PLAINTREE ANNOUNCES FIRST WAVE OF NEW LAN SWITCHING PRODUCTS

OTTAWA, Ontario, April 24, 1996 -- Plaintree Systems Inc., a leader in LAN
switching products, today announced three new products in its WaveSwitchR
family of network switches, expanding Plaintree's product line to deliver
switching solutions from the data center to the desktop.

The new WaveSwitch 4800, WaveSwitch 1216, and WaveSwitch 1018 LAN switch
systems are built around Plaintree's next generation ASIC technology. The
switches are designed to provide simplicity of management, and a clear
migration path to emerging high-speed networking technologies.

KEY FEATURES

Plaintree's new WaveSwitch products feature:

* Multi-layer VLAN architecture for simplicity of management,
  configurable by port, address or protocol;
* SmartVIPS (Virtual IP Subnets) to span multiple switches for
  administration-free installation and automation of adds, moves
  and changes within an IP network;
* RMON implementation for all nine RMON groups included in all
  switches;
* WaveView Switch Manager, an intuitive graphical user interface
  providing full SNMP-compliance for comprehensive network management
  in HP OpenView for Windows, Microsoft Windows, Novell's ManageWise
  and Castle Rock's SNMPc;
* Interfaces to all high speed standards including 100Base-TX,
  100Base-FX, FDDI, ATM and 100VG-AnyLAN;
* Integrated IP/IPX routing; and
* Wire-rate full-duplex throughput on all 10Base and 100Base ports.

"With these new products, we are expanding our product line to give our
customers end-to-end switching solutions. We have responded to the need
for management features that simplify administration of switched networks
and the migration to switching," said Bruce Walter, president and CEO of
Plaintree Systems.

"Plaintree's WaveSwitch family provides the performance and management
features we need. With a large IP network, the SmartVIPS feature is
particularly attractive as it should greatly simplify the use of VLANs as
we deploy switching in our network," said Alex Rosenbaum, Manager Network
Engineering, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., Washington, D.C.

WAVESWITCH 4800 LAN SWITCH

Plaintree's WaveSwitch 4800 top-of-network switch for data centers is an
800 Mbps, non-blocking switch offering eight full-duplex 100 Mbps option
slots for use with any combination of FastLinx Modules and Plaintree's
optional Vrouter virtual routing module (scheduled for release in Q4,
1996). The WaveSwitch 4800 system provides 1.19M fps forwarding, 4096
addresses per port and N+1 redundant power. The WaveSwitch 4800 system is
particularly well suited for switching FDDI, or networks with mixed high
speed media.

WAVESWITCH 1216 LAN SWITCH

The WaveSwitch 1216 system features 16 10Base-T full-duplex ports and two
100 Mbps option slots for any combination of FastLinx feature modules and
Plaintree's Vrouter. In addition to the features included in all members
of the new WaveSwitch family, the WaveSwitch 1216 system provides
forwarding at 536,000 fps, a 4096 MAC address filter data base, and
optional external redundant power.

WAVESWITCH 1018 LAN SWITCH

The WaveSwitch 1018 system is Plaintree's workgroup switch featuring 16
full-duplex 10Base-T ports and two fixed full-duplex 100Base-TX ports
which permit stacking, server access, or backbone access. The WaveSwitch
1018 system forwards at 536,000 fps and provides all of the other features
found in the WaveSwitch product line.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

Plaintree's WaveSwitch 1216 and 1018 products are available today. The
WaveSwitch 4800 system will be available in June. Pricing: $4, 995 for the
WaveSwitch 1018 system; $5,995 for the WaveSwitch 1216 system; and $29,995
for the WaveSwitch 4800 system (including management and switching
modules).

DISTRIBUTION AND SUPPORT

Plaintree Systems sells its products worldwide through multiple channels
designed to reach a broad range of customer segments. Plaintree works with
selected resellers, distributors, network and system integrator partners.
Plaintree also has sales distribution agreements with several OEMs. In
addition, Plaintree employs direct sales, service, and support personnel
to provide personalized assistance to end users as well as channel
partners.

PLAINTREE SYSTEMS

Plaintree began operations in 1988. It is a publicly-owned company, with
its stock listed on the NASDAQ and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the
ticker symbols LANPF and LAN, respectively. Plaintree's US headquarters
are in Waltham, MA. R&D, manufacturing, and customer service operations
are located in Ottawa, Canada. Plaintree maintains a Bulletin Board
Service located at http://www.plaintree.com/plaintree on the Internet.
 
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