Ace Hardware Chooses Talarian for Streamlining Communications With Nationwide Network of Independently Owned Stores.

Business Editors/High-Tech & Retail Writers

LOS ALTOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 27, 2001

Adopting common technology nationwide is expected to improve both

profits and customer satisfaction

Talarian(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:TALR), a leading provider of infrastructure software solutions for real-time information exchange, today announced that Ace Hardware has selected Talarian to provide key technology for Ace's new high-traffic retail environment.

Ace Hardware is moving to both modernize and standardize its point-of-sales (POS) terminals. New and/or growing demands on the infrastructure will include additional, extensive nightly updates of in-store product and pricing information. To move large amounts of time-critical data across this network, the company is using Talarian SmartPGM(TM) FX, a multicast solution that allows the simultaneous distribution of content with guaranteed delivery.

"Ace is a retailer-owned co-operative; more than 5,100 individual stores currently use thousands of POS devices from several different manufacturers," noted Frank Murphy, Manager of Retail IT Products. The company is moving to standardize the retail terminal platform to become more efficient. The first phase of this conversion will involve up to 600 stores running an end-of-life Unix product, and replacing them with Pentium-based Linux clients.

"Ace will employ SmartPGM(TM) FX to update databases on the POS stations within these 600 stores. Many stores will have a Linux server in their back room," Murphy said, "while others have multiple stores linked to one server. Every night, stores receive and rebuild files with cost, pricing, and other information provided by central systems."

SmartPGM(TM) FX enables customers in retailing, financial services, broadcast and other industries to deliver any kind of data, such as video, audio, Web content, graphics, financial data, pricing, reports, databases, promotional materials and software applications, in real-time to thousands of distributed devices over both terrestrial and satellite networks. Because FX works in conjunction with Talarian's SmartPGM product, Ace will save critical network bandwidth by "multicasting" their information a single time, delivering this information to multiple recipients (each appropriate Ace Hardware retail outlet) at the same time.

A typical Ace Hardware store may have two or more point-of-sale terminals, and in a multi-store system, the same server may be broadcasting to several locations, each with multiple POS stations. An individual server can be talking to dozens of POS stations overnight, and in the aggregate thousands of systems will have their databases updated/restored. "The data requirements are intense and there is little room for failure," Murphy said.

"Talarian's solution is based on the standard Pragmatic General Multicast (PGM), and 'freeware' versions are readily available. However, these freeware editions were inefficient when compared to Talarian, which was at least twice as fast as anything else we considered," Murphy said. "Speed is critical in a multi-store environment. The downtime window when we can communicate or update a file, or complete a specific task, is short, so we need a powerful, fast, efficient solution. Talarian easily passed the test, and was a clear choice for us."

The Linux conversion is but the first step in a company-wide conversion to a common retail technology, added Murphy. The conversion is expected to take two to three years, but the HP/UX terminals were "at the end of their useful life" and thus the Linux conversion took the top priority. The overall intent is to standardize on one retail platform as a way of improving efficiency, profitability, and customer satisfaction.

PGM is the de-facto reliable multicast standard backed by companies such as Cisco, Nortel, Microsoft and Talarian. Talarian's SmartPGM is the first commercially available PGM implementation that interoperates intelligently with other network traffic without causing "traffic storms."

"PGM's advanced technology has its heritage in the data-intensive military-aerospace environment," noted Tom Laffey, co-founder and CTO at Talarian. "The experience at Ace Hardware is proving that there are down-to-earth requirements for rapid updating of dynamic data, as well. Profit in the retail business relies heavily on the accuracy and timeliness of data, and Talarian is pleased to be chosen by Ace Hardware to help achieve its business objectives."

For additional information on Talarian or it's SmartPGM family of products, visit the website at http://www.talarian.com/ace.

About Ace Hardware

Founded in 1924, Ace Hardware Corporation is a cooperative wholly owned by its 5,100 independent hardware, home center, lumber and building materials retailers. Ace currently has stores located in all 50 states and 68 countries. More information on Ace can be found on the World Wide Web at www.acehardware.com.

About Talarian

Talarian Corporation (Nasdaq:TALR) provides leading infrastructure software solutions that deliver data and content in real-time over any network to any device. Through innovative technology called adaptive multicast, Talarian software can select the appropriate data delivery mechanism "on-the-fly" based on application needs and network capabilities. Talarian's high performance, scalable products are deployed by hundreds of the world's largest organizations in their most demanding applications. Customers include the American Stock Exchange, Bear-Stearns, Boeing, Cisco, Credit Suisse First Boston, Earthlink, Hewlett Packard, Lockheed Martin, MCI, the New York Stock Exchange, Nortel Networks, Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Raytheon and Southwest Airlines. Talarian is headquartered in Los Altos, California. Additional company and product information is available online at www.talarian.com.

Note to Editors: Talarian is a registered trademark and SmartPGM is a trademark of Talarian Corporation, Los Altos, CA. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the market opportunity for our SmartPGM and SmartPGM FX products in the retail industry and the functionality and benefits of our SmartPGM and SmartPGM FX products and the combination of our SmartPGM and SmartPGM FX products with Ace's internal technology. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, without limitation, the difficulties inherent in combining technologies and in any software development activities, the affects of competition in the real-time infrastructure software market, the rapidly changing nature of the industry in which we operate, the uncertainty of current economic conditions and their affect on customer purchase decisions, and the risk factors described in Talarian's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Registration Statement on Form S-1 dated July 20, 2000, the Talarian Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended September 30, 2000, and the Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2001. The forward-looking statements made herein are made only as of the date of this press release, and the Talarian undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.