Ariel Announces $1000 Rebate For Industry's Lowest Cost 56K/ISDN Remote Access Solution; Ariel Pays ISPs $1000 To Try The RS4200 And Save $10,000 On Their Next RAS Equipment Purchase.

Business Editors & Hi-Tech Writers

Spring ISPCON 2000

Booth No. 527

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22, 2000

Ariel Corp. (Nasdaq:ADSP), a leading supplier of Windows NT and Linux remote access products, today announced a $1000 rebate for new purchases of Ariel's RS4200 56K/ISDN remote access card set.

Through the end of June, ISPs can receive a $1000 rebate on the first RS4200 purchase, making the industry's price leader even more attractive to fast-growing ISPs on a tight budget.

"A Linux or NT system equipped with a 96-port RS4200 costs less than $10,000, half of what ISPs normally pay for a Lucent, Ascend, or Cisco box," said Dennis Schneider, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Ariel Corp. "With our new rebate program, we are essentially paying ISPs $1000 not to make a $10,000 mistake on their next RAS purchase."

"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 who 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 who want to improve network performance and efficiency by deploying intelligent POPs that incorporate functions such as authentication, DNS, and web caching. PowerPOP-architecture systems are also ideal for new ISPs who want to reduce up-front NOC equipment costs by consolidating functions and services like DNS, authentication, web hosting, FTP, email, caching, and backup onto a single Linux or NT system.

The RS4200 is a PCI-based multi-service access card set that gives ISPs an out-of-the-box solution for adding high-density remote access to Linux and Windows NT systems. Combining four T1/PRI interfaces with 96 ports of 56K and Basic Rate ISDN remote access, the RS4200 transforms Windows NT and Linux systems into full-featured remote access systems, complete with remote dial-in and LAN dial-out.

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. The RS4200 automatically detects the type of incoming call on a call-by-call basis and routes it to the appropriate modem or ISDN adapter.

The RS4200 comes with an intuitive Java-based remote management tool that makes it easy for system administrators to monitor an unlimited number of RS4200 ports located anywhere on the LAN or Internet. The tool features an active call table that displays username, IP address, call duration, RAS server IP address, RS4200 ID, T1/PRI ID, channel ID, protocol in use, and transmit/receive rates on a per call basis. The tool also provides information about system uptime and statistical data such as historical connects rates (modem and HDLC). Other features include the ability to configure the T1/PRI line interface and take resources out of service.

The RS4200 is available immediately for Red Hat Linux 6.1 and Windows NT Server version 4.0 (or greater). The single-piece manufacturers suggested retail pricing for a 96-port RS4200 is $9400. Through the end of June, Ariel is also offering a $1000 rebate on new RS4200 purchases (first board only).

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.