Olicom Expands Fast Ethernet Adapter Family

Boosts Power for Legacy LANs with First MCA Adapter for Fast Ethernet

JANUARY 29, 1996, COMNET, WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Olicom (NASDAQ:NMS, OLCMF), a
leading provider of high-performance networking solutions, today expanded
its family of Fast Ethernet solutions with the addition of three new
adapters: the Fast Ethernet PCI/II 10/100 Adapter, Fast Ethernet ISA
10/100 Adapter, and Fast Ethernet MCA 10/100 Adapter.

The new Fast Ethernet MCA 10/100 Adapter is the world's first MCA bus
adapter for Fast Ethernet. It is being introduced to meet the high-speed
migration needs of legacy LAN installations, particularly global, Fortune
1000 corporations where a large installed base of MCA bus computers
exists.

The new Fast Ethernet PCI/II 10/100 Adapter is one of the only Ethernet
adapters available today that supports Adaptive Performance Optimization
--arecently developed technology that greatly improves performance. This
technology provides automatic, on-the-fly performance adjusting based on
the load on the PC's PCI bus. The result is extremely low CPU utilization
and higher overall performance.

"With this comprehensive family of Fast Ethernet solutions, Olicom can now
more effectively address the growing market for Fast Ethernet
installations, as well as the needs of large corporations who want to
migrate their legacy LANs to high speed networking," said Erik Johannsen,
Director of Product Marketing. "By covering the newer PCI computers and
the established base of ISA and MCA computers, we are making it easier for
network managers to bring their companies into the future. For corporate
buyers, the new PCI/II adapter takes the work out of the selection
process. No matter what kind of system you use the PCI/II adapter in,
you'll get maximum achievable throughput. And it's priced on par with the
least expensive brand name PCI Fast Ethernet adapters on the market", he
added.

"Hands Free" Migration to High-speed Networking

All three new adapters self-adjust to the maximum speed, connected media,
and available duplex (half or full). This, in effect, enables "hands free"
migration to high-speed, high-capacity networking. Using these adapters,
network managers can benefit not only from painless migration to 100 Mbps
Ethernet, but also from exceptionally high performance thanks to Parallel
Processing driver technology, and additionally, in the case of the new
PCI/II adapter, Adaptive Performance Optimization. The result for network
managers is lower support costs when it comes to maintaining these
adapters, even when upgrading the network speed, adding LAN switches, or
implementing full-duplex Ethernet.

Advanced, Performance-boosting Technologies

All three new adapters feature Parallel Processing drivers developed by
Olicom. Parallel Processing enables a number of processing tasks to occur
simultaneously increasing the adapter's throughput. As proof of the
effectiveness of this technology, Olicom's Ethernet ISA/IV 10 Mbps adapter
recently placed first in an independent benchmark conducted by a leading,
international PC magazine publisher.

In addition to Parallel Processing, the new Olicom Ethernet PCI/II 10/100
Adapter features Adaptive Performance Optimization. This technology
basically takes into account the amount of data entering or exiting the PC
via the adapter and the amount of work the PC's bus is doing. Based on
this load, the adapter adjusts, on-the-fly the I/O buffer for optimal data
transmission and minimal CPU utilization. The result is continuous optimal
transmission rate and minimal CPU utilization for the varying system and
network conditions.

Easy Plug and Play Installation

To ensure troublefree installation, all three adapters are completely
software configurable and include automated DOS and Windows installation
and configuration utilities. The new PCI/II and ISA Fast Ethernet adapters
provide Plug and Play installation and automatic configuration for
functions such as memory, I/O space, and interrupt level. For desktop
management, each adapter includes an SNMP Desktop Agent.

All Olicom Ethernet products are based on the formalized Ethernet standard
IEEE 802.2/802.3 and IEEE 802.3u for Fast Ethernet, which allows
interoperability with Ethernet products from other suppliers. The three
new adapters include high-performance drivers for Novell Netware,
Microsoft, and IBM, network environments; the new PCI/II additionally
supports UNIX; All three adapters support 10BaseT and 100BaseTX, RJ-45.
All three provide limited lifetime warranties.

Pricing and Availability

The PCI/II 10/100 Adapter (OC-2325) will be available in March. The ISA
10/100 Adapter (OC-2335) and MCA 10/100 Adapter (OC-2375) will be
available in April. Pricing available on request.

Olicom develops and markets Token-Ring, Ethernet and ATM local area network
products. In the Token-Ring market, Olicom is established as one of the
world's leading independent suppliers. Olicom products, known for high
performance and competitive prices, are distributed worldwide by a network
of strategic partners and resellers. The company was founded in 1985 and
is listed on the Nasdaq National Market (symbol: OLCMF).

For further information and photographical material please contact:

EUROPE, ASIA-PACIFIC AND AFRICA:
OLICOM A/S
Even Claussen
Tel: (+45) 45 27 00 00
Fax: (+45) 45 27 01 01
E-mail: egc@olicom.dk
Web Server: http://www.olicom.dk

AMERICAS:
OLICOM USA, INC.
Kevin Kohleriter
Tel: (+1) 214 423 7560
Fax: (+1) 214 423 7261
E-mail: kevink@olicom.com
Web Server: http://www.olicom.com
 
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