Exhibit 99.1

                                 [COMPANY LOGO]


================================================================================
                                                   Stephanie Prince/ Ian Hirsch
                                                   Morgen-Walke Associates, Inc.
                                                   212-850-5600


                      ION NETWORKS EXPANDS MANAGEMENT TEAM
                         Cameron Saifi named EVP and COO
                         David Arbeitel named VP and CTO

Piscataway,  New Jersey  October 24, 2001 - ION Networks  Incorporated  (Nasdaq:
IONN), THE PROACTIVE NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT COMPANYSM and a leader in
performance  analysis  and  restoration,  today  announced  that  the  Board  of
Directors has  appointed  Cameron  Saifi as Executive  Vice  President and Chief
Operating  Officer,  and David Arbeitel as Vice  President and Chief  Technology
Officer.

"We are  extremely  excited to announce the expansion of our  management  team,"
said Kam Saifi,  Chief  Executive  Officer.  "I have had the opportunity to work
with  Cameron  and  David in the past and both are  intelligent,  hard  working,
results-oriented  professionals.  Their  talents  will be a necessary  component
towards the execution of ION's  strategy and vision,  and I am confident that we
have a team in place to move the company forward."

Cameron Saifi,  40, brings over 16 years of  diversified  experience in building
and managing  successful  operations.  Most recently before joining ION, Cameron
served as the President,  COO & Co-Founder of Internet  Refinery,  a provider of
collaborative    commerce   and    business    intelligence    technology    for
Business-to-Business  applications.  Previously, Mr. Saifi served as Senior Vice
President  and Chief  Operating  Officer for Avesta  Technologies,  where he was
instrumental  in the  development  and the growth of the company  from the early
start up stage through its acquisition by Visual Networks (Nasdaq: VNWK). In his
capacity at Avesta, he built and managed the core units within the organization,
including Finance, Legal, Human Resources,  Sales Operations,  Customer Service,
Information Technologies, Professional Services and Customer Support.

Prior to  Avesta  Technologies,  he served as a Senior  Manager  at MFS  Network
Technologies, an operating unit of MFS Communications,  where he was responsible
for the  company's  major



ION Networks, Inc.                                                        Page 2


projects  in the New York metro area.  Mr.  Saifi also spent 12 years in various
general  management  and  engineering  positions.  Mr.  Saifi  holds  a B.S.  in
mechanical engineering from Rutgers University.

David Arbeitel,  40, brings over 18 years of experience in engineering solutions
for managing Telco, ISP and Enterprise  networks.  Additionally,  he possesses a
broad background in leading product and technology strategy  organizations.  Mr.
Arbeitel  will be  responsible  for leading the overall  product and  technology
strategy for ION Networks.

Prior to ION Networks,  Mr.  Arbeitel was a Vice President and Chief  Technology
Officer at Visual Networks,  a leading service management  vendor,  where he was
responsible  for product  strategy  and  research.  Mr.  Arbeitel was one of the
founders of Avesta  Technologies  where he was Senior Vice  President  and Chief
Technology Officer,  heading up product strategy.  Mr. Arbeitel was a key senior
management  leader at Avesta from its  inception  through its merger with Visual
Networks.  Earlier in his career,  Mr.  Arbeitel held management and engineering
positions  with Morgan  Stanley,  Shearson  Lehman  Brothers,  Amerada  Hess and
RCA-American Communications.

Mr.  Arbeitel has been a leading  presenter at major industry  events  including
Networld+Interop,  COMDEX,  CA World, and the HP OpenView Forum. The products he
has  managed  have  received  several  major  awards  such  as N+I  Best of Show
finalist,  Data Communications Hot Product of the Year and Network World Bakeoff
Winner. Mr. Arbeitel has a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Stevens Institute
of Technology.  He also has an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and an M.B.A. from
Boston University.

About ION Networks
ION Networks is a leading  developer and  manufacturer  of software and hardware
based  solutions  for secure  network  infrastructure  management  and automated
performance analysis and restoration.  Based in Piscataway,  NJ, the Company has
installed  systems  worldwide from its six direct sales offices in the U.S., its
wholly owned subsidiaries in Livingston,  Scotland and Antwerp, Belgium, and its
distribution networks on four continents. it's about availabilitySM

This press release  contains  information  which may constitute  forward-looking
statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking  statements may be affected
by certain risks and  uncertainties  described in the Company's filings with the
Securities and Exchange  Commission.  The Company's  actual results could differ
materially from such forward-looking statements.
                                     # # #