SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 12, 2013) - [ Riverbed Technology ] (NASDAQ: [ RVBD ]), the application performance company, today announced it will host the sixth annual [ SHARKFEST 2013 ] at UC Berkeley, June 16-19, which marks the 15^th anniversary of Wireshark®. SHARKFEST is the annual gathering of the global community of Wireshark developers and users to share knowledge and advance the evolution of Wireshark -- a packet and network analyzer -- as well as other complementary open source projects. This year's event will feature keynotes from Gerald Combs, the original developer of Wireshark; Rich Seifert, co-author of the original Ethernet specification; and Charles Kaplan, an industry visionary.

SHARKFEST is a four-day conference focused on instruction, knowledge transfer, and sharing of the latest best practices for packet analysis, network security, network and application performance optimization, and troubleshooting. Attendees include Wireshark and other network-related open source tools developers, IT professionals, computer science students and teachers, security and network consultants, network engineers, veteran network analysis trainers, and users. SHARKFEST 2013 will once again offer popular hands-on labs with world-class veteran network consultants and trainers, and the opportunity to network with Wireshark and networking industry experts in a relaxed, informal setting.

SHARKFEST 2013 will feature three keynote sessions from industry thought leaders:

• Rich Seifert, M.S.E.E., M.B.A., J.D., president of Networks and Communications Consulting and co-author of the original Ethernet specification, will discuss the development of the original DEC-Intel-Xerox Ethernet and the evolution of network standards over 30 years. In his keynote, "The Nice Thing About Standards is That There are so Many of Them: Musings of an Early Networker," Seifert will examine why some technologies succeed and others fail and revisit his 2001 proclamation, "Stupid Network Ideas," as a test of this insight. This keynote will take place on Tuesday, June 18 at 9 a.m. - 10 a.m.
• Gerald Combs, creator of Wireshark and director of open source projects at Riverbed®, will deliver a keynote address entitled, "History of the Wireshark Project -- Reminiscing on a 15 Year Project." During this keynote Mr. Combs will share an overview of Wireshark, including major milestones and plans for its continued evolution. Core developers and supporters will also join Combs to share their insights about the project over the past 15 years. This keynote will take place on Monday, June 17 at 9 a.m. - 10 a.m.
• Charles Kaplan, technical director in the Office of the CTO at Riverbed and a 20 year security veteran, will examine how despite the risk of ever-more sophisticated attacks across a greatly expanded surface area, most people simply don't take security as seriously as they should. In his keynote presentation, "To Engineer is Human -- So is Being Lazy," Mr. Kaplan will share how users have an innate ability to find workarounds to security roadblocks, which can actually be harnessed as a means of exposing opportunities for improvement. This keynote will take place on Wednesday, June 19 at 9 a.m. - 10 a.m.

The forum will also offer an additional three-day Wireshark Certified Network Analyst (WCNA) Boot Camp. Taught by renowned Wireshark University trainer Laura Chappell, the WCNA Boot Camp will review each topic listed on the WCNA Exam and be available to SHARKFEST attendees at a discounted rate. To learn more and register for the certification program attendees can view information here: [ http://sharkfest.wireshark.org/bootcamp.html ].

"SHARKFEST provides the Wireshark community with a remarkable forum to exchange ideas and information that promote continued innovation around Wireshark and other open source projects," said Gerald Combs, director of open source projects at Riverbed, and the original author of the Wireshark source code. "Over the past 15 years, the Wireshark project and community has continued to thrive as network monitoring and troubleshooting play a critical role in meeting enterprise network performance requirements. We look forward to another fantastic event and to sharing best-practices and knowledge that will drive the community forward."

[ Wireshark ] is the world's most popular, free network analyzer with more than 500,000 downloads per month. Created by Gerald Combs under the original name Ethereal, today Wireshark is maintained by a dedicated group of core developers and sponsored by Riverbed through its 2010 acquisition of CACE Technologies, Inc. As the sponsor, Riverbed is committed to maintaining the strong, independent, and community-driven nature of Wireshark.

Conference Registration
Conference registration is open. An early bird rate of $695 is available through April 15.The regular conference registration fee is $895. The WCNA Boot Camp registration fee is $795 through April 15 and $995 thereafter. Hands-on labs are $75 per seat. For more information and to register, please visit: [ http://sharkfest.wireshark.org ].

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements relating to the expected demand for Riverbed's products and services. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they do not fully materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties that could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include our ability to react to trends and challenges in our business and the markets in which we operate; our ability to anticipate market needs or develop new or enhanced products to meet those needs; the adoption rate of our products; our ability to establish and maintain successful relationships with our distribution partners; our ability to compete in our industry; fluctuations in demand, sales cycles and prices for our products and services; shortages or price fluctuations in our supply chain; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; general political, economic and market conditions and events; and other risks and uncertainties described more fully in our documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. More information about these and other risks that may impact Riverbed's business are set forth in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 19, 2013. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Any future product, feature or related specification that may be referenced in this release are for information purposes only and are not commitments to deliver any technology or enhancement. Riverbed reserves the right to modify future product plans at any time.

About Riverbed
Riverbed delivers application performance for the globally connected enterprise. With Riverbed, enterprises can successfully and intelligently implement strategic initiatives such as virtualization, consolidation, cloud computing, and disaster recovery without fear of compromising performance. By giving enterprises the platform they need to understand, optimize and consolidate their IT, Riverbed helps enterprises to build a fast, fluid and dynamic IT architecture that aligns with the business needs of the organization. Additional information about Riverbed (NASDAQ: [ RVBD ]) is available at [ www.riverbed.com ].

Riverbed and any Riverbed product or service name or logo used herein are trademarks of Riverbed Technology, Inc. All other trademarks used herein belong to their respective owners.