Ascend Announces MultiDSL Strategy and First Complete Line of DSL Products, Links with MFS for Roll-Out of New Internet Service.

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 1996--Ascend Communications (NASDAQ:ASND) today announced its entry into the digital subscriber line (DSL) market with its MultiDSL(TM) family of products. Most significantly, Ascend introduces IDSL, (ISDN DSL), an innovative solution which has been developed in concert with one of the company's key customers, MFS Communications and its subsidiary UUNET Technologies. This joint development process reflects Ascend's long-standing tradition of delivering to its customers tailor-made, state-of-the-art products to quickly meet rapidly changing market needs.

Ascend currently offers the broadest line of remote network solutions available today. The MultiDSL product line extends Ascend's position as industry leader in offering an end-to-end solution encompassing the most comprehensive line of DSL central office (COE) and customer premises (CPE) equipment. The entire MultiDSL family of products supports the full range of DSL implementations, including SDSL, ADSL-CAP, ADSL-DMT as well as the new IDSL product jointly developed with MFS.

In a separate announcement today, MFS details plans for an aggressive roll-out of the DSL solution beginning in the Silicon Valley in the first quarter of 1997.

"Our MultiDSL strategy allows carriers and service providers to address the immediate need for high-speed Internet access at 128 Kbps with a cost-effective IDSL solution that's available now," said Ashok Dhawan, general manager for high speed access products at Ascend.

"Later, carriers can use their existing MAX platform to expand to more advanced DSL technologies. No one else is even close to offering a fully integrated DSL solution with such a broad range of DSL access on a single robust central office platform. While our competitors tend to focus on one solution, at Ascend, we're implementing multiple end-to-end DSL solutions."

MFS, a leading provider of communications services for businesses around the world, developed the IDSL and SDSL products jointly with Ascend earlier this year. The goal of the joint development process was for Ascend to develop a suite of high bandwidth technologies, which MFS could deploy over copper telephone lines to provide fast, upgradeable, dedicated access to the Internet.

"This is hard evidence of the benefits of suppliers working alongside their customers in the newly competitive telecommunications landscape in the U.S. Ascend is a customer- driven company, which, from the beginning, was committed to providing us with a solution which is easily integrated into our existing infrastructure. MFS is the only company with facilities-based local, long-distance, international and Internet services under one umbrella. Our customers have asked us for high-speed Internet access options and the Ascend suite of technologies gives us the tools to deliver a unique service," said Ronald J. Vidal, vice president of New Ventures for MFS.

Ascend's products will include MultiDSL line cards for Ascend's MAX 4002, 4004 and MAX TNT families of multiprotocol WAN access switches and the DSLPipe family of CPE products.

Ascend's first MultiDSL product is an eight-port line card for the MAX 4002 and 4004 platform that supports IDSL (ISDN DSL), bringing the advantages of DSL and the low cost of 128 Kbps data service to ISDN customers while utilizing existing ISDN terminal adapters at customer premises.

Market on Brink of Explosive Growth

DSL is a technology driven by applications such as the Internet, telecommuting, and remote office connectivity, which are demanding ever higher bandwidths. This new technology employs the existing copper local loop to carry high-bandwidth digital traffic between the end user and the central office. DSL services relieve congestion on the voice network by transmitting data over a data network that is separate from the voice network.

While the DSL market is now in its infancy, industry analysts are predicting that will expand rapidly in 1997 and 1998. The market for DSL is driven by the escalating bandwidth demands of Internet and World Wide Web applications. This demand is forcing carriers and service providers to find ways to expand capacity; DSL is emerging as a viable technology for packing more bandwidth into the existing infrastructure.

"What's great about the Ascend MultiDSL solution is that it lets telcos solve their congestion problems right away, in a manner that protects their investment and existing processes around ISDN, while still putting in place a smooth migration to higher bandwidths as soon as early 1997," said Kieran Taylor, consultant-access strategies at TeleChoice, Inc., a telecommunications industry consulting firm in Verona, N.J.

"Ascend's IDSL solution is relatively inexpensive to implement since it makes so much use of what is already in place."

MultiDSL on Single Platform

Ascend's MultiDSL solution, in combination with the MAX TNT carrier class WAN access switch, allows the easy and timely deployment of a full range of services -- analog, ISDN, IDSL, SDSL, ADSL-CAP, and ADSL-DMT -- on a single, multiservice, integrated, and manageable platform. Because MultiDSL is fully integrated within an existing platform, the need for overlay networks -- or even a totally new platform -- is eliminated.

This integration also allows Ascend to offer customers added value in the form of all the routing and security, including Ascend's Integrated Secure Access Firewall, needed to work with the Internet. In comparison, conventional DSL multiplexers have no inherent ability to provide routing, frame relay, security or firewalls.

First DSL Product Implements IDSL

Ascend's initial MultiDSL product offering is an eight-port IDSL line card available as an option for the MAX 4002 and 4004 multiprotocol WAN access switches. These switches can have up to 40 IDSL ports, each supporting full duplex data transmission at 128 Kbps.

Ascend's IDSL products utilize both Point-to-Point and Frame Relay transport protocols, thus ensuring interoperability with Ascend's family of Pipeline and NetWarp products or any other commercially available ISDN BRI terminal adapters and routers at the customer premises.

Future COE and CPE Offerings

In the coming months, Ascend will introduce other COE products that support DSL implementations that vary in bandwidth from 128 Kbps to 6 Mbps.

These DSL implementations, which will allow carriers to match the diverse applications needs of their end users, will include: IDSL line cards for MAX TNT, SDSL or single-line DSL, which offers full duplex 768 Kbps over a single twisted pair copper local loop, ADSL or asymmetric DSL, which has data rates up to 6 Kbps downstream and up to 640 Mbps upstream.

CPE products will include the new DSLPipe family of high-speed bridges and routers, which will connect DSL users in small or home offices to enterprise networks or the Internet. The DSLPipe family will also support the range of DSL technologies, such as SDSL, ADSL-CAP, and ADSL-DMT.

Together, Ascend's COE and CPE products will allow carriers to offer their subscribers the full range of DSL services and the equipment to connect to those services. Carriers receive the benefit of a complete, end-to-end solution from a single vendor. Without Ascend's MultiDSL solution, carriers that want to offer a variety of DSL services would have to purchase standalone, single-service equipment from many different vendors.

Price and Availability (U.S. Only)

The eight-port IDSL line card for the MAX 4002 and 4004 multiprotocol WAN access switch is available now for $3,000. The 12-port IDSL line card for the MAX TNT carrier-class WAN access switch is priced at $4,200 and will be available in March 1997. Ascend will deliver other DSL implementations, including SDSL, ADSL-CAP and ADSL-DMT, starting in the first quarter of 1997.

About MFS

MFS is a leading provider of communication services for business. Through its operating company subsidiaries, MFS provides one-stop shopping for integrated local and long distance services as well as a wide range of high-quality voice, data, Internet and other enhanced services and systems specifically designed to meet the requirements of business and government customers.

UUNET, the world's largest commercial Internet Service Provider, merged with MFS earlier this year. On Aug. 26, 1996, MFS and WorldCom Inc. announced a definitive agreement and plan of merger. The merger is expected to be completed in late 1996 or early 1997. MFS is headquartered in Omaha, Neb. Its World Wide Web address is http://www.mfst.com . MFS' common stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol MFST.

About Ascend Communications

Ascend Communications, Inc., is a leading, worldwide provider of remote networking solutions for corporate central sites, Internet Service Provider's points of presence, remote offices, mobile workers and telecommuters. Ascend develops, manufactures, markets, sells and supports products which utilize bandwidth on demand to extend existing corporate networks for applications such as remote LAN access, Internet Access, telecommuting, SOHO connectivity and videoconferencing/multimedia access.

Detailed information on Ascend products, news announcements, seminars, service and support is available on Ascend's Home page at the World Wide Web site http://www.ascend.com .

Ascend is headquartered at One Ascend Plaza, 1701 Harbor Bay Parkway, Alameda, California 94502. Phone: 800/ASCEND4; Fax: [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail].

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