FastComm to Acquire Cronus Technology, Inc.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 28, 2000

Acquisition Expected to be Accretive to Earnings;

Adds High-Growth Signaling Technology

Capability and Prestigious Client List

FastComm Communications Corporation (OTC BB: FSCX) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cronus Technology, Inc., a privately held company specializing in network signaling hardware and software products.

Last year, Cronus generated revenues of approximately $10 million, and its newest product, a signaling gateway product for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), already has produced nearly $2 million in sales since its introduction in December 1999.

"Cronus is the premier signaling solutions provider with proprietary hardware and software platforms deployed in more than 70 countries," notes Peter Madsen, president and chief executive officer of FastComm. "This acquisition gives us an immediate opportunity to combine Cronus' signaling technology with FastComm's convergence products, creating an entirely new class of products that will support the transmission of voice, data, video and fax over the Internet for dramatically lower costs than what is available today. This will be the foundation for a new generation of networking products.

"With this acquisition, we dramatically increase our sales potential, capitalizing on Cronus' size, technological expertise, high-caliber and in-demand personnel resources, international presence, and blue-chip customer base."

He adds, "The addition of signaling technology to FastComm's strong enterprise network product base will make our products more robust and give us access to a much larger base of potential customers. The combined companies provide a more complete end-to-end integrated solution in the VOIP solution space. Because our distribution channels and customers are complementary another advantage of this acquisition is the opportunity for significant cross-selling to both sets of customers."

FastComm expects that the acquisition, prior to amortization of goodwill associated with this transaction, will be accretive for its fiscal year beginning May 1, 2000. Additionally, the company anticipates the combination will result in certain operating efficiencies, which will further add to potential earnings.

Under this stock transaction, FastComm will acquire substantially all of the assets of Cronus and assume certain stated liabilities and debt. FastComm will issue 3.7 million shares of common stock, subject to adjustment after completion of a post-closing audit. The valuation is based on forward-looking pricing, with the purchase price estimated at $27 million.

Originally founded in 1985 as Anadigicom, Cronus now has 60 employees, most of whom are based in the company's principal operations facility in Chantilly, Virginia. Its customers include network equipment providers such as Cisco, Lucent, Siemens and Nortel, who use the products as part of a larger solution, as well as service providers and carriers that include MCI/Worldcom and AT&T, which incorporate the products into their existing networks.

Cronus' core business is based on proprietary signaling technology that enable Voice over Packet networks to interoperate with existing telecommunications networks. It is a leader in solutions using SS7, an interoperable signaling standard supporting the current public switched telephone networks (PSTN). Although SS7 is the standard used in the United States, signaling standards vary widely throughout the world, and Cronus offers products that allow interoperability between incompatible networks. Its flagship product is a carrier-class offering that supports a variety of protocols, including xGCP, ANSI SS7, ITU-T C7, Primary Rate ISDN, R1, R2 and C5 products. One example of a current application is a signaling interoperability between a Mexico MFC R2 Switch and a U.S. T1 DTMF Switch.

Cronus also has entered the VoIP market with the development and shipment of its newest product. This product, based on the company's core signaling expertise, supports the new converged Voice over IP and Voice over ATM markets. With the growth of the Internet and wireless technologies, Internet Protocol is becoming the dominant transport method for next-generation telecommunications. The challenge is to ensure the same quality of service that users expect from today's public switched telephone networks, allowing interoperability with existing networks, ubiquitous call completion, and transparency of services such as calling card, voice messaging, 800 numbers, and emergency (911) services.

Dhru Desai, chief executive officer of Cronus, states, "Our position in the emerging VoIP market represents a huge growth opportunity, and we believe that the partnership of FastComm and Cronus will create a VoIP solution deployment that will deliver stronger performance at a lower price to our existing customers, as well as an entirely new set of customers--the emerging carriers such as Ecocom Telecommunications and the internet business unit of Cable & Wireless.

"We are anxious to start packaging our products as a total solution to both FastComm and Cronus customers, and developing signaling integrated access devices that will be unique in our industry," he notes.

FastComm expects to complete the acquisition within several weeks, at which time it plans to hold an investor conference call to discuss the potential of the FastComm/Cronus combination and further details.

Pete Madsen concludes, "We recently had outlined our plans to accelerate our growth and enter complementary markets, and the acquisition of Cronus meets all our acquisition criteria. In addition to Cronus' product development and growth opportunities, we believe that Cronus will be able to offer FastComm products to its customers, and vice versa. And finally, the prospect of working together to integrate signaling technology with convergence products to build an entirely new product suite is extremely exciting to both our organizations."

About FastComm

FastComm designs, develops, and manufactures advanced WAN/LAN/Global network routing and switching equipment, controllers and processors for IBM environments, Internet access products, and related networking devices. It is a total system solution provider specializing in voice/fax/video/data over IP and Frame Relay. FastComm is a leader in the effort to provide optimal migration paths for legacy networks that are upgrading to newer routing technologies. The corporate goal is to provide customers with leading-edge networking technology and a cost-effective means of incorporating these technologies into new or existing networks. FastComm prides itself in its ability to customize networks to meet the specific needs of their customers. These customers include state governments, federal agencies, and multinational corporations.

For more information, or to request a data sheet of any FastComm product, please contact the company via phone [phone]; fax [phone]; email [e-mail]; or visit FastComm on the World Wide Web at http:\\www.fastcomm.com . The Company's Form 10Q was filed electronically and is available at http:\\www.sec.gov/edgar.htm .

FastComm products include the WEB Router(TM), GlobalView(TM), EtherFRAD(TM), RingFRAD(TM), MetroLan(TM), QUICK II(TM), ChanlComm(R) and GlobalStack(TM). These products provide routed and switched Voice/Data and Video access solutions for bandwidths ranging from 9.6kbps to full T1/E1 over Leased Line, Frame Relay, X.25 and digital and analog networks.

FastComm, WEB.router, GlobalView, MetroLan, MonoFRAD, EtherFRAD, RingFRAD, QUICK II, GlobalStack and SuperView are all trademarks of FastComm Communications Corp. ChanlComm(R) is a registered trademark of FastComm Communications Corp. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About Cronus

Cronus Communications, Inc. ( http://www.cronuscom.com ) is a leading, privately held provider of system interoperability solutions to the telecommunications industry. Drawing on more than 14 years of experience in the signaling market and an installed base in over 70 countries, Cronus has become a leader in this industry by developing state-of-the-art signaling solutions and rate conversion products. Cronus continues to deliver innovative signaling and gateway solutions to industry.

Forward-looking statements are made in this release pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that all forward looking statements are subject to risk and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the timing of new announcements or introductions by the company and its competitors, the hiring and retention of key employees, competitive pricing pressure, dependence on third parties for components and products, and general economic conditions in the United States and international markets, and the risk factors detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.