CUPERTINO, Calif. -- Packeteer, Inc. (NASDAQ: PKTR), the pioneer and global leader in WAN Application Traffic Management, today announced that it has acquired privately held Mentat Inc. of Los Angeles, Calif. Mentat is a technology leader in protocol acceleration technologies and transparent proxies providing high-performance networking solutions for satellite and high-latency network links. The acquisition deepens and extends Packeteer’s intellectual property and provides advanced acceleration capabilities for new WAN performance solutions for global enterprise customers.

Under the terms of the agreement, Packeteer will pay approximately $16.5 million in cash to acquire all outstanding shares of Mentat. In addition, Packeteer will pay approximately $3.5 million in retention bonuses to Mentat employees in both cash and restricted stock, with the majority being paid over the next two years. Mentat will operate as a Packeteer business unit reporting to Mike Schumacher, VP of Engineering for Packeteer.

“This acquisition is an important step in more fully defining our network system vision for Fast WAN appliances and it provides significant technology for additional acceleration capabilities that make us more strategic to enterprise networks,” said Dave Côté, president and CEO of Packeteer. “In addition to the immediate synergies that we gain in the marketplace, Mentat’s technology provides a foundation for increasing returns as we consolidate more capabilities into one appliance.”

Mentat brings unique expertise in computer networking to satellite and long-haul links where Mentat's award-winning SkyX® product line overcomes the limitations of TCP/IP to allow high-performance network access. Network service providers, corporations and government organizations throughout the world rely on the SkyX products for high-performing networks with great user experience.

Kay Guyer, Mentat’s CEO stated, "We’re excited to join a company that shares our vision and is driving this explosive market. Our customers have been requesting more WAN performance and optimization features such as QoS, monitoring, and central management. With Packeteer, we can now deliver the most complete solution for WAN performance and optimization to the market.”

Packeteer Inc.

Mentat Inc.