Major Carriers Select Ascend Products for Internet Services in Western Canada.

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 12, 1996--Ascend Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND) today announced agreements with two of Canada's largest telecommunications carriers. BC TEL Advanced Communications, which serves British Columbia, and TELUS PLAnet, formerly AGT PLAnet, serving the province of Alberta, will use Ascend equipment to offer dial access services via analog and ISDN lines.

Both companies have standardized on the Ascend MAX 4000, a high-performance MAX WAN access switch, for their Internet access solutions. The MAX 4000 uses high-speed, digital access lines to connect to the WAN, replacing separate analog access lines, modem racks, routers and terminal servers with an integrated, secure and manageable bandwidth on demand solution.

"Extensive experience in the carrier market and a feature-rich product line makes Ascend an ideal partner to serve the rapidly expanding Internet market in western Canada," said Sam Mathan, assistant vice-president of carrier markets for Ascend. "We are very excited about our participation in the growth of the Canadian internet services."

"Internet services are a burgeoning market for Canada, presenting new challenges to Canadian carriers," said Al Winter, senior researcher for TELUS Communications, Inc. "Ascend's strong reputation for delivering reliable high-performance access to carriers and Internet service providers worldwide was a major decision-making factor for us. Our customers expect the highest quality, and Ascend has the best access products on the market."

Using MAX 4000 units at 23 points-of-presence (POPs), TELUS PLAnet can provide Internet and World Wide Web access to its more than 18,000 customers. Ascend's Hybrid Access feature, which provides a unique building-block architecture for implementing remote access networks, lets the carrier support its analog modem-based applications and provide a migration path to ISDN services.

"One of the most attractive things about the Ascend equipment," said Winter, "is that with a single unit we can have access to both analog modems, digital services and dedicated services. We can replace up to 48 analog modems, including associated input and output cabling, with a single MAX 4000 that we manage as an integrated system. The resulting efficiency will save us countless management hours and, as more demand warrants, we can easily accommodate more users by extending the modular MAX system."

Ascend's standards-based MAX connectivity operates with the existing equipment used by the full complement of TELUS PLAnet customers. "That makes for a positive selling feature to customers, and it lowers our support burden as well," Winter said.

BC TEL Advanced Communications, British Columbia's largest data telecommunications provider, uses Ascend technology in its backbone network to provide both commercial and ISP Internet Services.

The company uses Ascend as its primary platform to deliver dial-in services for its Internet Service Provider customers. By combining Ascend's MAX technology with its province-wide Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network, BC TEL is able to develop virtual POPs for its ISP customers.

"This allows our ISPs to function as a business without having to invest capital and personnel to manage network infrastructure," said Darryl McPherson, BC TEL Advanced Communications' Network Application Services manager.

BC TEL Advanced Communications also uses Ascend MAX 4000 WAN access switches for its commercial ISDN service. "Ascend's technology is always on the leading edge," McPherson said.

"By combining large numbers of modems with digital access facilities in a single frame, Ascend has created a solution that fits our central office requirements very well. We can install the MAX units throughout our network and manage them from a single network operations center."

BC TEL has 14 active POPs. It uses the MAX 4000's high density DM-12 digital modem modules to support its analog-based applications. The digital modem card enhances analog modem call performance and reduces operating costs.

BC TEL also uses Ascend's Pipeline 50 using an ISDN BRI line and Pipeline 50 LS56 as customer premise equipment in its commercial Internet access services. The Pipeline 50 provides bandwidth on demand of up to 112/128 kbps, integrated support for analog devices, and bridging and routing capabilities.

About TELUS Corporation

TELUS Corporation, a widely held public company, is Canada's third largest telecommunications and information management services company, providing voice, data, and visual communications services. Services include access to the Internet, E-mail, news and Internet navigation software. More information on TELUS is available on the Internet at http://www.agt.net.

About BC TEL

BC TEL Advanced Communications, a BC TELECOM division, provides data and network services, such as broadcast-quality video conferencing, wide area networks and high-speed Internet access. BC TEL offers medium and large-sized companies throughout British Columbia a wide range of Internet services. It also offers a range of web hosting and development services to help companies establish a presence on the World Wide Web. BC TEL Advanced Communications is available at http://www.bctel.net.

About Ascend Communications

Ascend Communications, Inc. is a leading, worldwide provider of remote networking solutions for corporate central sites, Carriers and Internet Service Providers' points of presence, remote offices, mobile workers and telecommuters. Ascend develops, manufactures, markets, sells and supports products which utilize bandwidth on demand to extend existing corporate networks for applications such as remote LAN access, Carrier services and Internet access, telecommuting, SOHO connectivity; and videoconferencing/multimedia access.

Detailed information on Ascend products, news announcements, seminars, service and support is available on Ascend's home page at the World Wide Web site http://www.ascend.com.

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