Broadband Technologies names David E. Orr president and chief executive officer.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 24, 1997--

Salim A.L. Bhatia Named Chairman of the Board

As Company Broadens Executive Team to Manage Anticipated Growth

BroadBand Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBTK), today announced that David E. Orr, will become president and chief executive officer. Salim A.L. Bhatia, a company founder and the president and CEO since its inception, will become chairman of the company.

Orr previously was president and chief executive officer of Alcatel Network Systems and president of Alcatel Telecom NAFTA, where he had general management responsibility for more than 6,000 employees and more than $1.5-billion in annual revenue at the global telecommunications company. Over the past six years, he managed the dramatic growth of multiple business divisions that develop and market products and services for a broad range of telecommunications service providers, including the Regional Bell Operating Companies, long-distance carriers, competitive access providers, and wireless carriers.

"BroadBand Technologies is moving from its development phase as the market moves toward a period of anticipated rapid growth. As customers accelerate mass deployment of broadband fiber-optic telecommunications network access and switching systems, the company is broadening and deepening its management team to position itself for the potential of rapid growth," said Dr. John R. Hutchins, III, who is a founder and has been Chairman of BroadBand Technologies since 1988. Hutchins will become Chairman Emeritus and remain on the Board of Directors of BroadBand Technologies, following formal Board approval of the changes.

"With his experience managing the growth of Alcatel to more than $1-billion in North American sales, Dave Orr is uniquely qualified to manage BroadBand's transition as the company rolls out its products to the Regional Bell Operating Companies, enters new markets, extends its global operations and continues to lead the industry in the development of switched digital broadband systems," Hutchins said.

Hutchins added, "Salim Bhatia has led the company from its inception to its current position as a well-financed, leading supplier of switched digital broadband access systems, with a strong intellectual property position and an excellent set of global alliances with industry leaders." Hutchins said Bhatia will be an active chairman, taking responsibility for extending the company's vision beyond its current generation of products and customers. He said Bhatia will also work with Orr to expand the company's current web of global alliances, which includes Lucent Technologies, Intel, Samsung, Bosch Telecom, Groupe SAGEM, Divicom (a subsidiary of C-Cube), Philips, Thomson Consumer Electronics and others.

Bhatia said, "To fulfill our long-term vision for the company, our strategy is to continue to attract and build a world-class management team that will take advantage of enormous, global opportunities in the coming decade in telecommunications. Dave Orr brings strong management skills and industry experience that will help BroadBand Technologies take advantage of a competitive and rapidly expanding global marketplace. He will be a key leader in fulfilling BroadBand's long-standing commitment to partner with and help enable the world's leading telecommunications service providers to deliver the next generation of broadband and intelligent services to consumers."

Orr has more than two decades of management experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to Alcatel, he held management positions with Rockwell International and GTE. Alcatel Network Systems is the result of a merger of Rockwell Transmission Systems Division and Alcatel U.S., and Orr was named president and chief executive officer following the merger. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS in industrial engineering from Gannon University.

Orr said BroadBand Technologies has a major opportunity to capitalize on the anticipated investments worldwide in new fiber-optic infrastructure as major telecommunications service providers respond to the global demand for new voice, video, computer data, Internet and other multimedia services requiring switched digital broadband capability.

"Traditional telecommunications carriers, international carriers, cable television companies, entertainment companies, broadcasters and even utility companies now are competing in an entirely new, deregulated environment where there is a single common denominator an insatiable demand for more bandwidth and interactivity," Orr said. "BroadBand Technologies was first to market with a powerful new generation of switched digital broadband systems that will enable telecommunications service providers to deliver a vast array of new, interactive digital services to homes and businesses. The BroadBand FLX(R) System allows service providers to deliver this capability worldwide."

BroadBand Technologies has established an early leadership position in the global market for fiber-optic-based switched digital broadband systems. With Lucent Technologies, the company is supplying Bell Atlantic with broadband fiber-optic systems designed to provide up to two million customers with fast Internet access, video-on-demand, enhanced telephony and other advanced, bundled services. The company also is supplying its systems to SBC, which is deploying the BroadBand FLX System in Richardson, Texas; to TELUS Corporation, a Canadian telephone company conducting an interactive multimedia field trial based on BroadBand s FLX System; to SAT (Groupe SAGEM) in France; and to Samsung in Korea.

BroadBand Technologies, Inc., based in Research Triangle Park, NC, was founded in 1988. Its mission is to deliver products and services that enable network and service providers to offer consumers robust, economical electronic access to advanced communication, entertainment and information services. The company was the first in the industry to deliver a switched digital broadband platform capable of handling interactive voice, high-speed data and video traffic in the local loop. The BroadBand FLX System currently is the world s only complete, field-ready switched digital broadband system capable of capitalizing on the new market demand for systems enabling delivery of multiple new intelligent network services, ranging from traditional telephone service, to videoconferencing, to high-speed interactive data communications, to high-speed "surfing" on the World Wide Web.

This press release contains forward looking statements about the company's performance. The Company's Form 10-K, Form 10-Qs and other documents on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission identify important factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward looking statements. However, forward looking statements are beyond the ability of the Company to control and in many cases the Company cannot predict what factors would cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward looking statements.

For more information on BroadBand Technologies, please see the BroadBand Technologies home page at www.bbt.com .

Note to editors: FLX is a registered trademark of BroadBand Technologies, Inc.

CONTACT: Broadband Technologies Inc.

Julie Price, 919/405-4816

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or

Copithorne & Bellows

Joann Anderson/ Jack Varley, 617/450-4300

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