California Microwave to Extend Its AB-Access Point-to-Multipoint Technology to Support MMDS Band.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 26, 1999--California Microwave, Inc. (Nasdaq National Market: CMIC) announced today that it will extend its AB-Access(TM) point-to-multipoint broadband access platform to support the MMDS frequency band centered around 2.6 GHz. The company selected the MMDS band for near-term product development because of its ability to provide the wide coverage and building penetration characteristics sought by Internet and other telecommunications service providers. The MMDS product, which supports data rates up to 30Mbps, in a 6-MHz channel in a line-of-sight mode, also supports in-building, non-line-of-sight applications.

The MMDS product continues California Microwave's focus on providing wireless broadband equipment that can be activated instantly, are portable, and cost effective. This natural product line extension was made possible by the patent-pending Adaptive Broadband Packet-on-Demand technology inherent to the California Microwave AB-Access product family. This technology coupled with built-in asynchronous transfer mode, gives customers an array of flexible billing choices that best match their individual telecommunications needs. This technology is administered by the Media Access Control (MAC) layer, which yields unprecedented throughput on a packet-by-packet basis.

By handling the data in a granular fashion and leveraging the efficiencies gained by employing TDD/TDMA access technology, the system offers a true point-to-multipoint architecture operating at high-speeds. By building on AB-Access' unique packet switching technology, an ever-expanding list of frequency bands, from 2 to 42GHz, will be supported. The first release of the MMDS product is scheduled for late 1999 and will include platform advances that offer additional modulation flexibility (from QPSK to 64QAM), greater delivered bandwidth and integrated backhaul options.

MMDS Product Complements Current U-NII Offering

The AB-Access platform is currently available with a U-NII band radio (5.8 GHz) which supports license-free implementations. This U-NII solution allows service providers, regardless of license holdings, to validate services using actual wireless networks. Additionally, the U-NII radio can be used in concert with the MMDS product to allow spectral flexibility in creating coverage. Several major service providers are currently using California Microwave's U-NII version of AB-Access for just this purpose.

Efficient Use of Spectrum Means Price/Performance Leadership

According to California Microwave's chief technology officer, Dr. Daniel Scharre, "From the very beginning, California Microwave has focused on products with the price and capacity characteristics to reach the broad Internet market. Unlike other products, the AB-Access platform is built on a MAC layer that provides the most advanced packet-by-packet bandwidth management system in the market today. No aspect of the bandwidth is committed, allowing the system to dynamically allocate resources to serve only users with data to transmit. This is important to everyone currently caught in the bottleneck of the last-mile access. Our technology offers the highest data rates at costs that are substantially less than current wireline and wireless technologies. Broad consumer market development is in reach now with AB-Access."

California Microwave, Inc. (http://www.calmike.com) is a leading supplier of terrestrial wireless and satellite-based systems to support ultra-high speed Internet access, broadcast digital TV transport and worldwide Internet backbones. California Microwave also provides industry-leading solutions for satellite-based data communications and terrestrial wireless telemetry networks.

With its emergence as a leading architect of the wireless broadband evolution, California Microwave will change its name to better express this new identity. Effective April 29, 1999, it will become Adaptive Broadband Corporation (ADAP).