Performance Technologies Ships Nebula 8000 Betas, Breakthrough Fault Tolerant Ethernet Switch.

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 1999--

...Only Non-stop Backbone Switch Designed Specifically for

Business- and Mission-Critical Environments...

Performance Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIX), a world class supplier of leading edge, high availability networking and data communications solutions, has announced beta shipment of its Nebula(TM) 8000, with a configuration and price point which enables, for the first time, true fault tolerant performance and uptime assurance for mission critical environments.

The growing intolerance for network downtime has created an urgent need for reliability. Where fault tolerance was once seen only in high-end backbone networks - out of the reach of most LANs - the Performance Technologies (PTI) Nebula 8000 enables companies who live-and-die on network reliability to gain all the benefits and safeguards of fault tolerance at a cost far lower than building and running redundant systems. Businesses involved in the financial services, telecommunications, information processing and defense industries require such non-stop networking benefits.

"Order processing, fulfillment and customer relations represent the lifeblood of our business," said Jaime Vasconcelos, LAN Administrator for Packard Bell NEC, Inc. in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. "We rely on our network to support these important activities. Replacing our conventional switch with the Nebula 8000 enables us to enjoy non-stop network protection. We were particularly pleased with the ease of installation and configurability."

"There's no doubt that guaranteed uptime is quickly becoming the rallying cry for many organizations," said John Morency, vice president of network solutions for Renaissance Worldwide Inc., a global provider of IT consulting services. "Changes in network application deployment and resulting traffic patterns, largely brought about by Intranets, will significantly increase demand for non-stop solutions across the LAN."

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The Nebula 8000:

--   SAVINGS: Provides non-stop network protection at a fraction of
     the cost of conventional redundant topologies.

--   PERFORMANCE: Uses proven technology to assure network uptime --
     especially down to the port level.

--   NEED: Eliminates high cost of network downtime.

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"Network downtime is unacceptable among today's mission critical businesses," said Alan Brind, vice president of marketing and business planning for Performance Technologies. "With losses averaging $90,000 or more per hour of downtime, progressive organizations are building their networks to meet future demands and provide non-stop, resilient network operation. With these core capabilities, companies can truly trust the network with operational, mission critical tasks."

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Nebula 8000 benefits

--   Dual-mirrored switching fabric provides the highest level of
     fault tolerance.

--   All ports are fully protected from any single point of failure.

--   Unattended failover to mirrored switching capability.

--   Easy replacement of failed module while network keeps running.

--   Low cost per port enables wide scale deployment in small and
     large networks.

--   Thirty-two 100 Mbs TX Ports (Non-Blocking) with a 64,000 MAC
     address space accommodates large backbone networks.

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Pricing and availability

The Nebula 8000 Fault Tolerant Switch will be available in late Q2. The initial version of the Nebula 8000 will cost $23,995 with additional functionality being phased in over the coming months.

Performance Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Rochester, New York, designs, manufactures and markets a wide variety of fault tolerant switching, high-performance communications and mass storage interface system products. The company's products are targeted towards high performance, business and mission critical users in the financial services, telecommunications, transportation, health care and defense industries. For more information on the company and its products, visit PTI's home page at www.pt.com, or its switching product page at www.gigabit.com. PTI is publicly traded on The NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol "PTIX."

Note to Editors: Nebula is a trademark of Performance Technologies, Inc.