AT THE FOREFRONT OF ATM NETWORKING FORE SYSTEMS ANNOUNCES INDUSTRY'S MOST
COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION FOR EASY INTEGRATION OF LEGACY AND LARGE SCALE ATM
NETWORKS

FORETHOUGHT PROVIDES FIRST PRODUCTION-CLASS VIRTUAL LANS,
STANDARDS-COMPLIANT LAN EMULATION, AND FIRST HIERARCHICAL PNNI
CAPABILITIES

ROLLS OUT FORETHOUGHT INTERNETWORKING SOFTWARE 4.0, FOREVIEW NETWORK
MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE 4.0 WITH VLAN MANAGER AND ATM MODULES FOR POWERHUB
7000 AND ES-3810

Pittsburgh, PA - April 1, 1996 - FORE Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORE), a
worldwide leader in networking products based on asynchronous transfer
mode (ATM) technology, today announced a full range of new advanced
capabilities providing a comprehensive solution for building large scale
ATM networks and seamlessly integrating legacy LANs without altering the
applications. Centered around new releases of its ForeThought
Internetworking Software, ForeView Network Management Software, and ATM
modules for the PowerHub 7000 and ES-3810, FORE's solution provides
customers with ease of management, the ability to run existing
applications over ATM, a smooth migration to large scale ATM networks, and
continuous investment protection.

Key elements of the solution include ForeThought Internetworking Software
4.0 available across all FORE Systems products and those of its
ForeThought Partners, ATM Forum LAN Emulation 1.0, production-class
Virtual LANs, robust network management capabilities, and a hierarchical
PNNI implementation.

John McConnell, president of McConnell Consulting, Inc. said, "I've been
telling customers that the key criteria for finding an integrated product
set is common silicon and software. FORE has met these criteria, and by
making ForeThought available to many other vendors, has simplified
multivendor networking. Hierarchical PNNI and independent routing
operations in their switches adds further value."

PRODUCTION-CLASS VIRTUAL LANS BASED ON STANDARDS-COMPLIANT LAN EMULATION

Through its support for ATM Forum standards-compliant LAN Emulation 1.0
(LANE), ForeThought 4.0 allows network managers to smoothly migrate to ATM
while preserving their investment in the existing infrastructure and
applications. LANE enables existing applications to run over ATM networks
without any modification and makes possible the transparent
interconnection of legacy devices with ATM networks, regardless of the
protocol.

LANE also provides one method of implementing Virtual LANs (VLANs). A VLAN
is a collection of logically related users or applications linked to one
another without the physical constraints of traditional LAN
implementations. VLANs provide greater network flexibility, limit network
broadcasts, ease administration, and remove expansion roadblocks.

FORE was one of the first vendors to implement LAN Emulation capabilities.
FORE's first LANE implementation was first shipped in fall 1994, and it
has long been operating in mission critical networks. Based on the
experience gained from this leadership position, FORE has added features
above and beyond the standards to its LANE 1.0 implementation which allow
organizations to build production-class VLANs.

"FORE's philosophy has always been to provide solutions. This means the
network must bring economic or strategic business benefits to the
customer," said Joe Skorupa, FORE's director of marketing for ATM switches
and internetworking." To do this, it is important to comply to standards
for the sake of interoperability, but that is not enough. The products
must provide the additional functionality necessary to build large, robust
networks capable of running real-world applications. This is where FORE's
greater experience base puts it ahead of the competition.

The Industry's First Redundant, Distributed LANE Services: LANE services
provide the mechanism that make an ATM network appear to "emulate" a LAN.
These services include the LAN Emulation Server (LES), the Broadcast and
Unknown Server (BUS), and the LAN Emulation Configuration Server (LECS).

FORE's LANE services run resident on any switch platform, internal to the
network, distributing the load. Most vendors implement services on an
external workstation which increases the risk of failure.

Additionally, FORE is the first vendor to implement redundant LANE services
including redundant, distributed LES and BUS, and an automatic LEC
failover function. This eliminates the single point of failure present in
other implementations. Should a LES/BUS fail, each LEC connected to that
server will automatically establish a link to an alternate LES/BUS.

An Intelligent BUS to Enhance Performance: To minimize broadcast traffic
generated by the BUS, FORE has implemented an Intelligent BUS (IBUS). The
IBUS couples a LES/BUS pair, optimizing the handling of unknown frames by
allowing the BUS to probe the LES cache for a specific MAC address. The
result, quite simply, is improved end-to-end network performance.

A UNIFIED MANAGEMENT PLATFORM FOR EASE OF ADMINISTRATION

FORE Systems is also releasing a new version of its ForeView Network
Management Software with additional features to take advantage of
ForeThought's new VLAN capabilities. Foremost among these features is the
VLAN Manager. The VLAN Manager enables network managers to easily
configure VLANs and reconfigure them to reflect changing network
requirements. Using the VLAN Manager, users can perform 'drag-and-drop'
operations to graphically specify emulated LANs and the membership of LAN
Emulation Clients (LECs) within those VLANs.

ForeView Network Management Software provides a suite of applications for
managing all FORE Systems products, and integrates with a variety of
standard network management platforms including HP OpenView, SunNet
Manager, and Cabletron Spectrum. ForeView is also available in stand-alone
versions for SunOS, Solaris, HP-UX, SGI/Irix, and Windows NT.

ATM MODULES FOR LAN SWITCHES INTEGRATE LEGACY NETWORKS

In conjunction with this announcement, FORE is rolling out the ATM modules
for the PowerHub 7000 multi-layer backbone LAN switch and the ES-3810
Ethernet workgroup switch. These switches enhance the performance of
legacy networks and use the internetworking capabilities of ForeThought to
connect to ATM backbones.

The PowerHub 7000 multi-layer backbone LAN switch is the industry's only
expandable multi-layer, multiprotocol backbone switch capable of
supporting Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, FDDI, and ATM. With support for
full-featured 802.1d bridging, multiprotocol routing, multilayer VLANs,
and now, ForeThought 4.0, the PowerHub 7000 is the most robust, scaleable
backbone switch available today. The ATM module, the PowerCell 700,
provides one 155 Mbps OC-3c connections to seamlessly integrate
heterogeneous, switched, multiprotocol LANs into the ATM backbone.

For Ethernet workgroups, FORE's ES-3810 delivers excellent
price/performance and dedicated 10 Mbps switching to the desktop, as well
as Fast Ethernet and ATM uplinks. The ES-3810 supports up to 72 ports at
10 Mbps each, sustained performance of 90,000 packets per second, very low
latency, and RMON support on each port. With ForeThought 4.0 and the new
155 Mbps OC-3c ATM module, the ES-3810 provides the VLAN and LAN Emulation
capabilities needed to transparently tie Ethernet workgroups to the ATM
backbone.

FORETHOUGHT PNNI SUPPORTS UNPRECEDENTED ATM NETWORK SCALEABILITY

ForeThought 4.0 is the only ATM software featuring a hierarchical Private
Network-to-Network Interface (PNNI) implementation, enabling the
implementation of ATM networks 10 times larger than would otherwise be
possible. The PNNI defines the way in which ATM switches communicate with
one another. Other vendors' promised PNNI implementations support only a
one-level PNNI, limiting scaleability. However, FORE's hierarchical
implementation allows the network to be split into smaller sub-networks,
or " peer groups." Topology updates are then limited to within a peer
group. Using ForeThought PNNI, a network of more than 2,500 ATM switches
can be constructed.

Upon finalization and approval of the ATM Forum's PNNI specification, FORE
will implement a standards-compliant PNNI. The current implementation of
ForeThought PNNI is designed to interoperate with standards- based
implementations while providing the added value functionality customers
require. Both the ATM Forum PNNI and ForeThought PNNI will be able to run
simultaneously in the same network for maximum functionality and
flexibility.

"FORE has already built ATM networks involving more than 300 switches,"
said Joe Skorupa, " Our customers demanded hierarchical PNNI capabilities
today, guaranteed interoperability with ATM Forum PNNI, and a
software-only upgrade to the standard. That's what we are delivering."

COMPREHENSIVE PLATFORM SUPPORT FOR MULTIVENDOR END-TO-END ATM NETWORKS

FORE is implementing ForeThought 4.0 across its entire product line
including ForeRunner ATM switches and adapters, PowerHub LAN switches for
ATM connectivity and access products, and CellPathTM WAN multiplexers for
ATM connectivity. Furthermore, products from the more than 35 ForeThought
Partners who have licensed ForeThought Internetworking Software are also
supported. Taken collectively, FORE and its partners provide a complete
solution for building multivendor ATM networks with seamlessly integrated
legacy networks.

"FORE is once again leveraging its leadership in the market," said Skorupa.
" Having provided ATM solutions to more customers worldwide than any other
vendor, FORE has the experience and expertise to successfully implement
production ATM networks that integrate existing LANs, and to do so now.
Additionally, with its ForeRunner, PowerHub and CellPath product families,
and the products of its ForeThought Partners, FORE has the breadth of
solutions needed to support a smooth migration to ATM."

AVAILABILITY AND PRICE

ForeThought 4.0 is available now. (International prices may be obtained by
reaching any of the contacts listed at the beginning of the release or by
contacting FORE's regional sales and support offices and channel partners
around the world.)

The PowerCell 700 ATM module for the PowerHub 7000 will be available by the
end of April. The ATM module for the ES-3810 is available now.
(International prices may be obtained by reaching any of the contacts
listed at the beginning of the release or by contacting FORE's regional
sales and support offices and channel partners around the world.)
 
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