SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- NetScreen Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: NSCN), a leading developer of ASIC-based Internet security systems and appliances, announced that it received top rankings in key sectors of the VPN and firewall markets tracked by Infonetics Research Inc., a leading market research firm.Based on reported unit shipment data for all of 2001 for the dedicated VPN hardware market, NetScreen ranked number one in the market for VPN hardware supporting 100 tunnels or less, number two in the overall market, and third in the high-end segment (more than 1,000 VPN tunnels). NetScreen has now led the market for VPN hardware supporting 100 tunnels or less for two years.In the firewall segment, NetScreen ranked second in both the gigabitfirewall and under 10-megabit-per second firewall segments. NetScreen was the first security vendor to ship an integrated VPN and firewall with gigabit performance in mid-2000, and introduced a firewall with 2 Gbps performance in mid-2001.The Infonetics report also included market data on unit shipments for the fourth quarter of 2001. In those rankings, NetScreen—for the firsttime—moved ahead of Nokia Internet Communications (NYSE: NOK) to take over the second position in the high-end dedicated VPN hardware market.NetScreen Technologies Inc. Infonetics Research Inc.