CrossComm gives Pharmavite's network a healthy boost.

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 1997--

CrossComm chosen to upgrade Pharmavite's network using next

generation technology

CrossComm Corp. announced today that Pharmavite has chosen CrossComm's networking equipment to increase the scalability of their network.

Pharmavite, a leading manufacturer of health vitamins and herbs, needed to upgrade their network to generate better communication management throughout their WAN. Pharmavite has locations in Mission Hills, San Fernando and Valencia, Calif., as well as to their online backup business recover computer system located in Boulder, Colo.

Maynard Greenfield, director of information systems and Mike Tiffany, manager IS operations, began developing Pharmavite's long range strategic plan and identified wide area networking as one of the areas where improvement was needed. In order to take us into the future the ability to support current and new technologies (such as ATM) was necessary. Also, the ability to effectively route multi-protocols in a dissimilar environment where Appletalk, Novell, WindowsNT, OS/2 LAN Server and 2 AS400's are all utilized to meet business requirements. Performance, technical support, ease of use and price were all factors that were identified as requirements for Pharmavite's long range strategic plan. "After evaluating the proposals from other vendors, CrossComm was the only company that fulfilled our needs in full," said Tiffany.

Gary Wood, director of marketing, at CrossComm, said, "Pharmavite's network requirements emulate the type of equipment that CrossComm's solutions address best. These networks are mission-critical, Token Ring networks running SNA that need to be upgraded to take advantage of ATM technology and the need to support high bandwidth TCP/IP applications. It is a privilege to add another respected company to our list of customers."

Redundancy is first key requirement

Pharmavite deals with California's unpredictable natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and fires by designing their mission-critical networks to be fully redundant. Pharmavite's three Token Ring networks are fully redundant presently connect six sites and will grow in the near future. The networks run SNA, NetBios, and in the future will run TCP/IP. High speed T1 links in a mesh configuration for full redundancy are used to connect all the sites.

Located in San Fernando are the data center, corporate offices, and three other facilities for packaging, distribution, and R&D. The data center is where the main AS400 is located and the manufacturing takes place. The sixth site is located in Boulder, Colo. and has another AS400 which mirrors the one at the data center. The Boulder site is used as a "hot standby" in case the data center AS400 goes down.

XL80/20's have built-in redundancy

It is critical that all sites have access to the logistics and product planning software located on the main AS400. This software contains all of the information for managing products and prices from inception to completion which ultimately reduces product shelf time. Pharmavite chose CrossComm's products because of their built-in redundancy, legacy IBM capabilities and ATM. An XL80 chassis populated with XLT Multiprotocol Router modules is connected to the backbone at the data center. XL20 chassis populated with XLT Multiprotocol Router modules are used to connect the other sites.

According to Greenfield, "The products' complete on-line serviceability and redundancy, including multiple hot swap power supplies, multiple fan packs and non-disruptive software upgrades, were key elements for us. Another key feature was that the modules are truly hot swappable, unlike the leading vendor's solution which would require powering down."

Scalability is second key requirement

Pharmavite wants to ready themselves for the future growth of their network. They have determined that they will eventually use ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) technology because of its scalability benefits. The XL networking platform has an ATM backplane and can easily handle a growing network by simply adding LAN and WAN modules. In addition, CrossComm's products can seamlessly take advantage of ATM technology simply by adding an XLX ATM Switch or XLT-F ATM Edge Router modules. Other vendors require customers to buy new boxes which increases costs significantly.

Advanced management capabilities and caring support group

CrossComm's Integrated Management System (IMS) is built on the industry standard HP Open View and has the most advanced, comprehensive set of network management tools available today. IMS is the first set of tools that can manage a complete array of network funtionality's -- locally and remotely. IMS includes important administrative features such as network mapping, network usage and end station inventory, and problem solving with ExpertTest, Protocol Decode and Session Capture.

"CrossComm's network management's biggest benefit for me is its ease of use," said Austin. "I can cross train staff who are normally not very familiar with networks, thereby eliminating additional staffing requirements and costs. But the biggest benefit of working with CrossComm is their extraordinary level of service and the support that I get. They bend over backwards to make sure I'm taken care of."

About Pharmavite

Pharmavite Corp., founded in 1971, is a leading manufacturer of Vitamins and Nutritional Supplements. Pharmavite is well known for Nature Made Vitamins, the number one broad line vitamins and minerals as well as their premium herbs and homeopathic medicines, Natures Resources. Additional information is available on Pharmavite's Web site at http://www.pharmavite.com . Corporate headquarters are located at 15451 San Fernando Mission Blvd., Mission Hills, CA 91346.

About CrossComm

CrossComm Corp. (NASDAQ/XCOM), founded in 1987, designs, develops, manufactures and sells high performance networking products -- ATM edge routers and switches, multiprotocol routers, and high speed Ethernet switches. The company focuses on providing companies whose networks are mainly Token Ring/SNA with a path to high speed connectivity using state-of-the-art, mission critical solutions while preserving legacy LAN environments. Additional information is available on CrossComm's Web site at http://www.crosscomm.com . Worldwide Headquarters are located at 450 Donald Lynch Blvd., Marlborough, MA 01752. -0-

All CrossComm product names herein are trademarked by CrossComm. All other product or company names are trademarked by their respective companies.

CONTACT: CrossComm Corp.

Beverly McNamara, 508-229-5246

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