Allied Telesyn's Newest High-Performance Switches Lead the Market in Features, Flexibility and Affordability.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 20, 1999--

Stackable and standalone managed 10/100 switches with Gigabit uplinks

provide from 16 to 192 connections with copper or fiber connectors

Allied Telesyn International (www.alliedtelesyn.com), a worldwide leader in simplifying networking for businesses of all sizes, Monday announced two new families of feature-rich 10/100 switches: the AT-8300 and the AT-8200XL.

Each of the two switch families offers managed switches with 10/100 flexibility and Gigabit uplinks to meet the market demand for highly sophisticated, flexible and extensible Ethernet switching. The new AT-8300 and AT-8200XL switches combine rich functionality with a competitive purchase price to deliver outstanding value to any growing business network.

With advanced features like IEEE 802.1p and Q, port-trunking, IGMP snooping, true wire-speed data transmission, and redundant power supplies, these high-performance switches have what it takes to keep a busy and growing network running smoothly. The simple difference between the two families is stackability.

All of the switches in the AT-8300 family are stackable to eight units high for maximum density. Switches in the AT-8200XL family provide the same features as the AT-8300 in a more economical, non-stackable package.

"The heaviest market demand for switching is clearly centered around Layer 2 10/100 devices that offer wire-speed transmission, high bandwidth Gigabit uplinks and popular features like 802.1Q VLAN tagging, IGMP snooping and Web-based management," said Sean Keohane, Allied Telesyn's senior vice president of sales and marketing.

"These new feature-rich and very high-performance switches characterize exactly what the volume market is currently requesting, with the additional flexibility of new small form-factor fiber connectors such as the MT-RJ and VF-45."

The new AT-8200XL and AT-8300 switches bring speed, bandwidth and flexibility to the LAN at an amazingly affordable price, making the move to 100Mbps switching and Gigabit backbone connectivity a practical option for most any network. The stackable AT-8324 and the standalone AT-8224XL provide 24 10/100TX switch ports with two expansion slots.

The expansion slots can be used to add Gigabit uplinks, fiber modules, additional copper modules or a combination of these. The Gigabit uplink module is available in SX and LX configurable versions; the 2-port 100FX fiber module comes configured for traditional SC duplex connectors or for the new small form factor MT-RJ or VF-45 connectors.

The other members of the new switch families are 16-port 100FX all-fiber switches with new small-form factor fiber connectors. The stackable AT-8316F/MT and non-stackable AT-8216F/MT use MT-RJ connectors; the stackable AT-8316F/VF and non-stackable AT-8216F/VF use VF-45 connectors; and the stackable AT-8316F/SC and non-stackable AT-8216F/SC use standard SC connectors.

Each of these fiber switches has two expansion slots and offers all of the configuration options of the AT-8200XL/8300 switch families.

In addition to the pure copper and fiber versions of the AT-8216XL, two mixed-media versions and a 48V version are also available. The AT-8288XL/SC is a 16-port switch with eight 10/100TX ports and eight fixed 100FX ports with SC connectors. The AT-8288XL/MT is a 16-port switch with eight 10/100TX ports and eight fixed 100FX ports with MT-RJ connectors.

The AT-D8224XL is powered by a 48V power supply and is targeted at the telecommunications/cellular provider market, where maximizing uptime with battery backup is critical.

AT-8200XL and AT-8300 Ethernet switches offer the best feature-function-performance packages on the market. Based on a leading-edge hardware platform of highly integrated ASIC technology, the AT-8200XL and AT-8300 achieve full wire speed packet switching - 200Mbps of bandwidth in full-duplex mode.

The 802.1Q VLAN tagging helps with control, security and performance - especially in mixed-brand networks. Port trunking doubles available bandwidth to multiply the performance benefits, and new security features keep unauthorized users out while notifying administrators of intrusion attempts.

Reliability and ease of use are aided by auto-negotiation of half/full-duplex on all ports, support for SNMP, Telnet, and RS-232 serial port access for both in-band and out-of-band management options.

Other standard features include support for up to 12K MAC addresses, automatic address learning and aging as well as static address support, 802.1d spanning tree, 802.3x flow control, and port mirroring. Advanced features such as 802.1p Class of Service, IGMP Snooping and Web-based management are also standard on all AT-8200XL and AT-8300 switches.

The aggressively priced AT-8200XL and 8300 switches will begin moving networks to the future this month. -0-

AT-8224XL/8324 Switch Competitive Matrix

                                 Comments                  List Price
                                                            per unit/
                                                            per port
Allied Telesyn AT-8224XL      High-performance,            $1,845/$77
                              feature-rich,
                              versatile and most
                              economical

Allied Telesyn AT-8288XL      Mixed port configuration,    $3,499/$218
                              8 x 10/100TX and 8 x 100FX,
                              high-performance,
                              feature-rich, versatile

Allied Telesyn AT-D8224XL     48V version,                 $4,499/$187
                              high-performance,
                              feature-rich, versatile and
                              most economical

Allied Telesyn AT-8324        High-performance, stackable, $2,154/$90
                              feature-rich, versatile and
                              economical

Bay Networks BayStack 450T    60 percent higher price;     $3,595/$149
                              slower (2.5GB) switching
                              fabric; daisy-chain
                              architecture limits total
                              stacking bandwidth; only
                              one high-speed expansion
                              slot; much smaller buffer
                              (2MB vs. the AT-8324's
                              12 MB)

3Com SuperStackII 3300        Higher price; lower          $3,595/$149
                              performance and flexibility:
                              slower switch forwarding
                              rate (1.2 Gpps), stacking
                              limited to 4 units, only
                              one high-speed expansion
                              slot, smaller (3MB) buffer
                              size


AT-8316F All-Fiber Switch Competitive Matrix
                                 Comments                  List Price
                                                            per unit/
                                                            per port
Allied  Telesyn               Most economical,             $5,385/$337
AT-8216F (MT-RJ,              high-performance
VF-45 or SC)                  all-fiber switches


Allied  Telesyn               There are currently          $6,152/$385
AT-8316F (MT-RJ,              no other stackable,
VF-45 or SC)                  all-fiber switches on
                              the market

Cabletron SmartSwitch         Standalone 100FX fiber      $12,995/$812
                              switch with 16 MT-RJ
                              ports is closest, but
                              is much higher priced, has
                              smaller buffer size, and
                              slower switch fabric
                              (3.3 vs. 16Gbps)

About Allied Telesyn International

Allied Telesyn International simply connects the world with affordable, highly reliable networking technology and products. Allied Telesyn's product lines build networks that link people to information - in small networks, across large networks, and over the Internet.

Its Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity products for fiber optic, traditional copper and mixed networks keep cost of ownership low by delivering quality and backing it with superior warranties and free technical support. Incorporated in 1987, Allied Telesyn is headquartered in Sunnyvale, and has locations throughout the United States and the world.

Allied Telesyn's products are available through a large network of consultants, resellers, retailers and catalogs. Further information on Allied Telesyn International and its products can be found at www.alliedtelesyn.com, or by calling its headquarters at 800/424-4284.