Ascom Timeplex introduces a turnkey service to help the cable industry meet the opportunities and challenges of deregulation.

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 30, 1996--Ascom Timeplex announces the formation of a new North American group designed to help the cable television (CATV) industry and competitive access providers (CAPs) capitalize on new opportunities presented by the deregulation of U.S. telecommunications and the increasing user demand for greater bandwidth.

As the need for more bandwidth increases at an astounding rate, ninety percent of Ascom Timeplex customers also are in search of increased bandwidth for their applications. This growing demand prompted the company to form the new Cable and CAPs group, based in Atlanta, to devise new and innovative ways for these customers to leverage their bandwidth through the new alternative carriers.

Building on the company's long standing expertise in providing worldwide total communications solutions, the new group will offer alternative carriers one-stop shopping-- a wide range of product offerings, consulting, and systems integration services from network design and installation to ongoing maintenance. The deregulation of the telecommunications industry gives CATV companies the opportunity to enter the lucrative business communications market with enhanced services, though not without overcoming certain obstacles. The most important challenge is understanding the technical demands of corporate and organizational users in order to compete with the more established RBOCs.

CATV companies are planning to make substantial investments in networking hardware and technical expertise in order to successfully penetrate the business communications market. On the hardware side, the business-critical nature of the market will demand that CATV companies at least invest in back-up power supplies and system monitoring equipment.

Ascom Timeplex is deploying its SYNCHRONY(TM) ENN product which is an enterprise network node designed to provide cable companies with a versatile platform for both regional sites in large, distributed networks and centers for smaller networks. The ENN, comprised of the SYNCHRONY ST-1000 hybrid circuit/frame relay switch and the SYNCHRONY TX-3 broadband transmission system ideally lends itself to CATV companies' needs for simplified but cost-effective , reliable services by merging data, voice and video transmissions over a single network infrastructure. The SYNCHRONY ENN features the patented Ascom Timeplex EXPRESS SWITCHING architecture which offers a dynamic bandwidth breathing technology which combines the constant bit rate (CBR) requirements of voice and video with the increasing demand for bursty LAN traffic, coupled with encapsulated legacy traffic over frame relay.

"CATV companies have the transmission pipes that can readily deliver voice, data and video applications; however, they often lack the operational knowledge for efficiently running a reliable data communications network," explains David Wood, Director of Sales for the new group. "One of our goals is to shorten their learning curve by providing CATV companies with the technical expertise to compete in the data communications networking environment." Since cable is already present in over 60% of US homes and requires a short drop to connect to any business, CATV companies are perfectly positioned to leverage that last mile solution," Wood continues.

Although their transmission facilities are almost ubiquitous, CATV companies are threatened by more system outages than their competitors due to the above ground location of the majority of their lines and the absence of redundancy in the systems. According to Terry Gallagher, Ascom Timeplex Director of Technology for the new group, "While user demand is there, CATV companies must fundamentally re-condition themselves to act like carriers before they are able to effectively leverage the omnipresence of their infrastructures. It's no longer a viable option for them to accept system outages if they want to compete for business-critical traffic."

Since its founding, the new cable group has worked on many high-profile projects, including the Hawaii Department of Education's (DOE)Internet in the classroom project, where the company teamed the DOE with Oceanic Cable TV to create one of the first and largest CATV data communications networks.

About Ascom Timeplex

Ascom Timeplex is a recognized leader in enterprise networking systems, providing business- critical solutions to demanding Fortune 500 customers for the past twenty-five years. The Ascom Timeplex products range from the new SYNCHRONY family of hybrid circuit, frame relay and cell switches and its well-established LINK family of T1 multiplexers to comprehensive customer support services including design, hot-staging, installation and maintenance. The company's key patented EXPRESS SWITCHING product architecture provides dynamic bandwidth allocation, end-to-end prioritization and quality of service guarantees for different types of traffic, such as voice, video, LAN and SNA, running over one large distributed network.

Headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, Ascom Timeplex offers global services and support for all its products in 70 countries on seven continents to a base of over 4000 customers. Ascom Timeplex is an operating division of Ascom Enterprise Networks, a core business unit of Ascom Holding AG, Bern, Switzerland, an international telecommunications company whose shares are traded on the Zurich Stock Exchange.

Additional company and product information can be found on Ascom Timeplex's home page: http://www.timeplex.com.

CONTACT: Ascom Timeplex Inc., Woodcliff Lake

Pat J. Rohme, 201/573-6467

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