Cascade's interworking switch system provides mainstream users with robust ATM migration and economical network expansion today; Cascade's industry-leading service and network interworking system in production service provider and private enterprise networks now.

WESTFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 29, 1996-- Cascade Communications Corp. (NASDAQ:CSCC) today announced it is enabling the first broad commercial usage of ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) technology in wide area networks. Deployed today in service provider and large private enterprise networks, Cascade provides the only production-ready switch system that allows service and network Interworking of ATM, Frame Relay, and SMDS (Switched Multimegabit Digital Services) and management of Interworked services on a single management platform. With Cascade's robust system-level ATM migration solution, customers can now leverage Frame Relay or SMDS to sensibly migrate existing networks to ATM without costly network equipment upgrades. This widely deployed system delivers an economical production-level means to address immediate network expansion requirements utilizing ATM technology and provides network architects with the tools to easily reconcile existing networks with the industry's promised next-generation ATM network.

Leveraging the company's Frame Relay leadership and multiservice technology expertise, Cascade has a commanding lead in integrating the industry ATM migration standards, Frame Relay-to-ATM Service Interworking and Frame Relay-to-ATM Network Interworking , into a comprehensive network architecture. Deployment of premier commercially available services based on Cascade's Interworking solution are underway in production networks of major global service providers, such as LDDS WorldCom, U S WEST, and Telecom Finland; Internet Service Providers, such as PSINet Inc.; and leading-edge local service providers, such as Cincinnati Bell. State of Iowa and other private enterprise organizations are also deploying Cascade's Interworking system to boost network capacity economically. This development is a clear signal that ATM migration is real, having shifted from test labs to the mass market.

"The data services market is growing rapidly in response to exploding demand for Internet access, LAN interconnect and SNA migration," said Chris Baldwin, senior product manager. "This trend is driving U.S. demand for integrated Frame Relay/ATM networks, which take advantage of the low-cost, highly-scalable Frame Relay and the high-speed, high-performance characteristics of ATM. For companies needing high-powered networks today, Frame Relay will continue to be deployed at the network edge, with ATM deployed both as the backbone for Frame Relay and as the high-speed access to the integrated network. For the international market, where SMDS is the preferred broadband switch technology, this similar dynamic will also occur through SMDS and ATM Interworking."

Designed from inception to support Interworking, Cascade's tightly-integrated software-based switch family and network management system overcome the challenges involved with Interworking. Comprised of the B-STDX multiservice switch, the Cascade 500 ATM switch and the CascadeView/UX HP OpenView-based network element manager, Cascade's Interworking system integrates cellification, protocol conversion, connection routing and network management within a network and spanning intervening networks. This system approach delivers the key requirements of end-to-end reliability, Quality of Service, fault tolerance, and comprehensive management functions necessary for deploying a high-capacity ATM core within an existing Frame Relay or SMDS network infrastructure.

"At US WEST !NTERPRISE Networking Services, our objective is to provide our customers with a broad range of "best of breed", application-focused digital communications alternatives," said Andrea Vento, Director, Data Transport Solutions at !NTERPRISE. "Inherent in our strategy, and also critical to our customers' success, is our commitment to service integration and application migration to fully integrated broadband networks. We're providing cost-effective services that address our customer's needs now and into the future. That means an effective migration path which integrates the service platforms at the network level with a standards-based network management interface. This will provide the ability to seamlessly and transparently manage services, rather than technology platforms--the Cascade solution fits our longer-term objectives, and those of our business customers.

Cascade's Scalable Interworking System Delivers End-to-End Reliability and Quality of Service

Cascade's software-based switch system overcomes the fixed-capacity limitations and high costs associated with TDM-derived switches. It delivers the high capacity necessary for adding Interworking services to the wide area network infrastructure. Cascade provides network scalability two orders of magnitude greater than competitive products. Underscoring the B-STDX's superior scalability, LDDS WorldCom provisioned 12,000 PVCs on the Cascade Frame Relay platform in a single year. The Cascade 500 likewise provides industry-leading scalability, supporting 224,000 virtual circuits and industry leading switched virtual circuit performance for rapid provision of large networks. This superior scalability not only facilitates network expansion, but dramatically reduces operations costs by allowing customers to support significantly more virtual circuits on fewer switches than alternative solutions.

Cascade's Virtual Network Navigator software, seamlessly implemented in the B-STDX and Cascade 500, addresses key production network interworking concerns: end-to-end reliability of connections and Quality of Service in multiservice networks. Uniquely capable of supporting the complex process of Interworking different types of circuits, Virtual Network Navigator is the only routing software today that incorporates and interworks multiservice link characteristics. Unmatched in the industry, this advanced under-the-hood system capability extends routing functions beyond finding the optimum path to factor in critical ATM link criteria, such as circuit delay and expected cell loss.

Virtual Network Navigator's ability to route and interwork these diverse Frame Relay, ATM and SMDS virtual circuit characteristics down to the link level ensures Quality of Service delivery end-to-end in a multiservice network. Combined with the industry's only fault tolerant permanent virtual circuits, the B-STDX and Cascade 500 provide optimum reliability.

Multiservice Management System Delivers Key Interworking Requirements

CascadeView/UX is the industry's only wide area network management system that provides single-platform administration and control of Frame Relay, SMDS and ATM services. This unique capability delivers a critical management requirement in Interworked network environments: the ability of network managers to view and manage a connection between a Frame Relay or SMDS location and an ATM location as an end-to-end circuit, despite the fact that the connection is actually comprised of two circuits. CascadeView/UX's multiservice management capabilities eliminate the complexity and time involved with conventional systems that require multiple management platforms for diverse services.

Featuring a simple-to-use graphical user interface, CascadeView allows customers to rapidly provision circuits and create interoperability between different services by simply pointing and clicking on any circuit. A suite of proactive management tools delivers key a broad range of functions that facilitate management of multiservice networks, such as simplified troubleshooting, network simulation, the lowest mean time to detect and repair faults, as well as usage based billing and customer network management for user control in outsourced network environments.

Price/Availability

Cascade's Interworking software is available via a Release 4.0 software upgrade for integration into the B-STDX. Priced based on configuration, the B-STDX family of products starts at $15,000, while the Cascade 500 starts at $25,000. For information, Cascade customers should call 1-800-647-6926 or 1-508-692-2600 European customers should call [phone]. Cascade's WWW address is http://www.casc.com.

One of the world's fastest growing data communications companies and price/performance leader in Frame Relay, Cascade Communications of Westford, Massachusetts, USA. is a global provider of WAN products for public service providers and large enterprise networks. The pioneer of multiservice WAN switches, Cascade delivers production-ready switches and network management solutions that enable customers to seamlessly integrate existing technologies with ATM for cost-effective network expansion and investment protection. Cascade's STDX and B-STDX multiservice switches and the Cascade 500 ATM switch offer the highest scalability and network capacity in the industry. Worldwide, companies such as BellSouth, GTE, Pacific Bell, PSINet Inc., U S WEST, LDDS WorldCom, and British Telecom rely on Cascade products for unparalleled Quality of Service and high-performance WAN services.

CONTACT: Neva Group, Inc.

Maureen Liberty/Patty Anderson, 617-441-4000

or

Cascade Communications

Lucia Graziano, 508-692-2600

or

Cascade Investor Relations 

508-692-2600, Ext. 2552

or

Cincinnati Bell

Jeff Strasser, 513-684-8917