ASANTE ANNOUNCES FIRST STACKABLE 100BASE-TX MANAGEMENT UNIT AND 10/100
BRIDGE

Offers Seamless Integration Of Fast Ethernet With Existing 10Mbps LANS;
Asante's Fast Ethernet Hub Is Now First To Support Network Management

SAN JOSE, CALIF., SEPTEMBER 18, 1995 - Demonstrating its commitment to
provide customers with open, cost-effective Fast Ethernet solutions,
Asante Technologies, Inc. today announced a 10/100 bridge and 100Mbps
management module, making its shipping Fast Ethernet hub the first
manageable stacked hub available. Satisfying customers' demand for
increased network bandwidth, Asante's Fast Ethernet products integrate
easily into 10BASE-T networks while protecting investments in existing
LANs.

The company's newest products include the AsanteFAST 10/100 Bridge and
AsanteFAST 100 Management Module. The bridge will ship in November and the
management module will ship in December. Asante will soon announce pricing
of the products.

Teamed with the company's existing Fast Ethernet hub and 10/100 adapters,
the new products round out Asante's Fast Ethernet family to offer
workgroup customers a powerful, cost-effective migration path to
high-speed networking and smooth integration of 100BASE-TX with existing
10BASE-T Ethernet LANs. Asante will have the entire 100Mbps suite on
display next week at NetWorld+Interop '95 Atlanta. The products will be
shown at Booth # 4216 in the Georgia World Congress Center, September
27-29.

"The early success of our first 100Mbps products released this summer is an
indication of the huge demand we expect for the bridge and management in
bandwidth-starved workgroups, such as pre-press, multimedia, financial
services, and others," said Paul Smith, vice president of marketing at
Asante.

With the recent explosion of high-speed networking technologies, Asante has
taken a leadership role in Fast Ethernet, believing it offers the most
economical and practical solution available. Asante is an innovator in the
market, having released the industry's first stackable Fast Ethernet hub
and providing NWay auto-negotiation crash-proofing support throughout the
entire line. The company also uniquely offers dual-platform capability in
both the PCI adapter and network management software.

ASANTEFAST 10/100 BRIDGE

Asante's new product is a "speed matching" bridge for integrating 100Mbps
Fast Ethernet with 10Mbps Ethernet networks. The AsanteFAST 100 Bridge
segments bandwidth-intensive 100BASE-TX workgroups to help increase
overall network performance. At the same time, it also provides continued
access to all services on the 10BASE-T LAN, such as e-mail, servers and
printing.

The product provides flexible and automatic configuration at either 10 or
100 operation using NWay auto-negotiation. NWay makes the bridge virtually
'plug-and-play' ready, with no need for jumpers, switches or user set-up.
With NWay, Asantee's bridge also offers unique crash-proofing capability
to protect the network against incompatible connections. NWay's
auto-negotiation, conforming to the IEEE's 802.3u standard, is uniquely
supported throughout Asantee's entire Fast Ethernet product line.

Designed to maximize network throughput and reduce network congestion, the
10/100 bridge uses full wire-speed forwarding and source address filtering
to ensure that only data packets destined for another segment are
transferred across the bridge. Product highlights include an additional
AUI port for flexible 10Mbps media connections and more than 20 diagnostic
LEDs for monitoring the network. LEDs show link integrity, 10 Mbps
operation, 100 Mbps operation, errors, collisions, CRC error and activity
status.

The Asante bridge supports all popular IBM PC-compatible and Macintosh
network operating systems, including Novell NetWare, Microsoft Windows NT,
AppleShare, and TCP/IP.

ASANTEFAST 100 MANAGEMENT MODULE

The AsanteFAST 100 Management Module is a high-speed Fast Ethernet network
management module. Operating as a complement to Asante's 100BASE-TX
stackable hub, the module adds intelligence and management to the hub and
allows the network to be monitored for performance, traffic bottlenecks,
collisions and other network vital signs. The module's built-in support
for SNMP enables the network to be controlled from any station running
Asante's own AsanteView network management software or from any
SNMP-compatible or Telnet console. The module consists of a comprehensive
set of LEDs on the front panel for easy fault isolation and network
utilization.

With the same sleek, compact design as the AsanteFAST 100 Hub, the module
fully integrates with the shared backplane of the hub using a unique
expansion card feature, which also exists in the hub to allow stackability
and eliminate the need for external cabling.

Using the expansion card, the management module uniquely stacks on top of
the Asante hub or a series of hubs to create an intelligent stacked hub,
adding the power to monitor and control network activities. This modular
design - which differs from competing products that include a management
slot and additional hardware in every hub - is an ideal, cost-effective
solution for workgroup networks.

OTHER FAST ETHERNET PRODUCTS

Fast Ethernet Hub

Released in July, the AsanteFAST 100 Hub is the first stackable and
manageable 12-port hub on the market. It supports up to five hubs in a
"stack" and a maximum of two stacks. This represents a total of 118 ports
and the largest Fast Ethernet collision domain on the market. Providing an
easy migration path to 100BASE-TX networking and speeds up to 10 times
faster than standard 10BASE-T Ethernet, the hub offers a cost-effective
way to upgrade as network congestion "hot spots" arise - delivering both
immediate performance improvements and flexible expansion capability to
add bandwidth capacity as needed. The AsanteFAST 100 Hub is priced at US
$1,995 suggested retail, or $166 per port - the lowest price per port on
the market.

Fast Ethernet Adapters

Released in June, the AsanteFAST 10/100 Adapter is a high- speed PCI
adapter card that features plug-and-play installation, NWay
auto-negotiation, and unique support for multiple platforms in one box.
The adapter works with PCI-based IBM PC-compatibles and Power Macintosh
computers running at either 10Mbps or 100Mbps speeds. It is priced at $269
suggested retail. Asante also recently announced a 10/100 NuBus card,
which will ship this month. It is priced at $399 list and an estimated
street price of about $335.

Asante's Fast Ethernet products are fully compliant with industry
specifications for Fast Ethernet, including the IEEE 802.3u standard
approved in June by IEEE. As a steering committee member of the Fast
Ethernet Alliance, Asante has worked extensively with more than 78
networking companies to encourage standardization of Fast Ethernet
solutions for user interoperability. The Fast Ethernet standard is based
on the same CSMA/CD media access method of standard Ethernet, allowing
data to move between 10BASE-T and 100BASE-T nodes without protocol
translation.

The AsanteFAST 10/100 Bridge and 100 Management Module will be available
through a worldwide network of VARs, system integrators, computer retail
stores, distributors, and manufacturers' representatives. Asante's direct
sales force also sells products to higher education customers. The
company's Fast Ethernet products, like all Asante products, are covered
under a unique lifetime warranty program, guaranteeing free technical
support and replacement of defective products.

ABOUT ASANTE

Founded in 1988, Asante Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ASNT) designs,
manufactures and markets a full line of high-performance products for
standard Ethernet and Fast Ethernet networks, including IBM PC- compatible
and Macintosh adapter cards, intelligent and non-intelligent hubs,
bridges, and network management software. Asante products are available
worldwide through a network of North American and international
distributors.
 
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