NEW STRATM PRODUCTS BROADEN THE USE OF ATM FOR ENTERPRISE AND CARRIER
APPLICATIONS

Outlines Rollout of New ATM Switches, Upgrades, Shelves and Advanced
Capabilities

WASHINGTON, D.C., JANUARY 30, 1996 - As part of STRATM, the industry's
first wide area ATM framework outlined today, StrataCom revealed a suite
of new products and capabilities to be delivered over the next 12 to 18
months.

The new products are all designed to broaden the application of ATM for
both enterprise and carrier customers allowing them to leverage the power
of ATM-based networking to address the critical issues of flexibility,
efficiency, growth, reliability and control.

Among the new products introduced are an 8-slot, 1.2 Gbps enterprise ATM
switch; a high-density frame relay interface shelf for StrataCom's IPX"
and IGX switches; a low bit rate voice concentrator for the IPX and IGX;
and an enhancement to the BPX that allows for the doubling of its capacity
from 10 Gbps to 20 Gbps. In addition, the company announced plans to
support the ATM Forum's private network- to-network interface (PNNI)
specification.

NEW PRODUCT DETAILS

Detailed product information and pricing will be made available throughout
the year for each of the following products and capabilities as they are
delivered to the marketplace.

THE IGX 8

The IGX 8, an extension of StrataCom's Integrated Gigabit Switch (IGX)
introduced in June of 1995, is a cost-effective, 8-slot, 1.2 Gbps
multiservice ATM switch ideally suited for the private enterprise and
value-added networking markets.

Fully compatible with StrataCom's existing line of networking products, the
IGX 8 extends the benefits of the IGX to smaller sites requiring fewer
connections. The IGX 8 supports one of the broadest range of industry
interfaces available including high and low speed data connections, voice,
frame relay, as well as narrow and broadband ATM interfaces from rates of
128 kbps to 155 Mbps. The IGX 8 is scheduled to be available in the second
quarter.

IPX/IGX PORT CONCENTRATOR

StrataCom's new port concentrator was specifically designed for use with
the company's IPX and IGX switching platforms &shyp; expanding the port
density of these switches by a factor of up to ten, supporting more than
1,200 ports per switch, while providing a four-fold reduction in the price
per port.

Targeted at Internet Service Providers (ISPs), value added networks (VANs),
and large hybrid enterprise networks requiring high density, low-speed
connectivity at the lowest possible cost per port, the port concentrator
supports 11 to 44 low-speed user interfaces per shelf at speeds ranging
from 9.6 to 384 kbps. Each concentrator connects to a single IPX or IGX
frame relay interface card thereby dramatically increasing the number of
ports supported by each frame relay card.

When connected to StrataCom's IPX or IGX switches, the port concentrator
appears as a high-density frame relay card within the switch and is
managed as a single, logical device under StrataCom's StrataSphere network
management architecture. The port concentrator is scheduled for delivery
in the first quarter of 1996.

IGX/IPX VOICE SHELF

StrataCom's new low bit rate voice shelf allows users to support more voice
calls per switch using less bandwidth while reducing equipment costs up to
50 percent by eliminating the need for identical access devices at central
sites to terminate traffic.

Positioned for the enterprise network or VAN managed customer premise
equipment markets, the voice shelf is an ideal solution for remote office
applications where data and voice connections can be seamlessly integrated
and terminated at a central PBX connected directly to backbone nodes. With
the voice concentrator, users will also be able to get more use from their
current hardware as valuable slot space is freed for other traffic.

The new voice shelf functions as a high-density interface shelf for an IPX
or IGX switch and terminates up to 30 E1 (2.048 Mbps) or 24 T1 (1.544
Mbps) voice channels. The voice shelf not only supports low bit rate voice
connections but also allows 8 kbps ACELP (Algebraic Code Excited Linear
Projection) voice connections to terminate directly on IPX/IGX cell-based
backbone switches. This benefit is translated into better voice quality,
reduced equipment costs and simplified management.

The initial release of the product, slated for availability in the second
quarter, will provide ACELP to PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) and ADPCM
(Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation) decoding and support for
six, 12, 18, 24 or 30 toll quality, low bit rate digital voice connections
through five hot swappable voice cards. Future capabilities include
support for 4.8 kbps digital voice connections, analog interfaces and an
ISDN primary rate interface (PRI) trunk connection.

Related to the voice shelf, StrataCom said it will be among the first
companies to support voice over frame relay to voice over ATM
interworking. This will allow users to bring analog voice calls into the
network via frame relay and terminate them to a device connected to an ATM
interface.

BPX ENHANCEMENTS

Immediately available is an enhancement to StrataCom's BPX which will allow
the doubling of capacity from 10 Gbps to 20 Gbps. This enhancement is in
response to carrier customers who are seeing an increasing demand for
public ATM services and in anticipation of high-density, high-speed
interface cards that will be required as these services grow.

All BPX systems shipped after January 1, 1996 now include a high
performance backplane supporting up to 20 Gbps throughput. This will
provide the foundation for a broader range of speeds and density of
interfaces and significantly greater number of connections. The
enhancements will be interoperable with current BPX modules.

INDUSTRY-STANDARD PNNI ROUTING

StrataCom will also enhance its ATM software with support for the ATM
Forum's PNNI (Private Network to Network Interface) protocol. This will
allow users to set up switched virtual connections and dynamically route
traffic across a multivendor switching environment. PNNI will complement
StrataCom's current AutoRoute connection routing software. Users will have
the option to run AutoRoute or PNNI, or to operate both protocols
concurrently. While PNNI will expand options for multi-vendor ATM
networking, AutoRoute will continue to provide enhanced networking
features above and beyond industry standards.

STRATACOM

StrataCom, Inc. (NASD:STRM), based in San Jose, California, USA, develops,
delivers and supports FastPacket networking systems for ATM applications
in private wide area networks and public carrier service offerings, such
as frame relay and ATM. StrataCom's family of products, including IPX",
IGX, BPX, AXIS, FastPAD, and EdgeConnect, is used to integrate and
transport a wide variety of corporate information, including voice, data,
video, LANs, image and multimedia traffic in narrowband to broadband ATM
network applications. VISIT STRATACOM'S HOME PAGE AT
http://www.stratacom.com.
 
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