Market Feedback Cited: Harris & Jeffries Will Broaden Protocol Offerings, Including MPLS.

DEDHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 28, 1998--

-- Strategy to foster the development of next-generation

network service provider products --

Harris & Jeffries, Inc. (H&J), a leading developer of networking protocol software subsystems, disclosed today a strategy that will add protocols and functionality to meet the emerging needs of network service provider equipment manufacturers. The strategy is based in part on the results of a six-month independent market research study which included more than 50 network service providers (ISPs, CLECs, ILECs, RBOCs, IXCs) and leading network equipment manufacturers. The study was conducted for Harris & Jeffries by The McKenna Group and International Data Corporation.

"We conduct hundreds of user interviews each year, gathering impressions from the market regarding our clients performance in meeting the demands of the marketplace. The feedback we get from H&J's customers is as positive as we ever see. H&J sells to the leading network equipment manufactures in the telecom and datacomm industries. These companies clearly recognize H&J's ability to improve product time-to-market by delivering sophisticated, carrier-grade software solutions. H&J is uniquely positioned to take advantage of emerging market opportunities by providing integrated software solutions for the next generation of internetworking products," Geoff Mott, senior managing partner of The McKenna Group, said.

"More than 90% of manufacturers building next-generation products for network service providers already use Harris & Jeffries ATM and Frame Relay source code products. During the study, these and other customers overwhelmingly valued our products and support and look favorably on buying additional source code solutions from us. We intend to fulfill that interest with innovative software and development tools that set new standards for the next generation of network service provider products," Ethan Harris, president of Harris & Jeffries, commented.

Many Announcements Planned

Over the next six months H&J will announce additional protocols, functional enhancements and software architecture innovations that will provide a variety of new networking software products that deliver functionality beyond what has been the norm in the communications protocol software business. Included are:

-- Redundant software architecture encompassing a comprehensive

Redundancy Management System (RMS) and fault-tolerant subsystems,

the first of which were announced last week, which bring

carrier-class high availability capabilities to H&J's software.

Several other fault-tolerant subsystems will be announced in the

next 12 months;

-- A unique standards-based JavaScript test tool, scheduled for

release at the Next Generation Networks Conference next week,

that enables complete simulation, test, integration, and

debugging of H&J's ATM software on equipment manufacturer's

platforms using a Windows NT workstation to dramatically improve

time-to-market. The tool will be extended to other H&J products

in 1999;

-- A comprehensive move into Internet Protocol (IP) internetworking

software, beginning with MPLS, the emerging standard for Layer 3

switching. H&J will begin a series of introductions which, when

completed, will provide a comprehensive offering to implement

MPLS-based network equipment;

-- Aggressive pre-integration of various elements of H&J's network

protocol software to minimize the staffing, cost, and time

required by network and equipment providers to bring products and

services to market.

Such initiatives will allow H&J to focus on meeting the demands of manufacturers of internetworking equipment for products that function effectively within a wide variety of service provider networks. "Our value-add will be the elements of reliability, performance, scalability, pre-integration, network management and interworking that are absent from these markets today," Mr. Harris stated.

"The growth in network service provider expenditures for network equipment, which includes ATM, frame relay and IP technology is expected to nearly double, from $7.0B in 1998 to $13.0B in 2001. This provides Harris & Jeffries with an opportunity to sell its current and future products into this high-growth market," said Lee Doyle, vice president, Worldwide LAN and Data Communications, at International Data Corporation.

About Harris & Jeffries

Harris & Jeffries, Inc., headquartered in Dedham, MA, is the leading supplier of portable wide-area networking software solutions. Its "ultimate networking software" products include the High-Performance Frame Relay(TM), UltraLinq(TM) and Soft-ATM(TM) product families. Its Soft-ATM(TM) product line includes ATM Signalling, ILMI, PNNI Routing, Classical IP over ATM, LAN Emulation Client, LAN Emulation Server, Multi Protocol over ATM-Client, and Multicast Address Resolution Server (MARS) subsystems. The company's High-Performance Frame Relay(TM) product line includes Frame Relay Signalling, Core Services, Frame Relay-to-ATM Network Interworking and Frame Relay-to-ATM Service Interworking subsystems. The UltraLinq(TM) internetworking product line includes connection management and redundancy management subsystems. H&J's products reduce development costs and complexity and are in use by over 120 major networking companies worldwide. H&J can be reached at [phone], or by E-mail at: [e-mail], or on the World Wide Web at: http://www.hjinc.com.

Soft-ATM, High-Performance Frame Relay, UltraLinq & Fast Start Services are trademarks of Harris & Jeffries, Inc. All other trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective holders.