ASCEND LAUNCHES FULLY INTEGRATED ISDN, FRAME RELAY, LEASED LINE REMOTE
ACCESS ROUTER

Pipeline 130... Lowers Cost of Ownership by as Much as 45 Percent

ALAMEDA, CA, JANUARY 22, 1996 -- Ascend Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND),
the market leader in WAN access switches, today announced the new Pipeline
130 family of integrated remote access routers. Supporting multiple WAN
services, the Pipeline 130 integrates the functionality of a router, a
CSU/DSU, and an ISDN NT1. It also combines full software support for Frame
Relay, ISDN, bandwidth on demand, and comprehensive security into a single
product platform.

"The Pipeline 130 provides a level of flexibility and hardware integration
that is unavailable anywhere else," says Bernie Schneider, vice president
of marketing at Ascend. "The ability to simultaneously support network
services such as Frame Relay and ISDN, while eliminating the need for
external boxes such as a CSU/DSU, makes the Pipeline 130 unique in an
otherwise crowded field of remote access routers."

"Ascend developed the Pipeline 130 to provide maximum flexibility for
corporations while reducing their total cost of ownership," said Liza
Henderson, an industry analyst at Verona, N.J.-based TeleChoice. "By
integrating support for multiple WAN services with Ascend's proven
bandwidth on demand capability, users can install a router that will grow
as they expand their operations. They may start out using ISDN to access
the corporate LAN or the Internet; then, as their usage and the degree of
connectivity between locations grow, they can migrate to Frame Relay.
Easier, more cost effective migration is a critical issue because today's
network manager focuses on the total cost of ownership. By integrating the
functionality typically found in two or more products, the Pipeline 130
simplifies installation and management support, and lowers the overall
cost of ownership by as much as 45 percent."

In addition to corporate site support, the Pipeline 130 will help solve the
needs of many Internet service providers whose customers require a
flexible platform to route traffic from telecommuters, branch offices and
corporate users. "We wanted a router that could handle both ISDN and Frame
Relay in the same box," said Robert J. Berger, CTO and vice-president of
engineering at InterNex Information Systems, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based
Internet service provider. "The T1 support with a built-in CSU/DSU for
under $2,000 is outstanding; and the ISDN backup is a real bonus."

The Pipeline 130 supports multiple WAN services, including Frame Relay,
ISDN, SW56, DDS56, and T1/FT1. It comes bundled with a full suite of
remote networking software and security features, such as PAP, CHAP,
calling number ID, and Token-ID. It supports IP, IPX, PPP, and Frame
Relay; and handles all other protocols via bridging. The Frame Relay
software fully supports RFC 1490 for compatibility with the installed base
of Frame Relay equipment. MP and Ascend's MP+ provide complete bandwidth
on demand capabilities.

AVAILABILITY

The Pipeline 130 is available now in three configurations:
-- with ISDN BRI support with a T1 interface
-- with Switched 56 and DDS56 support
-- with ISDN BRI and DDS56 support

Ascend Communications, Inc. develops, manufactures, sells and supports a
broad range of high-speed digital wide area network access products. These
products use bandwidth on demand to enhance and extend existing corporate
networks for applications such as remote LAN access, Internet access, bulk
file transfer, videoconferencing, imaging and multimedia access.

Ascend is headquartered at 1275 Harbor Bay Parkway, Alameda, CA 94502

Phone: 800-621-9578; fax 510-214-2300; E-mail: info@ascend.com.
Ascend's World Wide Web address is http://www.ascend.com.
 
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