ACC's Yukon Extends ISDN Connectivity for Home and Small Office Users; The Ultimate in Plug-and-Play ISDN Dial-up Performance.

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 6, 1995--Advanced Computer Communications, Inc., (ACC) today introduced the Yukon(TM), the company's newest LAN/WAN connectivity solution designed to give remote sites and the home office dial-up ISDN connectivity. The Yukon features full support of bridging and routing protocols, and includes ACC's exclusive Bandwidth Optimization technology to maximize WAN data throughput and minimize connection costs. Best of all, the Yukon pricing starts at $1,295, giving it the best price/performance for a full feature remote access ISDN router in the market today.

The easy to install Yukon features a single, autosensing Ethernet connector which allows connectivity to a 10BASET network through an RJ-45 connector, or 10BASE5 network through an AUI connector. The Yukon also offers a choice of an ISDN Basic Rate S/T or U interface. Interface status is indicated through LEDs mounted on the rear of the Yukon enclosure.

"Many vendors offer limited capability products as their entry-level offerings," said Lionel Geretz, Senior Product Marketing Manager for ACC. "The Yukon is a fully featured ISDN bridge/router which is offered at hundreds of dollars less than the nearest competitor, and it includes the exclusive cost-saving Bandwidth Optimization features found on ACC's high-end products. Overall, the Yukon's price/performance is going to be hard to beat for users looking to provide high performance dial-up ISDN access from remote sites into their enterprise networks."

Versatility and Routing Power

The Yukon can be ordered with two different software packages. The Yukon IP TeleCommuter package includes support for true network-level routing of TCP/IP along with concurrent 802.1D bridging. This software package is appropriate for users interested in Internet access, or IP-centric applications. A second package supports network-level TCP/IP and Novell IPX routing with concurrent bridging. The Yukon IP/IPX TeleCommuter is appropriate for the small office environment where Novell Netware is the dominant networking OS. The Yukon IP/IPX model TeleCommuter includes advanced techniques, such as IPX spoofing and SAP filters, designed to minimize the costs of using ISDN links in a Netware environment.

For ISDN connectivity, the Yukon's software supports the IETF standard PPP as a link protocol. This ensures the highest level of interoperability between the Yukon and third party products. The Yukon also supports the ACC's Multilink protocol which allows the use of both B channels in parallel between two ACC routers. The ACC Multilink protocol has been running in thousands of networks since 1989, and is one of the most robust inverse multiplexing methods on the market today. ACC is planning to introduce IETF standard Multilink PPP during Q3, 1995, to bring inverse multiplexing capability to a multi-vendor environment.

Versatility in Application

The Yukon can be used in remote applications at effective transfer rates up to 512 Kbps. With its rich set of Bandwidth Optimization features, the Yukon extracts the highest performance from an ISDN BRI. -0-

- Small Branch Offices: Because of its support of TCP/IP and IPX routing, the Yukon is ideal for occasional access (i.e., dial-up networking) applications. Although it is targeted at the "small" branch office, there are no limitations in the size of the Ethernet to which the Yukon may be attached.

- Home Offices: With its clean design, easy installation, and outstanding value, the Yukon puts true network-level routing within the reach of the home office user. The typical home office application will involve dial-up telecommuting. The Yukon is ideal for telecommuting at higher speeds, such as the 64Kbps B-channel rate used with the ISDN Basic Rate interface.

- Internet Access: As the popularity of Internet browsers such as Mosaic and Netscape grows, the demand for higher performance Internet access is skyrocketing. The Yukon provides the power user with the highest performance dial-up Internet access available today. Standards-based protocol support ensures that the Yukon will work in any Internet Access environment.

ACC's Exclusive Bandwidth Optimization Included

Like ACC's other WAN connectivity products, the Yukon includes ACC's exclusive set of Bandwidth Optimization features, a combination of connectivity features that help to optimize the cost of wide area links. The Yukon supports Data Compression, which can not only reduce WAN connectivity charges but can obviate the need to migrate to a higher speed link. The Yukon's data compression is based on the Lempel-Ziv algorithm, and can improve data throughput by an aggregate factor of 4:1. For example, with data compression, the Yukon's two 64 Kbps ISDN B channels can deliver the same throughput as a 512 Kbps link. In fact, the efficiency of ACC's data compression algorithm was responsible for ACC recently being awarded a Tester's Choice award by Data Communications Magazine.

The Yukon also supports Express Queuing(TM), which was developed by ACC to create a predictable network response for all WAN link users. Normally, bridge and router systems have to be manually manipulated to prioritize connections according to the type of protocol. With Express Queuing, the Yukon automatically senses which sessions have been established and maintains those sessions, allocating the appropriate amount of bandwidth until the session is finished. With Express Queuing, Telnet and other types of interactive sessions will not time-out due to large file transfers sharing the same link.

Yukon's Bandwidth Optimization also features Dial on Demand. With Dial on Demand, the Yukon establishes a switched connection when applications generate LAN packets that need to cross the WAN. When no packets cross the WAN for a user-defined period of time, the Yukon will take down the switched connection. Thus, the cost of WAN link is directly related to the usage of the link.

The Yukon supports SNMP for in-band network management, and has a RS-232 console port for out-of-band management. ACC's SNMP implementation is MIB-II compatible, and includes the SNMP SET operation.

Value Priced

"ACC's goal has been to extend our product family to address a broad spectrum of users and with the announcement of the Yukon, we now offer a product which makes ISDN connectivity at the remote site even more affordable. The Yukon is a self-contained, plug-and-play bridge/router with full protocol support, data compression, and our exclusive Bandwidth Optimization suite of software," noted Gary Krall, Vice President of Marketing for ACC. "However, when looking over the impressive suite of features which are offered with the Yukon, the one which stands out above all others is our ability to establish a leadership position in price affordability."

The Yukon IP TeleCommuter is available for immediate shipment with single unit pricing starting at $1,295. The Yukon IP/IPX TeleCommuter will be available i July, with single unit pricing starting at $1,495.

About ACC

ACC is a leading manufacturer of wide-area internetworking products that provide cost-effective interconnection and management of geographically distributed computer networks. ACC leads the industry in the development of Bandwidth Optimization technologies to maximize the utilization of leased line and switched services. ACC's products are sold worldwide through 80 leading international VARs and OEMs serving corporate and business customers, educational institutions, health care, retail establishments, governments, an PTTs.

Advanced Computer Communications is headquartered at 10261 Bubb Road, Cupertino, CA 95014; telephone: [phone]; FAX: [phone]. INTERNET [e-mail]. World Wide Web: http://www.acc.com -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: Yukon is a trademark of Advanced Computer Communications. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Analysts briefed on the Yukon:

Charlie Robbins Glenn Ben-Yosef Skip MacAskill Aberdeen Group Clear Thinking Research Gartner Group 617/723-7890 617/536-8117 213/867-6700

John DePietro Fred McClimans Jim Metzelar IDC Decisis Strategic Networks 508/935-4397 703/729-5659 617/871-5195

CONTACT: Advanced Computer Communications, Cupertino

Rich Black or Trish Voskovitch, 408/366-9600