leading Silicon Valley companies such as Flextronics (FLEX), Maxygen (MAXY), Monogram Biosciences (MGRM – acquirer of ViroLogic), Syrrx (purchased by Takeda), and Symyx (SMMX). The current CMEA Ventures portfolio includes Alexza (ALXA), Alien Technology, Altus (ALTU), Ambrx, Applied Wave Research, Bayhill Therapeutics, BioMimetic (BMTI), Codexis, Entropic, Epix (EPIX), Intermolecular, iSuppli, LiveOps, NetBooks, RF Magic, and Superprotonic, among others. For more information about CMEA Ventures, visit http://www.cmeaventures.com/.

About Rustic Canyon Ventures

With over $800 million under management, Rustic Canyon Partners invests in early stage and middle-market companies positioned for strong growth. The firm focuses on growth opportunities catalyzed by technological shifts, market evolution, or regulatory changes. To date, Rustic Canyon has invested in a broad array of sectors including digital media, business and information services, communications, software, and renewable energy. Rustic Canyon Partners has offices in Santa Monica, Silicon Valley and Seattle. For more information, visit www.rusticcanyon.com.

About Untangle

Founded in 2003, Untangle is changing the way small businesses get the information technology they need. Untangle’s solutions today – which focus on network security, safe messaging, and control of web usage – allow businesses with fewer than 150 employees to “untangle” their IT infrastructure. With just a few mouse clicks, small businesses can download and activate network applications that have been pre-configured for a small business environment. Future Untangle solutions will not only evolve threat protection but also increase business productivity. Untangle’s applications are currently being used in hundreds of small businesses in a variety of industries, including financial services, real estate, education, bio-science, and professional services.