Ascend Broadens MAX Product Line; MAX 1800 Sets New Industry Benchmark for Price Performance.

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 1995--Ascend Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND) announced today the MAX 1800, the newest member of its MAX family of remote access switches. Designed for central sites, remote offices and small Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the MAX 1800 supports eight ISDN BRI access lines for connection to the WAN.

"The MAX 1800 provides all the functionality of the larger MAX products at a new low price point," says Sunil Dhar, senior product manager at Ascend. "Since it is the first MAX with digital modems to support low cost ISDN BRI lines, it becomes an even more economical remote access switch. The MAX 1800 is the most cost-effective central site remote access solution for corporations with remote offices, mobile users and telecommuters. It supports up to 16 ports (ISDN B channels, or V.34 modems) via eight BRI ports for under $6,500. This new price/performance level addresses the needs of smaller organizations with remote and mobile employees and larger organizations with remote applications that need the functionality of the larger MAX products."

The MAX 1800 provides the lowest cost per port for a fully integrated modem, ISDN and Frame Relay WAN access switch. It is also a fully integrated video, LAN and WAN remote access switch. Like the other members of the MAX product line, the MAX 1800 is scalable, modular and shares a common software base. This translates into a secure investment for customers' continued network growth, according to Dhar. "Scalability and modularity set the MAX apart from other products which lack a common architecture," Dhar says.

Today, the majority of Internet Service Providers use MAXs in their Points of Presence (POPs). With the MAX 1800, ISPs and corporations can now deploy the remote access functions of the MAX into their smaller POPs at a lower cost.

The MAX 1800 comes standard with eight ISDN BRI ports (S/T or U interfaces) and two expansion slots on the base platform. It connects to a LAN using AUI or 10Base-T Ethernet or to a Frame Relay service through a synchronous V.35 port. The MAX 1800 supports IP, IPX, PPP protocols, as well as TACACS, RADIUS, PAP, CHAP, and other security and remote management features, as does the rest of the MAX product family.

Pricing and Availability

Available now, the US list price is $6,400 for the S/T platform and $7,200 for the U platform.

Ascend Communications Inc. develops, manufactures, sells and supports a broad range of high-speed digital wide area network access products. These products use bandwidth on demand to enhance and extend existing corporate networks for applications such as remote LAN access, telecommuting, Internet access, videoconferencing and integrated voice, data and video access. -0-

Note to Editors: Ascend is headquartered at 1275 Harbor Bay Parkway, Alameda, CA 94502. Phone [phone]; Fax [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail]; home page on the World Wide Web is http://www.ascend.com

CONTACT: Gallagher PR

Kevin Gallagher, 510/743-7830

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