BETHESDA, Md. -- KoolSpan, Inc., a provider of Wi-Fi authentication and security systems, announced that it has raised an additional $450,000 to close out its $1.2 million first round financing. Investors include Supper Club members and other angel investors.

The Company also appointed Frank Baitman and Larry Levitan to its Board of Directors. Mr. Baitman is a partner in Nobska Group, a strategy consulting and merchant-banking firm for early stage and middle market companies. He is the former director of corporate strategy for IBM where he led teams that assessed and commercialized emerging technologies, including short-range wireless and pervasive computing. Mr. Levitan was formerly a senior partner with Accenture (previously Andersen Consulting). In his 34-year career with Accenture, Mr. Levitan oversaw some of the firm's most significant client engagements and led Accenture's telecom consulting business. He is currently a member of the boards of Choice Hotels , FBR Mutual Funds, and the Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board for which he served as the first board chairman in 2000.

"We are pleased that Mr. Baitman and Mr. Levitan are joining KoolSpan's board, and know their wise counsel on business and technology issues will benefit the company," said Tony Fascenda, KoolSpan's Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer.

KoolSpan's SecurEdge Wi-Fi authentication and security system will be available late first quarter of 2004. With SecurEdge, administrators of Wi-Fi networks can authenticate users and encrypt transmissions using smartcard tokens to provide AES encryption without the significant time and monetary investment required by existing solutions. Once a network's access point is locked, only registered users with their own USB token Client Keys can gain entry. In addition, the system automatically verifies and authenticates approved users across both wired and wireless networks.

KoolSpan Inc.