ADTRAN Announces Managed Gigabit Ethernet Switches Setting Industry-Leading Price Points For Growing Market.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- NetVanta 1500 Switches Make Transition to Gigabit-to-the-Desktop More Affordable for Small and Medium Businesses

ADTRAN(R), Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN), a leading provider of network access equipment, today announced the NetVanta 1524ST, the first in a series of stackable Layer 2 Gigabit Ethernet switches for deployment at the network edge. The NetVanta 1524ST sets a new standard of affordability for higher-bandwidth access, with cost savings of up to 50 percent. This product is especially beneficial for healthcare, education, retail or small and medium enterprise customers who are transitioning to Gigabit LANs or Gigabit-to-the-desktop applications.

"Growth in bandwidth-intensive applications is driving the need for higher capacity networking solutions. ADTRAN is easing this migration, at the network edge, with this series of affordable Gigabit switch platforms," said Tim Saunders, vice president of product management, ADTRAN Enterprise Networks Division. "Because of their affordability, these switches not only meet the immediate need for today's Gigabit-to-the-desktop applications, but also provide future bandwidth expansion for businesses with growing networks."

An addition to the widely deployed NetVanta 1000 Series of managed Layer 2 Ethernet switches, this product offers a robust standards-based feature set. Using the ADTRAN Operating System (OS), it provides wire-speed switching and offers a wealth of functionality including Quality of Service (QoS), stacking and Link Aggregation as well as a host of advanced management and security features. The NetVanta 1524ST has 24 10/100/1000Base-T ports with four combination SFP/1000Base-T Gigabit Ethernet ports for interconnecting LAN switches using copper or fiber. It is one of the first switches to offer Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) in compliance with the new 802.1ab standard, allowing the NetVanta 1524ST to auto-discover neighboring Ethernet devices for simplified management and integration into multi-vendor environments.

The NetVanta 1524ST is easily managed via a Command Line Interface (CLI) that mimics the defacto industry standard or a user-friendly web-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) complete with step-by-step wizards. For more comprehensive management of NetVanta-based networks, ADTRAN offers n-Command. This network management system simplifies large-scale changes to firmware and configuration files from a central location. n-Command is available in two versions: NetVanta Internetworking Essentials (for networks with 15 or fewer NetVanta devices) and n-Command Enterprise Edition (for larger networks). NetVanta Internetworking Essentials is available free of charge and can be downloaded from the ADTRAN website at www.adtran.com/n-command. n-Command Enterprise Edition carries a retail price of $995 (list).

Like all NetVanta products, the NetVanta 1524ST is backed by a five-year North American warranty, free firmware upgrades for the life of the product and free 24x7 telephone technical support. The NetVanta 1524ST has a list price of $1,395 and is currently shipping.

About ADTRAN

ADTRAN, Inc. is one of the world's most successful network access equipment suppliers, with a 17-year history of profitability and a portfolio of more than 1,300 solutions for use in the last mile of today's telecommunications networks. Widely deployed by carriers and enterprises alike, ADTRAN solutions enable voice, data, video, and Internet communications across copper, fiber, and wireless network infrastructures. ADTRAN solutions are currently in use by every major domestic service provider and many international ones, as well as by thousands of public, private and governmental organizations worldwide.

For more information, contact the company at 800 9ADTRAN (800 923-8726) or via email at [e-mail]. On the Web, visit www.adtran.com.