Adaptive Broadband Gears Up Manufacturing for AB-Access With Solectron Strategic Partnership.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 3, 1999--

ADAPTIVE BROADBAND(TM) CORPORATION (Nasdaq National Market:ADAP) announced today a contract with Solectron Corporation (NYSE:SLR), Milpitas, Calif., to manufacture Adaptive Broadband's AB-Access(TM) broadband wireless service equipment. Full-scale manufacturing is expected to begin by October.

This partnership gives Adaptive Broadband the capability to meet demand from a contract announced July 27 to provide AB-Access equipment to I3S, an Irving, Texas, high-speed data services provider. I3S is a privately held company in which Nortel Networks and Lucent Technologies hold preferred stock. The contract with I3S is initially valued at $100-million over the coming five years to provide wireless Internet access to between 20- and 30-million customers in multi-tenant residential buildings across 48 U.S. cities. In addition to the I3S contract, the Solectron agreement enables Adaptive Broadband to respond to volume manufacturing requirements of pending contracts in both the U-NII (unlicensed national information infrastructure) and MMDS (multi-channel multi-point distribution service) frequency bands.

The Last Mile Answer

Adaptive Broadband introduced AB-Access earlier this year to provide Internet access at 25 megabits per second, a speed up to 400 times faster than dial-up service over a 56K modem. AB-Access is deployed in the "last mile" between networks and business and residential users of the Internet, overcoming the growing bottleneck in Internet traffic. It will allow users to download full-streaming video, use real-time video conferencing and surf the Internet -- all at the same time over a single connection.

AB-Access is initially being deployed in the unlicensed U-NII band, which Adaptive Broadband cites as instrumental in meeting the demand for affordable, ultra high speed Internet access. The technology was engineered to work at any frequency from 2 to 42 GHz. The first releases for AB-Access are for applications using the 5 GHz (U-NII) and 2.5 GHz (MMDS) frequency bands, while other frequencies are under development.

Focus On Core Competencies

"This agreement delivers on a commitment we made to our shareholders regarding AB-Access to establish a strategic relationship with a world leader in electronics manufacturing," said Frederick D. Lawrence, chairman and chief executive officer of Adaptive Broadband. "It will allow Adaptive Broadband to focus its core competencies on research and business development, providing the greatest value to our shareholders."

Lawrence projects the global market for value-added broadband wireless communication will reach $100-billion. He bases that projection on Adaptive Broadband's unique vantage point from closely working with U.S. long-distance carriers, RBOCs (regional Bell operating companies), CLECs (competitive local exchange carriers) and ISPs (Internet service providers), as well as international carriers.

Capabilities Across The Supply Chain

Stated Robert Nielsen, Adaptive Broadband director of operations for AB-Access, "We chose Solectron because of its technical support resources and global footprint, and also for their experience in order fulfillment, radio frequency manufacturing, and standards compliance within the global telecommunications industry.

"Solectron provides capabilities across the entire supply chain, from pre-production planning and design, to manufacturing, distribution, and end-of-life product service and support," Nielsen added. "They will provide turnkey, full product fulfillment for AB-Access. And as this technology further evolves, we can take advantage of Solectron's New Product Introduction Center, located in Norrkoping, Sweden, which is in proximity to Adaptive Broadband's technology development center for AB-Access in Cambridge, England."

Solectron serves a broad range of customers in multiple industries, including computer and computer peripherals, computer networking and telecommunications. Within telecommunications, it manufactures a wide range of products including pagers, cellular phones and base stations, Internet access devices and video conferencing equipment.

About Solectron

Founded in 1977, Solectron Corporation (www.solectron.com) provides integrated solutions that span the entire product life cycle -- from pre-production planning and design, to manufacturing, distribution, and end-of-life product service and support -- for the world's leading electronics OEMs. Solectron offers its customers competitive outsourcing advantages such as access to advanced manufacturing technologies, shortened product time-to-market, reduced cost of production and more effective asset utilization. The company has received more than 210 quality and service awards in addition to the 1997 and 1991 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards. Solectron is the first company to win the Baldrige Award for Manufacturing twice in the 11-year history of the national program. The company has more than 33,000 associates in 23 manufacturing facilities worldwide with more than 7 million square feet of capacity. Revenues for the first nine months of fiscal 1999, ended May 28, were US $6.0 billion.

Adaptive Broadband (http://www.adaptivebroadband.com) is a data networking solutions company -- a leading provider of terrestrial wireless and satellite-based systems to support ultra high speed Internet access, broadcast digital TV transport and worldwide Internet backbones. The company also provides industry-leading solutions for satellite-based data communications and terrestrial wireless telemetry networks.