Newbridge Networks Provides Most Cost Effective IP VPN Solutions to Service Providers.

KANATA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 23, 1999--

Yankee Group Report Confirms that Newbridge Solutions Offer Best

Approach to Minimizing Total Cost of Ownership and Operations Costs

Newbridge Networks (NYSE:NN)(TSE:NNC) today announced that leading industry analyst firm the Yankee Group has concluded that the Carrier Scale Internetworking (CSI) approach significantly reduces total cost of ownership (TCO) and operations costs compared to alternative approaches for service providers building Internet protocol (IP) virtual private networks (VPNs).

CSI is one of the key elements of the Newbridge(r) Carrier Switched Routing solution.

The findings are contained in a recently published Yankee Group study: IVPN Service Backbones: The Operations Cost Angle. The study, which polled industry leading IP VPN service providers, examines CSI, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and terabit routing. The study reports that the CSI solution extends beyond the capabilities of MPLS and terabit routing to reduce TCO by 14 percent and operations costs by 37 percent.

"Yankee Group's research reaffirms the strength and versatility of the Newbridge Carrier Switched Routing solution, which uses both CSI and MPLS," said Jim Arseneault, Executive Vice President, IP & Internetworking Products Group, Newbridge Networks. "Competition is fierce in all parts of the service provider space and minimizing total cost of ownership is a key concern for our customers. Carrier Switched Routing combines the strengths of CSI and MPLS to deliver the most cost effective solution available. This enables service providers to dramatically lower their total cost of ownership and capitalize on the burgeoning IP VPN market."

The Yankee Group defines TCO as the sum of the capital equipment, operations, and bandwidth costs over a multi-year period. According to the study, while capital equipment and bandwidth costs remain fairly consistent among the surveyed technologies, operations costs -- the fully loaded cost of the service provider staff that installs, manages and maintains the network -- are the biggest concern to service providers and therefore a key differentiator in their choice of an IP VPN solution.

"The results of the study indicate that operations costs, which account for up to 38 percent of the total cost of ownership associated with the networks carriers use to provide IP VPN services, are of primary importance to service providers," said Eric Hindin, Director of Network Solutions, the Yankee Group. "The CSI approach addresses all the tasks that carriers say contribute the most to operations costs. It is also unique among the solutions in that it significantly eases the burdens associated with device configuration. By reducing service provider workload, CSI allows carriers to roll out services and enhancements faster and ensure performance and functionality."

The Newbridge Carrier Switched Routing solution, which began shipping late last year, uses the CSI specification to create an IP VPN environment over a multiservice asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) infrastructure. It leverages MPLS and other standard routing protocols to interoperate with conventional routers both within the network and at the edge. Carrier Switched Routing delivers the first routing solution that supports open specifications both externally, to connect to other standards-compliant routers, and internally, to create a network-wide virtual router comprising standards-compliant, best-of-breed technologies.

"The Newbridge Carrier Switched Routing solution gives service providers the infrastructure necessary to deploy premium-quality IP VPN services to business users. While much of the publicity surrounding the Internet has focused on residential users, businesses represent a larger and faster growing segment of the market with greater demands and less price sensitivity," continued Mr. Arseneault. "By combining the quality of service and control capabilities of ATM with the ubiquity of IP routing, Carrier Switched Routing enables service providers to offer 'business class' IP VPNs that are more than just best effort bandwidth tunnels across the Internet. Instead, service providers are able to deliver virtual private routing services with security, predictability and reliability guarantees."

Carrier Switched Routing is one offering in the growing Newbridge Versatile IP portfolio of solutions, which also includes a Newbridge Multiservice Remote Access Solution (M-RAS), an IP telephony solution, and a terabit routing solution.

CSI was introduced by Newbridge, Siemens and 3Com in 1997. It is an open standards-based solutions framework that enables service providers to deliver scalable, reliable, and easy to manage IP VPNs over a multiservice ATM infrastructure. Components of the specification have been formally included by the ATM Forum as part of several of its standards.

The Yankee Group, (a subsidiary of Primark Corporation) is an information technology market research and communications firm, specializing in helping users and vendors link their technology strategy to their business strategy. Established in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970, it has built a solid reputation worldwide for analysis of the key issues. Yankee Group clients number more than 700, and represent a wide range of businesses and industries. Each year, the Yankee Group sponsors numerous technology-related conferences around the world.

Newbridge Networks designs, manufactures, markets and services networking solutions to organizations in more than 100 countries. The Company leverages its relationship with a growing family of Newbridge Affiliate companies and strategic alliances with Siemens and 3Com Corporation to deliver seamless, end-to-end solutions. Newbridge customers include the world's 300 largest telecommunications service providers and more than 10,000 corporations, government organizations and other institutions. Founded in 1986, the Company employs more than 6,000 people on six continents. News and information are available at www.newbridge.com.

Newbridge, logo are registered trademarks of Newbridge Networks Corporation.

MainStreetXpress is a trademark used by the Siemens and Newbridge alliance for comprehensive solutions in broadband communication. No agency relationship, partnership, or joint ownership of a legal entity is to be inferred or implied by the use of the term alliance.