Cocentric Network Builds Internet Service Provider Network With Bay
Networks' Internetworking Solutions

-- Companies Team To Provide Infrastructure for North American Internet and
Intranet Services, Collaborate on Next-Generation ATM-Based Backbone
Network --

INTERNET WORLD '96, SAN JOSE, Calif., April 30, 1996 -- Bay Networks, Inc.
(NYSE: BAY) today announced that Concentric Network Corporation, a leading
North American provider of on-line network access services, has deployed
Bay Networks' high-performance networking equipment in its Internet
backbone infrastructure to support both local Internet access and virtual
private intranets. As part of this alliance, Concentric and Bay Networks
are piloting the ATM backbone development for a new on-line access network
architecture that will deliver high performance and low latency to support
emerging on-line applications.

Using approximately $3 million of Bay Networks' products, including
backbone and remote access routers, intelligent hubs, remote access
servers and network management solutions, the Concentric network is a
leading gateway to the Internet and accommodates traditional business and
consumer users, as well as multi-player network gaming and multi-party
simultaneous voice/data transmission.

After a careful evaluation of various suppliers, Concentric chose a
solution based on equipment and network integration services from Bay
Networks and Racal Datacom, which is a value-added reseller of Bay
Networks equipment.

"This partnership offers a competitive advantage to both organizations,"
said Henry R. Nothhaft, President and CEO at Concentric Network.
"Concentric is focused on delivering high-speed, dial-up Internet access
and customized intranet solutions to our customers. The integration of Bay
Networks' highly tailored networking solutions in our communications
network gives us the flexibility and scalability needed to quickly respond
to our customers' connectivity requirements, while adapting to new market
trends with highly customized services."

"As today's business and networking demands change, organizations are
increasingly requiring advanced networking solutions for network
transport, carrier service and customization," said Brian Walck, Director
of Internet Business at Bay Networks. "Concentric satisfies these
requirements with a range of low-cost, high-speed Internet connectivity
options as well as virtual private network, or intranet, services designed
to meet the individual and changing data communications needs of various
customers. Bay Networks is pleased to be partnering with Concentric to
provide a full suite of backbone, remote access and network management
solutions that enable the broadest range of connectivity requirements and
customized offerings."

Concentric Network Delivers High-Speed Internet/Intranet Services

Delivering high throughput and reliability, the Concentric network contains
over 200 Point of Presence (POP) nodes in the United States and Canada,
supporting Internet and intranet connectivity for users throughout North
America.

Local access calls are received at each POP and are then aggregated using
Xylogics Remote Annex remote access servers from Bay Networks. The servers
then feed the calls onto a Bay Networks Access Node (AN) router for
transmission to the backbone network.

The Remote Annex servers also ensure user authentication using the Xylogics
Access Control Protocol (ACP). This highly scalable, Unix-host-based
protocol enables Concentric to customize authentication for remote users
throughout its extended network.

Concentric's wide area backbone network, which relies on OSPF as its core
routing protocol, is focused around the company's data centers in Bay
City, Michigan and Cupertino, California, and its network operations
center in St. Louis, Missouri. The data and network operations centers use
Backbone Concentrator Node (BCN) routers from Bay Networks to consolidate
data traffic from the POPs. The BCNs also provide access to the Internet
and other content locations within the Concentric intranetwork. System
5000 intelligent hubs from Bay Networks are used in the data center to
consolidate both Ethernet and FDDI LAN traffic, while Bay Networks'
LattisSwitch Model 28115 Fast Ethernet Switching Hubs deliver 10/100
Ethernet switching capabilities.

Additionally, Concentric has standardized on Bay Networks' Optivity network
management application suite to manage its distributed environment.
Because Optivity is closely integrated with Hewlett-Packard's OpenView,
Concentric benefits from a top-down approach to viewing the entire
computing and communications system on the network.

Next-Generation ATM Backbone Network

With the emergence of new networking demands and applications - such as
virtual private networks and intranets, interactive multi-player gaming,
digitized voice, compressed video, and on-line transaction processing -
Concentric is redesigning its network architecture. This new network
design will improve overall performance and minimize network operating
costs by decreasing latency, increasing throughput and adding
functionality.

The existing Concentric Network provides on-line access via plain old
telephone systems (POTS), 800 access and customized dedicated access
facilities across a frame relay backbone. Through a partnership with MFS
Datanet, Concentric will increase network access by leveraging the
carrier's network, which serves 60 cities throughout North America and
connects more buildings than any other service provider.

Additionally, the next-generation backbone network will be expanded to
include ATM, T3 and SONET capabilities. Concentric is deploying Bay
Networks' high-end BCN routers with ATM Routing Engine (ARE) interfaces in
its next-generation network to meet the requirements of high performance
and throughput for transaction processing, and low, fixed latency for
emerging technologies within an ATM-based virtual network environment.
Specifically engineered for highly scalable virtual network routing
environments, the ARE interface in the BCN routers provides 155 Mbps full
duplex routing between multiple virtual LANs on a single ATM interface.

The BCN routers also maximize performance via a symmetric multi-processor
architecture that enables Concentric to build a scalable, fault-resilient
network. Tony Zeis, Concentric's Director of Network Architecture,
commented, "The symmetric multi-processor architecture of Bay Networks'
Backbone Concentrator Node platform is unique to the industry. It provides
an unmatched level of fault-resiliency and interfaces, such as FDDI, T3
and ATM, in a single router chassis without any degradation in
throughput."

Based on its multiprotocol capabilities, the BCN router satisfies the high
performance and availability requirements of the most demanding
mission-critical backbone internetworks. It supports 104 LAN/WAN
interfaces (up to 13 FDDI) and system forward performance that scales to 1
million packets per second. Comprehensive hardware and software redundancy
options ensure fault resiliency.

About Concentric

Concentric Network Corp., based in Cupertino, Calif., is a leading provider
of communications solutions designed to connect people to information,
entertainment and other people. Founded in 1991, the company is privately
held. Using high-performance frame relay technology delivering on-line
access at speeds of up to 28.8 kilobits per second, the nationwide
Concentric Network offers fast, high-quality, individual dial-up service
to consumers and network access on a custom basis to businesses across the
country. Concentric Network's web address is http://www.concentric.net.

About Bay Networks

Bay Networks, Inc. is a worldwide leader in the internetworking market,
providing a full line of products that serve enterprises, small offices
and mobile workers. The company offers market-leading LAN and ATM
switches, hubs, routers, remote and Internet access solutions, and network
management applications, all unified by the BaySIS architecture. With
revenue of $1.9 billion over the past four fiscal quarters, Bay Networks
markets and supports its products from 121 offices around the world,
providing 7x24 support coverage. Bay Networks' World Wide Web address is:
http://www.baynetworks.com.

Note to Editors: All Bay Networks press releases are available on Bay
Networks' web site at http://www.baynetworks.com or via CompuServe using
GO BAYNET. Bay Networks' web site also provides information on the
company's products and services, news and events, partner programs, and
corporate contacts.
 
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