Atlanta Olympics and NBC Go the Distance with High-Speed Network from OnStream; OnStream AT&T broadband network gears up for NBC Atlanta Olympics coverage.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 24, 1996--As the world's top athletes prepare for the Atlanta Games, the high-speed communications network that will bring their career performances to billions of TV viewers is also now gearing up.

Successfully completing its extensive trial runs this week, NBC's transmission network is relying on high-speed, wide-area networking (WAN) equipment from OnStream Networks and AT&T services to deliver the breathtaking video action, audio commentary and graphic displays of the Atlanta Olympics.

OnStream Networks, a fast-growing Santa Clara-based company that has helped the leading service providers and businesses build high-speed information superhighways, has teamed up with AT&T to provide the communications between Atlanta and New York for NBC's upcoming Olympics broadcast. The NBC network is believed to be the world's largest point-to-point broadband communications network.

Said NBC network manager Matt Adams, "We are creating the first-ever `virtual' Olympics broadcast center, linking our production facilities in Atlanta and New York for our coverage of the Games. This `900-mile extension cord' will enable TV production activities to be conducted off-site, as opposed to constructing a larger on-site broadcast center as was created in Barcelona and Seoul."

"We selected OnStream to provide our lifeline between Atlanta and New York because of their products' extremely high reliability, their outstanding service and support, and their integration with AT&T services. Their high-speed networking equipment has a reputation for being `bulletproof,' and offers the flexibility and capacity to meet the complex logistical challenges and lightning-quick response times we require for the Olympics broadcast.

"OnStream's broadband equipment and AT&T's services have successfully completed network validation and operational readiness tests, and we expect them to make a major contribution to the success of this record event," said Adams.

Really Remote Control

For its U.S. coverage of the Games, NBC will be using T1, T3 and SONET OC-48 services to transport program video, graphics files and all intercom and control signals required to tie Atlanta and New York.

OnStream Networks' BMXstream(TM) BMX45 broadband bandwidth managers will support NBC's entire communications infrastructure. The BMX45 will take in communications from 19 T1 links: 11 T1s will be used for compressed video for video conferencing and monitoring the 22 Atlanta venues, and eight T1s will carry data and voice communications.

The BMX45 will then multiplex the T1 (1.5 Mbps) communications to higher T3 (45 Mbps) speeds. To ensure the highest level of network reliability, it will be able to reroute the communications to fully redundant T3 links if necessary.

Finally, the T3 communications, along with the program video and graphics T3 circuits, will be multiplexed by the BMX45 to two SONET OC-48 (2 Gbps) rings in Atlanta for transport to another OC-48 ring in New York.

OnStream Clearstream(TM) broadband data service units (DSUs) will carry the Olympics high-speed electronic graphics, enabling NBC to leverage and expand its high-end graphics equipment in New York as opposed to replicating smaller versions of the graphics equipment in Atlanta.

OnStream has also put in place a team of network engineers and support staff that will serve the demanding and highly critical needs of the Olympics Games.

OnStream Networks is the global leader in delivering evolutionary broadband/ATM access and network products to information-intensive organizations. Formerly known as T3plus Networking, OnStream Networks today is the only company focused exclusively on broadband wide-area networking.

Its innovative products are used by the world's largest businesses, service providers and the Internet itself to bring users online to high-speed broadband services and applications. For more information, please visit our Web site at http://www.onstream.com. -0-

Note to Editors: OnStream Networks, BMXstream and Clearstream are trademarks of OnStream Networks, Inc.

CONTACT: OnStream Networks

Laura Stiff, 408/986-4243