Boca Research teams with ISDN Service Providers and Manufacturers; announces early adoption of "Easy-to-Order" ISDN Guidelines.

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 1995--Boca Research Inc. (NASDAQ:BOCI) Monday announced that it will be one of the first manufacturers to deliver products conforming to new ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) guidelines.

The guidelines are a result of an initiative announced recently by a consortium of telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. Targeted at the mass market, the guidelines will ensure ISDN is as easy to order, set up and use as any other telecommunications service.

The companies currently involved in this effort include service providers AT&T, Ameritech, BellSouth, NYNEX and Pacific Bell; and manufacturers Boca Research, IBM, Intel Corp., Motorola and U.S. Robotics.

A spokesperson for the manufacturers and vice president of business development at Boca Research, Steve Mills, said: "This committee originally came into being as a result of the continued frustration felt by many of us that the promise of ISDN was not yet being realized. ISDN has developed a reputation for being too complex, too expensive and even too difficult to order. For ISDN to meet the expectations of the mass market, it must be easy to order, install and use. As manufacturers, we want the ISDN 'out-of-box-experience' to be as good as that of any other consumer communications-related product. We want ISDN to be as simple to order, install and use as a modem. Simplifying the ordering process is a big step forward in making ISDN that 'easy'."

Tony Zalenski, Boca's president and CEO, commented: "This is a milestone event in the ISDN industry. After over 10 years of technological development, everyone is realizing that ISDN's success is dependent on creating the kind of strong demand that only the mass market can deliver. Boca will be a strong voice in the months ahead for this and other industry initiatives that help to stimulate the market for ISDN products and services." Zalenski also commented that Boca's newest product, the WEBGLIDER-460 ISDN terminal adapter (targeted at the SOHO, small office/home office, and Internet marketplace) will be available later this month. "This will be one of the fastest products in its class," he said. "And, Boca will be introducing additional innovative ISDN products in the months ahead."

ISDN provides high-speed combined service of voice/data/fax/video over digital phone lines at computer connect speeds up to 16 times faster than 28.8 Kbps analog modems, which makes it ideal for any home or office requiring intensive file transfers. For Internet access, it provides more than twice the speed of the highest analog connections available on the market today.

Even though the ISDN service is now available in nearly every major U.S. metropolitan area, it has not had wide market acceptance in the U.S. In Europe, however, ISDN has had tremendous market success. Researchers estimate that the revenue for ISDN products and services is still three to five times that of the U.S. This has left both the U.S. service providers and manufacturers, who view ISDN as the only cost-effective, pervasive service capable of handling the high bandwidth needs of telecommuters, Internet surfers, etc., struggling to find ways to help stimulate the mass market for ISDN.

One of the major problems which vexes the ISDN marketplace in the U.S. is the ordering process. Today, ISDN services are bundled into different "service packages" that combine different components of ISDN's many capabilities into standard ordering configurations. Unfortunately, there are over 50 such configurations, a testament to ISDN's flexibility, but a perceived complexity to many. The objective of the consortium is to focus on a small number of configurations that would satisfy the needs of the mass market, and to identify them with easy-to-remember service names. An announcement detailing the new "mass market" ISDN ordering codes will be made later this month.

CORPORATE INFORMATION

Boca Research (NASDAQ:BOCI), founded in 1985, is a Florida corporation headquartered in Boca Raton. The company designs, manufactures, markets and supports quality, cost-effective data communications, multimedia and networking products to facilitate the transmission of information on personal computers and computer networks. The Company provides hardware products augmented with software for use in the corporate, consumer and small office/home office marketplaces. Boca's current board-level enhancement and networking product categories include data communications (fax/data/voice modems); multimedia (video, telephony, sound, voice and data); networking; video graphics; and input/output (I/O), IDE and multiport products. The company sells its products worldwide through distributors, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and retailers.

CONTACT: Boca Research Inc., Boca Raton

Gale Blackburn, Investor Relations Manager

407/997-8621, ext. 305

407/994-5845, fax

or

Brynette Stephen, Public Relations Specialist

407/997-8621, ext. 315

407/994-5845, fax