Bay Networks Announces Integrated RMON Strategy for Entire Product Line

-- INCLUDES INDUSTRY'S FIRST INTEGRATED NETWORK LAYER MONITORING SOLUTION
AND REMOTE SITE ROUTERS WITH EMBEDDED RMON FOR CLIENT/SERVER ENVIRONMENTS
--

ATLANTA, Ga., September 27, 1995 -- Bay Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: BNET) today
announced the immediate availability of a new suite of RMON design and
analysis tools that provide the industry's first support for
enterprise-wide network layer monitoring. Delivered via Bay Networks
Advanced Analyzer agents and Optivity Design & Analysis network management
software, customers can now utilize layer 3 traffic matrices, a key
component of the emerging RMON2 standard, to manage and control their
client/server-based enterprise networks more effectively.

The company also announced immediate availability of the Access Node Hub
(ANH) and Access Node (AN) remote access routers with embedded RMON.
Together, these announcements represent key elements in Bay Networks plans
for delivering RMON and RMON2 across its entire product line of hubs,
routers and switches.

RMON provides a mechanism for collecting device and MAC layer statistics
which allow network managers to see traffic flow within a network segment,
but does not provide a view of traffic as it passes across router
boundaries. Raising the level of visibility, the emerging RMON2 standard
enables network managers to see traffic flow across the enterprise network
- from the network through the application layers. This means that network
managers can view traffic as it moves across the enterprise at each layer
of the OSI model - a capability that has a significant impact on managing
client/server environments.

"Customers implementing client/server-based networks need network layer
monitoring to troubleshoot network and application problems," said Jim
Goetz, director of network management at Bay Networks. "By integrating
RMON and RMON2 functionality across our entire product line, Bay Networks
is the only company providing customers with the ability to view and
analyze their traffic end-to-end across the enterprise, from the physical
connection up through the application layer - all in a highly integrated,
easy-to-use solution. In addition to enhancing RMON with enterprise-wide
troubleshooting and analysis, Bay Networks is defining and developing the
emerging RMON2 standard to deliver the functionality to customers today as
the standard evolves."

New Products and Capabilities

Included as part of Bay Networks market-leading Optivity Enterprise family
of network management products, Optivity Design and Analysis consists of
network design and optimization applications, DesignMan and TrendMan.
DesignMan utilizes live traffic information gathered by embedded
management agents to perform modeling and simulation activities, while
TrendMan provides fully automated segment trending and network usage
reports.

Optivity Design & Analysis also features a comprehensive suite of RMON and
pre-RMON2-based tools that provide full support for Ethernet and Token
Ring environments. Also included is TrafficMan, a network layer monitoring
application. Representing the industry's first support for integrated
network layer monitoring, the TrafficMan application allows network
managers to monitor traffic across the enterprise rather than a single
segment at a time. Providing traffic visibility at the network layer -
beyond the physical and MAC layers (layers 1 and 2 respectively) -
delivers a new level of network monitoring and troubleshooting
capabilities.

In contrast to current RMON, which is limited to analyzing a single
segment, Bay Networks pre-RMON2 statistical reports provide visibility
beyond router boundaries. These include reports on top sources and
destinations of traffic and client/server conversations across the
enterprise. This, in turn, helps to reduce network downtime while
increasing network control and user productivity. Additionally, Bay
Networks plans to expand TrafficMan in the future to recognize traffic at
other layers. At the applications layer, this will include support for
applications such as Lotus Notes, Mosaic, cc:Mail and NFS.

Enhancing centralized management and troubleshooting of remote sites, Bay
Networks remote office ANH and AN routers now offer full RMON support and
LAN/WAN connectivity within a single platform. The RMON- embedded ANH and
AN maximize network availability and minimize network operating costs by
enabling network managers to quickly identify and correct problems at
remote sites from a central management station. The ANH and AN are easily
configured and monitored via Bay Networks Unix-based Optivity Internetwork
or Windows-based EZ Internetwork applications, providing comprehensive
node configuration, monitoring, and control.

"My objective was both to minimize costs and to reduce the number of
devices that need to be administered out in the field. I considered the
option of deploying a probe tool at the remote site, but found it to be
roughly twice as expensive as taking advantage of RMON functionality
embedded in the router," said Alex Drescher, telecommunications staff
associate at Rohm and Haas. "I was also impressed with Bay Networks
design, featuring a dedicated processor and memory for RMON in the
router."

RMON/RMON2 Strategy

Bay Networks also outlined plans for implementing RMON/RMON2 across its
product line to distribute true RMON management capabilities - including
in-depth monitoring and analysis of network resources, real-time
applications and traffic profiles - across the enterprise. The company's
Advanced Analyzer agents integrate device management and RMON-based
monitoring and analysis functionality into specially- built,
high-performance network management modules for Bay Networks entire line
of hubs, routers and switches. By embedding RMON into the network core
components, Bay Networks reduces the cost of deploying RMON, while
providing network managers with unparalleled visibility into the
enterprise network. In addition, these powerful embedded agents gather
information critical to implementing next-generation applications such as
network security, transaction response time monitoring, and accounting and
billing.

By extending the segment view of RMON to the enterprise-wide view of RMON2,
Bay Networks will give network managers more information and greater
knowledge to manage, troubleshoot and monitor increasingly complex
client/server-based networks. As a result, the RMON2 standard will enable
a whole new class of network management applications for client/server
analysis, internetwork monitoring and design, and network and application
layer accounting. When RMON2 is approved, it is anticipated that Bay
Networks pre-standards-based functionality will be included in the new
standard. Customers will be able to protect their network investment by
migrating to this standards-based solution through a simple software
upgrade.

Pricing and Availability

Bay Networks Optivity Design and Analysis 6.0 is available today at the
starting price of U.S. $5,995. The RMON functionality is available as an
option for the Access Node Hub and Access Node routers for current Bay
Networks customers at the special introductory price of U.S. $1,195. The
Access Node Hub and Access Node routers are priced at U.S. $3,790 and
$3,390 respectively.

Bay Networks, Inc. is a leading worldwide supplier of a full range of
highly available, multiprotocol routers, intelligent hubs, high- speed
switches, and sophisticated network management products for organizations
building enterprise-wide information internetworks. The company was
established in October 1994 with the merger of SynOptics Communications
and Wellfleet Communications, and now has combined revenues in excess of
$1.3 billion for its most recent year. With more than 1,000 resellers and
over 1,400 direct sales and service personnel worldwide, Bay Networks
markets and supports its comprehensive product suite in 111 offices,
providing 7x24 global support coverage. Bay Networks World Wide Web
address is: http://www.baynetworks.com.
 
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