Ascom Timeplex announces enhanced functionality for branch office LAN SNA internetworking.

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 1995--Ascom Timeplex Tuesday began shipping new hardware modules, software features and enhancements for the company's line of internetworking products including the family of Enterprise Routers (ER), Access Routers, and the Integrated Access Node, (IAN), an integrated LAN/legacy data device.

These products provide a range of solutions for support of both small branch offices and large, distributed enterprise networks.

The true strength of the product line lies in EXPRESS ROUTING, Ascom Timpelex's advanced, dynamic bandwidth management technology that consolidates LAN and legacy traffic, such as SNA, on a single multi-protocol network, providing priortization of individual data streams and low end-to-end delay.

This unique frame relay switching internetworking architecture minimizes total network bandwidth requirements while offering the service levels and reliability appropriate to each type of traffic. EXPRESS ROUTING also offers dramatic improvement in network resilience, non-disruptive alternate routing and faster, easier, more precise problem determination.

Release 5.0 provides enhanced functionality on the Access Router and IAN branch office products, including improved 10BaseT management as well as support for new Multi-WAN Interface Boards (IFBs) and Wide Area Personality Modules (WPMs). The IFB and WPM provide greater flexibility when provisioning serial interfaces while reducing spares requirements at no additional cost.

Integrated 10BaseT hub support on the branch products simplifies management of remote sites by combining routing, bridging, and work group hubbing into a single device.

This release further assists the management function by providing port partitioning with automatic restoration, polarity detection and correction, loopback testing, enhanced SNMP trap support, and 10BaseT MIB support per RFC 1516.

New features in Release 5.0 also include TCP/IP header compression over PPP (RFC 1144) and on-line reconfiguration of OSI parameters.

TCP/IP header compression allows optimal use of low-speed data communications links, increasing the volume of data traffic across the WAN without the cost of higher-speed connections. On-line reconfiguration offers network managers the flexibility of reconfiguring their networks as needed.

The software also provides support for recently released hardware components of the Enterprise Router (ER), Ascom Timeplex's powerful switching router product, built for the continuous availability and high-performance requirements of business-critical applications.

These include an HSSI interface for high-speed connections between nodes, an FDDI Independent Routing Processor that supports single-mode fiber for longer link distances, and -48V power supply module for Telco and UPS applications.

Pricing for the HSSI Interface lists at $10,000 and for FDDI, SMF and MMF, starts at $9,500. The Multiple WAN Interface Board (IFB) is $700 and the WAN Personality Module (WPM) lists at $100. The ER and IAN start at $22,000 and $2,900 respectively, plus software.

Software for the Access Router and Integrated Access Node ranges from $100 to $300 and for the Enterprise Router from $200 to $1,500, depending on feature sets.

Ascom Timeplex is a recognized leader in networking systems and services, offering scalable enterprise internetworking solutions that unify LAN and WAN technologies. With headquarters in Woodcliff Lake, the company offers global sales and service support for all its products.

Ascom Timeplex is an operating division of Ascom Enterprise Networks, a core business unit of Ascom Holding AG, Bern, Switzerland, an international telecommunications company with shares traded on the Zurich Stock Exchange. -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: EXPRESS ROUTING is a trademark of Ascom Timeplex Trading AG.

CONTACT: Ascom Timeplex, Woodcliff Lake

Pat J. Rohme, 201/391-1111

or

Tony Fisch Consulting

Tony Fisch, 818/501-6608