Cascade sweeps the Internet market, creating a new Internet infrastructure core for the world's largest commercial Internet providers; PSINet, UUNET and NETCOM select Cascade B-STDX 9000 switches to overcome the scalability, capacity, Quality of Service and management concerns of exploding Internet growth.

WESTFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 1995--The Internet's explosive growth is forecasted to grow from 30 million users today to more than 200 million by the year 2000, according to INPUT, a global IT market intelligence firm. To keep pace, the Internet infrastructure is undergoing a revolutionary technology change based on the frame relay switch technology of Cascade Communications Corp. (NASDAQ:CSCC).

Cascade today announced that it has taken the lead in establishing a new Internet infrastructure for the world's largest commercial Internet providers -- PSINet, UUNET and NETCOM. Co-developed with the leading-edge Internet Service Providers to ensure Internet optimization, the new infrastructure is based on Cascade's B-STDX 9000 multiservice switches. Cascade switches elevate the Internet's capabilities by re-architecting the Net core from "connectionless" routers to a turbo-charged "connection-oriented" frame relay switch engine, creating a virtual-circuit software network.

The new infrastructure overcomes major Internet challenges today, such as explosive growth, new applications and higher network access speeds. It also features significant flexibility and boosts competitive advantage for industry Internet Provider front runners, allowing for custom-designed breakthrough services tailored to individual requirements, such as business or consumer users.

"The Internet is the megatrend that will reshape the business model of the industry and redefine the future of computing," said Daniel E. Smith, president and CEO for Cascade. "To meet exploding demand for Internet services and delivery of powerful multimedia applications -- which can drain network capacity -- the engine of the Internet needs to change. We are pleased to be at the forefront of this industry trend, delivering a critical component for the next-generation infrastructure of the leading Internet providers."

Trends Driving Change of the Internet's Core Infrastructure

The Internet promises to change the face of computing as we know it today, mirroring the evolution of the telephone with its easily-accessible, ubiquitous nature. Worldwide, demand for Internet services is exploding. As the business community moves to capitalize on Web capabilities, new requirements for reliability and accountability will emerge.

Business applications are also requiring access speeds of 1.5 to 45 (Megabits Per Second) Mbps speeds, spurring increased demand for faster and easier access. In addition, as Windows 95 moves to provide TCP/IP support to 25 million computers in 1995 and 50 million computers by 1996, nearly every PC will be Internet-ready. These trends are placing considerable constraints on the Internet's first-generation router infrastructure core, which was not designed to support the Internet's phenomenal growth and new uses.

Changing the Internet Core Infrastructure

In the past, the Internet core was comprised of router-based wide area networks (WANs), providing user access via dial-up modems and leased lines connected at T1 (1.5 Mbps) speeds. Based on "connectionless" network service, which involves comprehensive processing, routers were not designed to alone support the Internet's burgeoning growth and emerging quality of service requirements. Further, by design, routers support a limited number of ports. With the explosive growth of the Net, Internet Providers have had to install more routers and leased lines, making Internet expansion and modifications time consuming and costly. While routers continue to offer critical addressing functionality to the Internet, frame relay switching has emerged as the next-generation Internet core to support the Net's booming growth and new applications.

Frame relay switches provide a flexible, streamlined interconnection between the routers, which are used to identify addresses and protocol connections, and network access devices, which provide end-user connectivity. Based on "connection-oriented" network services, frame relay switches establish a pre-defined path to send packets across different end points, using a virtual connection. By predefining a path, switches can set up the parameters of the virtual connection, such as speed and priority. This enables Internet Providers to segregate different traffic types, so that batch file transfers and graphic downloads do not interfere with time-sensitive traffic. In addition, by eliminating leased line connections, virtual circuit networking reduces transmission costs.

Cascade As The Switch Vendor of Choice

Constituting the heart of the Internet, Cascade switches are the central arteries of the Information Highway, supporting the largest number of virtual circuits at the highest frame relay speed, network capacity and lowest cost, all backed with a clear transition path to ATM. The Cascade B-STDX 9000 switch also provides unique capabilities to address emerging Internet requirements.

Facilitating and Expediting Internet Access 

Cascade's B-STDX delivers two key capabilities that enable Internet Providers to provide high-volume, transparent Internet access through development of a high-capacity virtual circuit-based network.

Because all access into the next-generation Internet infrastructure will be on a virtual circuit, the new Internet infrastructure needs to accommodate the high number of virtual circuits that will be consumed by users. The B-STDX supports the industry's highest number of simultaneous virtual circuits (4,000 per trunk -- over 3,000 more than competitors). This unprecedented capacity is critical as the number of users on the Internet continues to grow.

Optimized for the new Internet infrastructure, the B-STDX 9000 delivers the industry's first TCP/IP-to-frame relay integrated Frame Relay Access Device (FRAD), creating a software-defined wide area network that can be rapidly configured to accommodate scalability and growth within the network. This unique capability allows Internet providers to easily connect routers at the edge of their network to the core frame relay infrastructure. This expedites Internet moves, adds and changes, and reduces costs associated with time-intensive cabling requirements.

Highest Scalability, Capacity and Speed Address Exploding Bandwidth Requirements 

The B-STDX switch is the fastest frame relay switch on the market and supports the largest networks with the highest degree of scalability, making it ideal for Internet highways. The B-STDX 9000 provides the industry's highest port density, scaling from eight to 1,736 ports -- over 1,000 more than competitors' shipping products. It creates a network capacity of up to 64,000 switches per network -- the highest in the industry by a factor of a thousand. This allows Internet providers to easily expand the network and create a global network without additional investments in costly hardware.

The B-STDX 9000 is the only switch that delivers 45 Mbps frame relay speeds, which can be likened to a large pipe for high-volume traffic. Providing 30 times greater speed than competitive offerings, Cascade's 45 Mbps Frame Relay interface ensures that the Internet core is able to easily support high-volume, delay-sensitive traffic. Cascade's unique switch on a card design also provides a 100-to-1 reduction in delay between hops on the Internet.

Boosting Quality of Services

Cascade's Virtual Network Navigator software, operating under the hood of the B-STDX 9000, significantly boosts the performance and reliability of the Internet through increased reliability and improved efficiency of network usage. An enhanced version of OSPF routing, Cascade's Virtual Network Navigator software matches the requirements of an application with what roads are open and available in the network, sending information down the best path. It also provides fault tolerance by re-routing data down different paths in the event of a network outage.

A Clear Path to ATM Migration

The B-STDX allows Internet Providers to easily upgrade to ATM without requiring Internet users to swap out legacy equipment through two best-in-class interworking features: the industry's only integrated PPP-to-Frame Relay-to-ATM Frame Relay Access Device (FRAD) and the industry's first Frame Relay-to-ATM Network and Service Interworking functions. Cascade's unique FRAD ensures that even non-ATM users will have access to the Internet of the future, allowing any TCP/IP-based router to interoperate with ATM. Cascade's implementation of Frame Relay-to-ATM Interworking provides interoperability between ATM and frame relay devices and services.

Carrier-Class Network Management That Easily Integrates with Existing Internet Management Systems

The only WAN switch on the market featuring an SNMP agent, the Cascade B-STDX switch is manageable with CascadeView, a distributed multiserver network management system that is tightly integrated to run under Hewlett-Packard OpenView. The ability to co-exist and interoperate with diverse LAN/WAN systems is a key benefit to Internet Providers, improving control and efficiency of network management. In addition, CascadeView provides proactive management tools, such as usage-based billing, which will become important in the future as the Internet grows and diverse applications are deployed on the Net, consuming different levels of costly network bandwidth.

Price/Availability

The Cascade B-STDX 9000 provides full, comprehensive compliance with industry standards. Available now, the B-STDX 9000 is priced based on configuration, with the base unit priced at U.S. $30,000. The Cascade 45 Mbps HISSE module is priced at US $20,000. For more information, call Cascade at 1-800-647-6926.

One of the world's fastest growing data communications companies and price/performance leader in frame relay, Cascade Communications of Westford, Mass. is a global provider of wide area networking products for the enterprise and public carrier network markets. The pioneer of multiservice WAN switches, Cascade delivers enterprise-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 recently introduced Cascade 500 ATM switch offer the highest scalability and network capacity in the industry. Worldwide, private and public networks such as BancOne, BellSouth, GTE, Pacific Bell, US West, LDDS WorldCom, and British Telecom rely on Cascade products for unparalleled quality of service and high-performance WAN services.

CONTACT: Maureen Liberty/Patty Anderson

Neva Group, Inc.

617-441-4000

or

Bob Machlin,

Cascade Communications

508-692-2600

or

Cascade Investor Relations 

508-692-2600, Ext. 2552