Ariel's PCI-Based Remote Access Card Set Receives Worldwide Approvals For Connection To International Phone Networks.

CRANBURY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 24, 1999--

Industry Cost Leader

($99/Port in a Fully Configured Linux or NT System)

Passes Major Development Milestone

Ariel Corp. (Nasdaq:ADSP), a leading supplier of Windows NT and Linux remote access solutions, today announced that its PCI-based RS4200 remote access card set has received worldwide certification for connection to international digital telephone networks.

Specifically, the RS4200's T1/PRI network interface has received FCC Part 68, Industry Canada CS03, ETSI NET5/CTR4, and ACA TS014/TS038 approvals, which together govern connection to the digital phone networks in the United States, Canada, most European countries, Australia and most Pacific Rim countries.

"Ariel has made a significant investment in making its remote access products readily accessible to ISPs worldwide," said Dennis Schneider, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Ariel Corp. "ISPs can use PowerPOP systems based on our PCI plug-in remote access cards to quickly build scaleable, flexible, low-cost NT- and Linux-based points of presence that connect directly to major digital phone networks throughout the world. Not only that, they can do it for about $100 less per port than what ISPs normally pay for a Lucent, Ascend, or Cisco box."

"The RS4200 offers an amazingly low price -- the lowest cost per port of any Linux- or NT-based remote access solution on the market today," added Brad Baldwin, an analyst at IDC. "We expect open-architecture Linux- and NT-based remote access solutions like the RS4200 to be extremely attractive to fast-growing ISPs that need a flexible, low-cost way to build infrastructure and add new POPs."

The RS4200 is the cornerstone of Ariel's PowerPOP architecture, a new approach to building ISP infrastructure that replaces dedicated servers and dumb remote access concentrators with open architecture Linux and NT systems. PowerPOP-architecture systems are ideal for ISPs that want to improve network performance and efficiency by deploying intelligent POPs that provide local authentication, DNS, and Web caching. PowerPOP-architecture systems are also ideal for new ISPs that want to reduce up-front NOC equipment costs by consolidating NOC functions and services like DNS, authentication, Web hosting, FTP, email, caching, and backup onto a single Linux or Windows NT system.

The RS4200 is a PCI-based multi-service access card set that gives PowerPOP systems the physical connections required for remote dial-in and LAN dial-out. Combining four T1/PRI interfaces with 96 ports of 56K and Basic Rate ISDN remote access, the RS4200 can accommodate up to 96 remote access sessions originating from any combination of digital V.90-compatible 56-kbps, analog 33.6-kbps, or 64-kbps basic rate ISDN customer premises equipment. Fax and voice over IP capability can be added via a simple software upgrade.

The RS4200 will be available in December for both Linux version 2.2.0 (or greater) and Windows NT Server version 4.0 (or greater). The single-piece manufacturers suggested retail pricing for a 96-port RS4200 is $9,098. ISPs can purchase fully-configured PowerPOP systems -- including a rackmount Pentium III-based server -- from KeyLink Systems (Nasdaq:PIOS). For a short time, KeyLink is offering a special low price of just $99 per port for fully-configured Linux systems, a saving of $25 per port over the normal price.

More on Ariel

Ariel Corp. (Nasdaq:ADSP) is a leading provider of high-density, remote-access plug-in cards for applications such as Internet access, corporate Intranet/Extranet access, on-line services, telecommuting, transaction processing and unified messaging. Ariel's remote access products make it easy for OEMs and system integrators targeting ISPs, corporate enterprises and other service providers to add high-density remote access to open systems platforms running a variety of popular operating systems, including Windows NT and Linux.

Ariel's high-density remote-access cards provide V.34, V.90-compatible 56K, and basic rate ISDN remote dial-in, LAN dial-out, and Internet back-haul. Available in ISA, PCI and CompactPCI formats, the cards connect to T1, E1, ISDN and POTS lines. Ariel's remote access products run Windows NT and Linux out of the box. An SDK is available for OEMs who want to use Ariel's remote access products with other operating systems.

For more information on Ariel products, please contact Ariel Corp. at 2540 Route 130, Cranbury, NJ 08512. Phone [phone]. Fax [phone]. Email: [e-mail]. World Wide Web: www.ariel.com.

Ariel and PowerPOP are registered trademarks of Ariel Corp.