Stratus Delivers Highest Availability to PC Server Market with Stratus
Radio Cluster

Stratus and Isis Distributed Systems, Inc. combine technologies to provide
the first affordable fault-tolerant PC cluster

MARLBOROUGH, MA - OCTOBER 16, 1995 -- Stratus Computer (NYSE:SRA) today
announced shipment of RADIO, the first scalable, standards- based PC
cluster to deliver highest availability to workgroup and enterprise users.
RADIO integrates Stratus' fault tolerant availability and service
expertise with software from Isis Distributed Systems, its wholly owned
subsidiary, to provide the only highly available, reliable and scalable PC
server cluster solution. RADIO delivers a packaged, expandable PC server
cluster with Compute, Storage, and high-speed Network Nodes configured
with Isis' high availability software providing automatic recovery and
fail-over for uninterrupted performance.

"Until now, high availability and distributed PC servers were mutually
exclusive," said Paul Jones, Vice President of Stratus' Distributed
Computing Products Group and Chief Operating Officer at Isis Distributed
Systems, Inc. "Understandably, companies have been reluctant to deploy
mission-critical applications on distributed PC server platforms. RADIO
solves this problem by providing the highest availability PC server
solution and capitalizes on the market demand."

RADIO can be employed to detect failures and automatically direct recovery
and fail-over actions giving a level of protection and efficiency
unmatched in the industry. In the event of component failures, application
requests can be automatically re-routed to available RADIO Compute nodes
permitting uninterrupted processing with transparent failover. Using
layered products, like Isis for Database, customers can deploy
continuously available, scalable applications enabling maximum protection
to their most critical applications.

RADIO'S MODULAR COMPONENTS: UPGRADABLE, SCALABLE

RADIO provides an integrated hardware and software platform that addresses
scalability and upgradability. Adding or upgrading computing performance
or storage is achieved simply by sliding new nodes into the RADIO cabinet
while the RADIO continues to operate. In addition, individual RADIOs can
be joined to form larger RADIO systems to meet the most demanding
requirements.

THREE TIERS OF AVAILABILITY

With RADIO users can choose the level of availability most appropriate to
their business needs: basic replicated disk storage and cluster
management, high availability, or continuous availability.

Inherent to the RADIO, all nodes are self diagnosing, hot pluggable and
replaceable by the user. They are monitored by dedicated maintenance
facilities that automatically call home in the event of a failure. Disk
partitions can be replicated and automatically resynchronized should a
failure occur. And the whole system can be uniformly managed with powerful
administrative and management capabilities that can be used locally or
remotely.

To implement high availability solutions, users simply add the Isis
Availability Manager (IAM). This layered product enables users to define,
monitor and detect failures for recovery action, e.g., existing or
off-the-shelf applications can be automatically restarted on any node, or
disk partitions can be reallocated from failed storage units. IAM itself
is replicated to remove any possibility of loss of such a key capability.

To implement continuously available solutions, users can choose from a
variety of other layered Isis software products depending on their needs.
For example, Isis for Database(IDB) facilitates actively replicating
industry standard databases and provides load balancing for queries and
automatic recovery from failures. For new applications, the Orbix+Isis
object-oriented development environment provides a replicated CORBA
compliant object request broker allowing applications to be developed that
are themselves replicated on multiple RADIO nodes.

ANALYST QUOTE:

"Until RADIO, users could only look to High End UNIX platforms or use their
system integration skills to deploy reliable applications on PC Server
clusters," said Tom Willmott, vice president of Aberdeen Group in Boston,
Mass. "Our research has shown that the costs associated with the design,
implementation and administration of a PC Cluster dwarfs the initial
purchase. RADIO, for the first time, allows a company to consider the
acquisition of a pre-packaged solution that will significantly lower the
effort required to implement solutions that can be used in lights-out
operation."

RADIO ARCHITECTURE

RADIO is a unique server platform that combines industry-standard Pentium
processors with the Microsoft Windows NT or Unixware operating system, and
standard 100BaseT networking hubs or switches in a single cabinet. Its
modular architecture uses Compute nodes, Storage nodes, and Network nodes
that can be easily hot-swapped in numerous configurations. These duplicate
hardware components combined with the Isis Reliable Distributed Computing
software technology, give RADIO customers systems that are easily managed,
highly scalable and deliver multiple system availability options.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

Stratus RADIO is available with Unixware immediately and with Windows NT
Server in November. Prices range from $63,000 to $110,000 based on
configuration. Volume discounts are availability.

ISIS DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS, INC.

Isis Distributed Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Stratus
Computer, Inc., designs, develops, markets, and supports a suite of tools,
technologies, and services that help developers build, deploy, and
maintain high-availability, scalable, and open distributed applications.
Isis-enabled applications provide unparalleled application fault-tolerance
for strategic business applications on all market- leading platforms.
Headquartered in Marlborough, Mass., the company was founded in 1989 by
Dr. Kenneth Birman, and was acquired in 1993 by Stratus. Isis employs more
than 100 people and operates as an independent business unit of Stratus.

STRATUS COMPUTER, INC.

Based in Marlboro, Mass., Stratus Computer, Inc. is a leading provider of
comprehensive computer solutions for critical on-line environments.
Stratus and its subsidiaries offer a broad range of continuously available
computer platforms, application software, middleware, and professional
services. The company markets its systems and solutions to a range of
industries in more than 60 countries. Stratus can be reached via Internet
at www.stratus.com on the World Wide Web.

CONTACTS:
Pamela Nezil
Stratus Computer, Inc./Isis Distributed Systems, Inc.
508/460-2082

Jane Hiscock
Neva Group
617/441-4000 xt 224
 
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